Sending you all hugs and best wishes

Just a quick note to all my wonderful crafty friends. I am well although a bit exhausted and do appreciate such kind thoughts. Apart from my addiction to a computer game with wee animals, my life has revolved around taking care of young Ezra and our daughter who became seriously ill. She had  surgery last week so is now on the road to recovery and will return to her home before the new year. We are so very pleased with her progress but this grandma is still doing the 4am wake up. Young Ezra has been wonderful throughout although a bit of a handful. The craft room is untouched and the Christmas cards are still in the box unsent but never mind. 
I am sending you all the very best wishes for the jolly season and will be back to enjoy next year with you all. 

Bowler with gifty snippets

Hello to all my wonderful crafty pals. Hope you are all well. Thank you so very much for your comments and also your best wishes for my brother. He was chuffed with his card and very touched by all your thoughts. He is now able to write well and his speech is very clear. He does get tired easily which is a good thing, as he has started to offload some of his social responsibilities and off course others have had to step into his shoes at work.
I have had a real crafty lull at present with too much going on here in bedlam. However my hat had to be done, I didn't make the hat itself. I have quite a number of hats and would love to wear them but being small and dumpy, instead of tall and elegant, well that's life isn't it, lol. At Glastonbury that doesn't matter.
I had plans to steampunk it big time, but for once reality kicked in and I knew that I would never have time to finish what I planned. So I took snippets left over from gifts that I had received from my crafty pals and also knowing that everything has to be weatherproof some shrink plastic and I hope the end result will give you all a smile.

Hugs to all, Flora

I am entering this into the snippets playground 
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 129

Roller Coaster Year

Hello to my crafty pals and Thank You for continuing to encourage and support me. Your comments are keeping my little bit of sanity intact. I wonder what else life can throw at us this year. 
The latest on our roller coaster happenings is my  oldest brother, who is only 62, has had a stroke. The good news is that it was a mild one and physio should have him back to reasonable health. Hopefully he will take this as a warning to ease up on his horrendous work schedule and plane journeys. As always I am sat feeling useless when things happen to family so far away. He lives in Shetland so it's not a case of popping on a bus to see how he is faring.
It is also raining here most of the time which is posing a real problem with our renovations, I suppose I should feel glad I am not a farmer trying to make a living in this. I do think that the rain has swept away my mojo so this is a very simple get well card, but reflects the fact that I am so very pleased to hear his voice at the end of the phone. 
On a lighter note Ezra is on page3 having a long conversation with his robot, in between beating him up, lol. Hope you are all well or on the way to a good recovery and having a bit more sunshine than we are. 

Hugs to all, Flora.

I put the snowmen to bed

Hopefully I will not put my crafty pals to sleep with this post. I would miss you all terribly if I did, as I love reading your comments. I hope you are all well and that life is reasonably fair to you. Having achieved a good balance between drinking coffee and wood preserving, life here has been ticking along nicely, although I have been too tired to blog. 
The BIG tidy is a total mess with my bright decision to use stash as I went along. Everyone knows that this year is total bedlam here so I will be forgiven for these are my Christmas cards. I was tempted to just make sawdust shaker cards. Can I put them in the postbox yet!!!! OK Patricia I will wait a while, lol. Patricia from http://patricia-summerhousecrafts.blogspot.co.uk/ knows I am soooo impatient, I won't be buying anything on pre-order again. 
I felt the snowman decoupage lacked definition so I took out my pencils and pens and had a play. Added to that what do you do with backing papers that are a bit too much, so they became card fronts instead (I won't show these individually but you will get the gist). I may add a bit of glitter before I send them, so apart from some sheets of backing paper that is another empty box. Here come the snowmen plus 3.

Hugs to all, Flora.

finished card

Hello to all my crafty pals and another new and very welcome pal. I am so pleased you all enjoyed my chubby penguins. I was delighted to be reading your comments. Today's post is going to be short. I started this Christmas card last year so it was time to finish it. 
At the top of my blog I have a page "who is playing in my craftroom",  someone new - a clip of my grandson Ezra who is 3 months old tomorrow, fantastic concentration. I cannot believe how quickly the year is flying by. Anyway here is my Christmas card - 

 Hugs to all, Flora

It fell off the shelf

Hello my wonderful crafty pals and a warm welcome to my new pal, sorry I haven't been able to follow you yet but a mixture of blogger and broadband is conspiring against me. Blogger keeps coