Fussy & Fancy Challenge #129 Snowflakes and Ribbon

Can't believe it's already time to make our last challenge cards of 2014. This time the challenge is Snowflakes & Ribbon ... a lovely combination for Chrismas cards.

I was very late starting my Christmas cards this year as we have all been struggling with a horrible virus and even worse my MOJO decided to go on holiday, in fact it was making this card that got me going again, now I have made all my Family friends and neighbours cards so I can relax ... not for very long though as I have 3 birthday cards to make for the first week in January so I'll have to get my thinking cap and  a wiggle on.
Anyway back to my Snowflake card here it is :

 

The cute little Robin image is a Stampendous stamp .... they are amongst my favourite stamps, the deeply etched rubber gives a great image every time, I coloured him with Spectrum Noir pencils, they are so waxy and easy to use. The background is a piece of music about a robin which I distressed with antique linen distress ink, I scuffed up the edges and randomly embossed the edge in gold.

 

Over the years I have collected many Spellbinders Snowflake dies ... I cut out several in silver card and then I did my favourite thing .... covered some plain white card with double sided adhesive paper, put several more different snowflake dies through. Then the magic bit ... I peeled the second backing sheet off each  diecut and carefully put them in a tray of microbeads and they suddenly looked like frosty snowflakes that shimmer in the electric light. I then stacked them up in different combinations.

Why don't you give this challenge a go, the winners are selected randomly so everyone has an equal chance of winning. Then our lovely talented DT member Mary Lou will choose her favourite Top 5. More details about our sponsors and how to upload your entry can be found here .

Well it's time to dash off and do some Christmassy things before the Big Day so I am wishing you all a Happy and peaceful holiday however you choose to celebrate it and I will be back in 2015
Crafty hugs from me and my crafty companion ... our lovely Black Lab Jasper who spends his afternoons at my feet while I'm crafting ... you can imagine that he ends up covered with glitter and paper bits ... here he is:

. Bye for now xxx see you all in 2015 Annie & J xxx

F&F Challenge 127 Pairs .... Two of a kind

To begin with I was unsure what to make for this challenge .... A card for twins? Two Peas in a Pod card for an anniversary? Then I remembered Jayne Nesterenko's Best Friends stamp which was free on a magazine, Jayne Nesterenko was one of the first people I saw demonstrating stamping on the TV I thought she was amazing & very talented and I still do. Stamping will always be my first love because of her and she is why I got into papercrafting. The papers I have used are called Nitwits from Lili of the Valley and they were also a freebie on a magazine ... so this card has cost very little to make ... I do like a freebie. :)

 

 



When I saw this stamp I immediately thought of my sister, Sue she is not only my sister but my very best friend and has been since the day she was born all those years ago :) I am allowed to say that because you see I am the older sister so however old I say she is I know that I am 5 yrs older !!

It was easy once I had decided on the stamp ... which was 2 girls, 2 sisters 2 of a kind I went on to use 2 of everything!! I used a stepper card which is one of my favourite cards .... it folds very flat but when it's on display it is quite 3D



So why don't you give this challenge a go, our lovely design team love visiting your blog and leaving comments and then the winners are randomly picked so everyone has an equal chance. For more details go here hope to see your entry up there soon .
Right well by the time you re seeing this it will be mid-November and I hope I will be well on my way with my pile of Christmas cards, in fact hopefully the overseas ones will have been sent off. Bye till next time, enjoy your crafting xxxx Annie

Fussy and fancy Challenge 125 ... Orange and Black

Challenge #125 is Orange and Black, hosted by the lovely talented Jo Rice and sponsored by Marianne Designs.

As soon as is I saw the theme I thought of Halloween, which is just a few weeks away now, I always like to have some sweets at the ready for any spooky callers and I thought this accordion card would just brighten up the table in the hall ready for visitors!!

I made my paper pumpkins by die cutting some scalloped circles, folded them in half and glued together along the spine of each folded circle. I made one flat backed so that I could attach it to the front of my card. The base of the card is made using a clever Sissix die which cuts the outer frame and the flipping centre piece all in one...

I cut some patterned Graphic45 paper to make frames and backgrounds for the centre section. Then it was just a case of adding my letters to spell the word BOO

Here is a photo taken from above showing how the two interlocking accordions fit together

It squishes down into a small 5x5 card,  a very useful type of card for words, because you can make them as long as you like by adding more frames.
Well that's it for this time, between now and next time I am going to start making my Christmas cards, I can't believe it's that time of year again 2014 has just flown by
Till next time Bye for now xxx Annie

PS  Why don't you give this challenge a go ... you can enter any of your crafty makes that fit the title and the winner is chosen randomly so everyone stands a chance, you can find more details of how to enter here

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #123.... Mainly Red

 

 



Today's challenge #123 is being hosted by the lovely Celine and she has challenged us to make cards and projects that are 'Mainly Red'. Well conveniently for me a friend asked me to make a card for her to give to her parents who are about to celebrate 40 years married that's their Ruby Wedding Anniversary ..... and what colour is Ruby ... you're right it's RED.

So here's what I made as a lot of my crafty Stuff had to be put away whilst we had visitors I decided to make a card using Dies to cut out lacey background and more dies to create the paper roses... something I really enjoy doing it enables you to make flowers of exactly the right colour, Anyway here it is

Now I am going to have to unpack he rest of my crafty stash as I have loads of cards to make for family birthdays and a wedding ... more about that to come in a later blog. Then of course it will be Christmas cards to make .. I have to start early as  some of my cards have to travel to Australia, California & Thailand!!

Well I had better get off and start unpacking and sorting, bye for now Annie xxx

Fussy and fancy Challenge #121 ... Pets

 

The next challenge #121 is being sponsored by the lovely talented Beth and she has chosen Pets as the theme. Suddenly realised I needed to get a wriggle on to meet the deadline because in two weeks time we have visitors arriving from Australia & America. We haven't seen them for 30 yrs so you can imagine we have a lot of preparations to do.

I decided to go with one of my favourite Clarity stamps of a kitten and it has a lovely sentiment stamp with it. Growing up we  had various cats, we loved them all but they were very independent not like our current pet Jasper a black Labrador who loves his creature comforts and human company.

Anyway back to the challenge here's a photo of my finished tag:

 

 

 

It was a very straight forward project , kitten stamped onto a smaller tag and coloured with Promarkers, the sentiment was stamped and embossed onto vellum, torn and wrapped around the main tag. I diecut a butterfly and various feathers ... they are my new favourite Spellbinders dies ( they are so detailed when embossed)

Then it was just a case of what went where ... here is a closeup.

Hope you will be inspired when you see the lovely work of my Design teamies, why not give it a go. The prize winner is selected by Random.org so everyone has an equal chance however experienced they are, I look forward to seeing your take on our Pets Challenge
Must dash... xxx Annie

Fussy & Fancy Challenge #119 Words ... all about the sentiment

I am very pleased to be hosting Fussy & Fancy Challenge #119 and the theme I chose was 'WORDS ...it's all about the sentiment'  I do like to use words on the front f my cards and this is one of my favourite sentiments: 'To the World you may be just one person, but to one person you may just be the World.' it is the sort of sentiment I would have used for my late Mum or for my sister .. so here is a card I have been making for my sister Sue. As Marianne Designs are sponsoring this Challenge  I used some of their dies to create the frames and the foliage.

The sentiment is a Clarity stamp and the flowers were made using Heartfelt Creations stamps and matching dies from the Arianna Blooms selection. Here is a closeup of the sentiment embossed in gold. The flowers were stamped and embossed in gold too and then I spent a lovely hour forming them into 3D flowers .. one of my favourite things to do

Why don't you give this Challenge a go ... your project can be as simple or as complicated as you like, everyone has an equal chance of being chosen as we use Random.org to choose a winner, I look forward to seeing your entries ....so go why not give it a try.
Well that's all for today
xxxAnnie

'Dance in the Rain'

A silly title considering we are enjoying some seriously hot weather up here in North Wales, the title refers to the quote I used to make my Pallet Art plaque. I first saw this quote printed on a piece of 'weathered look' board in my local craft shop and they wanted silly money for it. So when I saw Ali Reeve demonstrating with her Pallet Art Kit on Create & Craft I just had to have it.
Then I spent a great afternoon messy crafting with paint, petroleum jelly, stamps, inks ... and I found the exact same quote in several fonts in the Silhouette store for 59p so it was soon cut out in some cheap chalkboard vinyl I bought locally:

 

I love that I could arrange the planks randomly and the petroleum jelly (Vaseline) acts as a brilliant resist between the two  dark & light coat of acrylic paint to give the weathered look. The vinyl lettering was never going to stick permanently onto the textured acrylic paint so I gently coated them with Indigoblu's 'Slap it on' which dries matte, I was then able to give it a second coat. I love dragonflies so Ali Reeve's dragonfly was stamped to finish it off. I also used translucent texture paste through one of Ali's masks and sprinkled with microbeads ... they twinkle in artificial light like drops of water.

 

Right hope my Mojo stays around a while longer as I have a card to make for DH in a weeks time ... so better put my thinking cap on and stop playing around.

Till next time

xxx Annie

Fussy & Fancy Challenge #117 Summer

The weather here in Wales has been glorious which has meant I have spent a lot of time in the garden, but this afternoon I have taken time out to make my next F&F Challenge creation for the #117 Summer Challenge. I saw these Creative Expressions stamps and they reminded me of Nostalgic Summers long ago spent on the beach making sandcastles and paddling in the sea..... that sums up Summer for me.
I wanted to use so many of the stamps I decided to make a diorama... a shadowbox of my beach scene... here it is:

I cut my shadow box on my silhouette machine and then used the Creative expressions stamps to make the characters. I made the backdrop of the horizon,sky & sea with adirondak inks. I added the children on strips of card which were then inserted into the concertina folds, I used distress markers and promarkers to colour them. The little girl sitting in the front is wearing a tiny straw bonnet which came free with the stamps. To finish off  I added some shells which I made from Martha Stewart paper clay in a silicone mould, this clay is unbelievably light in weight which is ideal if you're posting cards.

Here is a closeup of the characters:

Hope you will enter our new Summer Challenge which is being sponsored by Crafty Sentiments and hosted by our very talented designer, Vanessa, it's so easy to do, just upload your entry using the link on here or there are details of how to send via email on there too.

Well the sun is still shining so I am off to dead head the roses, till next time xxx Annie

Fussy & Fancy #116 Things with Wings

I don't now where 2014 is going time is flying by and here we are with another Fussy & Fancy Challenge #116... I love this theme chosen by our talented Norma ... Things With Wings.... decisions, decisions.... birds or butterflies. Well butterflies it was ....and I thought it was time to make my favourite shaped card ... a stepper card. I wanted to use some Marianne Design dies as they are sponsoring this challenge. So here is the end result...

I used docrafts lovely new collection of papers called Eau de Nil it's such a soft bluey - green, I used navy as a contrast. Marianne dies are so lovely to use, I love the delicate lacey effect. I made my flowers from mulberry paper and added butterflies... my things with wings.  I do love butterflies on my cards, sometimes I find them very useful to cover up a mistake or thumbprint which magically appears just as I am finishing a card so if you see a random butterfly on one of my cards you know why.

So there it is I decided to make this for my Sister in Law's birthday as I know she loves these colours, I need to find my Mojo and get on with some cards as July is a very busy month for birthdays in our family. Why don't you enter our 'Things with Wings' challenge,  we always look forward to seeing what you've come up with just go here and entering is very easy.

That's all from me today xx Annie

Fussy & Fancy Challenge #115 OUTDOORS

It has been lovely crafting this afternoon with the windows thrown open and the sun shining in ... I really should be out working in the garden but I have been creating an outdoor scene for the Fussy & Fancy Challenge being hosted by the lovely talented  Celine who has chosen Outdoors as her theme.

I have long been a fan of Clarity stamps and recently Barbara Gray has introduced a great selection of stencils which make wonderful backgrounds ... I love the idea of starting with a blank white piece of card and turning it into a card using just a few stamps and some inks. For this card I have used Clarity Woodland stencil and woodland animals stamp set and a selection of Adirondak inks.
Over here in the UK we are lucky to have Barbara Gray on our tvs for 2 hours each month demonstrating with her Company's new products. I cannot draw or paint but having watched her over many years now I feel more confident about my cardmaking and stamping. She also has an amazing design team which includes our very own Jo Rice & Sam Crowe who are always an inspiration too.
Right I think I ought to go and make a coffee for hubby who has been working hard titivating the garden, which I have  to say is looking good after suffering the last Winter's storms.
Hope you enter our new Challenge which is being sponsored this month by Crafty Sentiments.
That's all from me,
Bye for now Annie xxx

Fussy & Fancy Blog Hop 'THE RESULT'

 Well the Fussy & Fancy Blog Hop was great fun ... Thank you for all your lovely comments and to all my new followers.
As I have my 16yr old Granddaughter Kate staying over with me and she was taking a well earned break from GCSE exam revision, I asked her to make the draw for me.here's how she did it !!

So there it is : Congratulations BlackLissi is the winner of my Blog candy...... Please email me @ pannem1945@btinternet.com with your address and I will post it off to you

That's it for tonight xxx Annie

Fussy & Fancy Challenge #114 Inspirational Picture

Today sees the launch of Fussy & Fancy Challenge #114, it is being hosted by the talented Laila who has chosen the theme: Inspirational picture. Our sponsor this time is Freshly Brewed Designs.

Here is my sample for this week's challenge, while I was deciding what to make I received the wonderful news that a friend of mine had just become a Grandmother for the first time. As a Nana to four wonderful almost grown up grandchildren, I know the joy they can bring watching them grow is amazing .... parenthood all over again without the responsibility and the anguish :). So I made her something I thought might be decorative and useful....

I began by creating the background using various distress inks on  a blank doorhanger, remembering to put my moon mask in place first.
The  stamps I used were  free  with a crafting magazine they were designed by Tracey of  Lavina Stamps. The sentiment stamp and the letter stamps are from Clarity Stamps. Lots of silvery embossing powder and glitter were also used .... it didn't photograph very well .... maybe because most of it  landed on our black Labrador Jasper, who insists on lying by my feet when I am crafting. :)

As you can see he is a BIG boy ....but he's very gentle and very handsome.

Anyway back to crafting... I hope you will enter our Challenge it's very easy to upload your entry using the link on  http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.co.uk    I love visiting your blogs and reading all about your crafty projects, you can also link through email, details are on our website.

That's all for today, I have just looked at the clock and realised I have just whiled away a whole afternoon up in the Crafty attic ....time flies when you're having fun .....
Bye for now xxx Annie

Fussy & Fancy Challenge # 113 Spring Colours

Hello and welcome to my blog! As you may have read on
 Fussy & Fancy Challenge Blog

our Spring Colours Challenge is being hosted by our lovely

Katharina

and sponsored by the

FUSSY AND FANCY GIRLS!

that would include me!

If you have arrived here from the talented Judy's blog then you are hopping in the right order, if not, please go back to the FUSSY & FANCY BLOG CHALLENGE to hop in the right order. 

Here is the card that I created for this fun Spring Colours Challenge

For me, Spring Colours is all about the flowers especially the bulbs that have been under the soil through the Winter months and suddenly they pop through and burst into beautiful coloured flowers, the first through in our garden are the daffodils but I look forward to the brightly coloured Tulips..so when I spotted these tulips in my silhouette design section I had to download them. I experimented with the colours. This card has been inspired by a very clever card that my Facebook friend Linda Page had made if you would like to know how the box was made you can find out on Linda's blog   here  her instructions are very clear and she makes it surprisingly easy ....so thank you Linda.

So having made my box I had to decorate all the small sections I used various Clarity silhouette stamps of outdoor scenes and added clouds and hills as I was creating a big yellow sun I decided that the beat sentiment for my card was another Clarity stamp ...'Sending you sunshine' The other surprise about this 3D box-card is that it folds flat

 and as the box is a 4" cube when it is flattened it slips into a standard 8"x8" envelope

As a special bonus for my followers old and new I am offering some blog candy!
I have included some diecut decoupage, lovely glittered and blinged butterflies, some pretty paper flowers and even the ribbon and tag are reusable.

To qualify you must be a follower and leave a comment

Thank you for visiting

Now if you can please continue hopping over to our very talented Vannessa's blog you will continue to keep hopping in order. I have listed the correct blog hop order below for your convenience:

  Katharina

Judy

Annie (that's me)

Vannessa

Norma

Celine

Ivonne

Nathalie

Jo Rice

Yvonne

Mary Lou

Millazin

Diana

Beth
Sam
Laila
Sheryl

Well that's all from me for tonight. I do hope you go on to complete our Blog Hop and maybe even enter this very special Fussy & Fancy Challenge yourself.

Good Luck xxx Annie             

       

Clarity Challenge.. Monochrome

Ooops I nearly missed the closing date so this is a quick blog before I link up to the Clarity Challenge site. A week ago I saw Barbara's tutorial using the gelli plate to make what looked like a torn piece, I was inspired to have a go and this was one of three cards I made that afternoon , which is quite productive for me.

I used Barbara's three layer technique... the hardest part was waiting in between layers for it to dry .. I am such an impatient crafter.. I had used the seaweed frame so when I saw the result I remembered I had a similar Clarity stamp so I stamped it over the gelli pint using Cobalt blue Archival , I also stamped through the tear I had made. Then I made my two seahorses with fantasy film & fibres ... they are my new favourite stamps. I also love the new Word chain stamps for this card I chose the word magical because seahorses are the most magical and mysterious of animals.

Well that's it for today xxx Annie

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Today being Easter Monday and a lovely hazy sunny day we decided to keep away from the bustling holiday traffic and take the short 5 minute car drive down to Menai Bridge.

It was a lovely walk though Coed Cyrnol, Menai Bridge, simple pleasure of walking through Pine Woods carpeted with bluebells, then over the causeway to Church Island ... a really spiritual place that I have often visited when I wanted time alone to think....

this is the church of St Tysilio many of my ancestors are buried in it's churchyard which spreads over the island

 The church is lit by little diamond shaped stained glass windows and this more ornate stained glass window above the tiny altar

 It is a very small church consisting of one room it is entered through this tiny door, the wood is old and gnarled, you have to touch it and wonder how old it is....

This plaque refers to the original church built on the site by St Tysilio in 630 AD.

This is the view of the Britannia Bridge taken from the topmost point near the cenotaph, the original tubular brige was built by George Stephenson it was destroyed by a fire in the 70s this was started in the tubes which carried the rail line when boys went in looking for bats.

Then it was back along the Belgian Prom , so called because it was built with donations from the Belgian Refugees who had lived in the area,
This leads to Carreg yr Halen, a tiny cove in the shadow of Thomas Telford's wonderful  Menai Suspension Bridge this is the place that stirs the most vivid childhood memories of picnics (well Hovis butties and homemade lemonade) eaten here with our Dear Mam.

The beach was sandy, back then dredgers used to bring the sand in. Scarey Cormorants used to stand guard on the wooden posts that used to jut out of the water and the buildng on the left was just a wood & stone boathouse which has  been renovated now.

Well that is it for today all that walking in the sea air I should sleep well tonight xxxx Annie

Silhouette Cameo playtime

I had my Silhouette Cameo for Christmas from my husband, I went down with a bug straight after Christmas and so the new toy was left in it's box. After a while I had a play around with it but instructions are not my forte .... and then Lynda Chapman came on Create & craft last Saturday ...she uses this machine in the course of her crafty work ... well I learnt more in that hour and I was inspired to play.

This is a little pop up box card that folds flat .... design came from Silhouette shop..... I loved playing and was mesmerised watching it cutout...it was so accurately cut out and scored it was a doddle. There are so many designs to choose from.......that's it for tonight xxx Annie

Happy Easter card

This is the card I made for my family inspired by Barbara Gray using her Garden Birds stamps, coloured in with water colour pencils, background created with Adirondak inks. Blue tits are my favourite garden birds , I could watch them for hours doing their acrobatics on the feeders. I love all of the stamps but I especially love the little one on the branch ....the stamp really captures the way they cock their little heads.

Hope you have a really lovely Easter whatever you choose to do ...with Easter falling later than usual we might have expected good weather but sadly that is not what is forcast :(  xxx Annie

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #111 All About The Travel

Cannot believe this is Fussy Fancy Friday Challenge #111. The theme is 'All about Travel' it is being sponsored by Freshly Brewed Designs. I love this Paris Collage stamp by Clarity Stamps, I decided to stamp it onto a tag, I then stamped it twice more so that I could decoupage it. The other stamp I wanted to use was a Stampendous stamp 'I would gladly live out of a suitcase if it meant I could see the world'. I matted & layered a map background paper onto some dark brown card and then onto a craft card blank. 

I played about with positioning the 2 tags and decided it needed something extra ... that's when I decided to use Freshly Brewed Designs new 'Luggage Tower' digi.

Here is a closeup of the claritystamp Paris montage tag decoupaged up

So that is my take on the 'All about Travel' Challenge why don't you give it a go.. the winner is chosen at random so every crafter has an equal chance of winning you never know the winner could be you, our Sponsor this month is Freshly Brewed Designs. Uploading to the website is so easy just go to :
http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/  and follow the instructions. The Fussy & Fancy girls love looking at your entries and leaving you comments and then the host for this months challenge .... that's our lovely Jo this month will have the difficult task of selecting her Top 5 entries.
Well that's all for tonight xxxAnnie

Mother's Day 2014

Mother's day 2014.. this is the card I made for my Mother in Law Marie. I used a set of Tonic dies to cut out the central hearts and  matted and then a pretty patterned pink & white card with a lovely shocking pink card. A satin bow and Memory Box Gardenia die in the pink card.

To give a bit of a Wow when the card is opened I made a pop out using the same Tonic dies and the same card combination

Here is the central message:

As We sadly lost my Dear Mam in 2009 we have planted a new rose in the garden for her... it is a David Austin  'Cariad' rose .. Cariad is the Welsh word for Love and is the term of endearment my Mam used to us and the grandchildren. 

It's such a pretty rose and a lovely reminder of a wonderful woman xxx Annie

Ooh just one more thing Don't forget the clocks go FORWARD tonight so an hour less in bed :(

Fussy & Fancy Challenge # 109 Birthdays

This Challenge couldn't have come at a better time for me as February / March are busy months for special family birthdays one of the most important being the birthday of my dear Mother in Law Marie she was born in 1921 and is the only one left out of 13 children
 so she was 93 years old on St Valentine's day. You would never believe she was 93 .... she has a better social life than I do!! Here is the card I made for her, I always aim to make a touchy feely card with plenty of texture and strong contrasting colours.

Here it is opened up she won't mind everyone knowing how young she is!!
I started with an 8"x8" card marked a vertical line vertically down centre of the front and by placing my spellbinder's die half  on half off the mark I was able to cut a semi circle which when I folded the front back on itself gave me the circle feature for the front. I used beautiful new Papermania Parisienne Blue papers and decorated with flowers and butterflies from my crafty stash.

As the card had to be sent by post it folded quite flat apart from those lovely chunky roses, so I made a box to protect it

I diecut the word MUM and detailed it with some flat back pearls for texture. Of course Valentine's day has been and gone so she has already had this card, she assured me that she loved it. It's such a joy to make cards for her and she keeps each one that I have ever made for her so carefully.
Well that is my offering for this Birthday Challenge, you can find more details about how you can enter over at :  http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ it is so easy to link your project to the blog and who knows you could be the one who is randomly chosen to win the prize this month, our sponsor this month is Crafty Sentiments. The Fussy and Fancy Girls love looking at your entries and leaving comments, whoever is hosting the challenge this month then has the difficult task of choosing her Top 5 entries.
Right that's it from me for tonight, looking forward to seeing your entries xxx Annie

Time and Tide wait for no Man

woke up today to a beautiful sunny Sunday .... what a difference it made ...although the sun shows up all the dust that's gathered, I had a spring in my step and was soon whizzing round with the hoover ...'a lick and a promise' as my Mum called it. Lunch done and it was playtime... I had seen this tutorial on Barbara gray's blog and promised myself I would give it a go ... well today was the day ...

Barbara explains so well how to combine the two stencils you can see it here:   http://barbaragrayblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/time-and-tide-wait-for-no-man.html  the instructions are very clear ... pictures & words it is simpler than you might think if you follow step by step.

Having made the background I wondered what to do with it so I set to with Clarity's shell stamps and got lost in some colouring in. I had some box frames in my crafty stash so I mounted what i had made into the frame and added a clock and a message in a bottle.

This sentiment is so apt for the Winter we are having at the moment.... Here in Wales we have had the worst winds ever .. and believe me we have plenty of wind here .... but my thoughts are with the people further South of the UK especially those in Somerset who have endured floods for over 6 weeks now ... I can only imagine how they must be feeling and coping hopefully the end will soon be in sight.They  are in my thoughts and prayers.

That's it from me  for today xxx Annie

Card for Grandson's 18th

This was a tough one an 18th birthday card for a boy who is nuts about computers and gaming. He hopes to go to uni later this year to study computer programming. This is what I came up with:

It all started when I was looking on the Silhouette studio designs library. I should add that I only just had my silhouette as a crafty Christmas present from my husband, and as I was unwell after Christmas I really hadn't played with it at all ... as I said I found this design which looked like a circuit board but which spelled out the word CONGRATS, then I found the keyboard and mouse and finally the games controller. So through trial and error (I'm not very good at doing instructions) I finally had the bits I needed. I googled and printed covers of some of the games I knew he liked mounted them on green card stacked them up on this stepper card. I finished it off with a lovely sentiment inside which said everything I wanted to say including how proud we were of him .... I just hope he likes it .. because a lot of love went into making it ... I'll soon find out because it's already in the post for his birthday on Sunday 16th February. Happy 18th Birthday Sion my one and only grandson... oh how he suffered at the hands of the three granddaughters ... he was always being bossed about, but gave in gracefully most of the time !! I better find some time to find out how this lovely toy works :)
That's all for tonight xx Annie

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #107 ... Be My Valentine

Time for a new challenge over at Fussy and Fancy ... the theme is 'Be my Valentine'   and it's even more exciting because it is being sponsored by Marianne Designs, many of you will have some of their gorgeous dies, so why not get them out mix them up with some of your other crafty stash and give this challenge a go. 

I was wondering what to do for this challenge as at my age I do not receive or send Valentines cards as I have been married to my valentine for over 38yrs and we knew each other 4yrs befor that. Anyway that's enough reminiscing, as I was saying before so rudely interrupting myself, I was reading the Craft Stamper magazine and Elizabeth Dark had written an article about flocking her background, it looked so lush I decided I had to give it a go.

I painted my MDF heart with black gesso and let it dry thoroughly, then I stamped the freebie rose stamp with versamark (previous experiment on black card taught me not to do too many at a time) then I sprinkled with Stampendous Stamp & Bond, heated it gently with my heat gun till it became clear then sprinkled with Stampendous Fuzzy Fun Flock (chilli pepper red). The instructions said gently rub in with your fingers ... it was a very strange woolly feel but once the loose stuff was swept onto a spare piece of paper it revealed a lovely raised texture so covered the whole of the heart. I had bought some chunky small MDF LOVE letters so painted them with red acrylic paint and played about with the positioning.

I die cut another heart with the message 'Be Mine' mounted on mirri board then did my favourite thing .. made some red paper roses with black foil leaves added some heart topped pins and a lock and key, then threaded some red ribbon through the holes and I was done. 

Now who is going to receive my love token .... hubby would be scared out of his wits  :) as there is no other Beau I will have to hope one of the granddaughters will take it off my hands :) . Still I really enjoyed this frivolous project ... why don't you give it a go ... use any of your favourite techniques, stamping, decoupage, altered Art in your favourite style ... go to:  http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ you'll find details there and linking & uploading your project couldn't be simpler, well if I can do it anyone can. We really would love to see what you come up with  .. I find entering these challenges makes me try things I have never done before ... you might surprise yourself.

That's all for tonight Bye xxx Annie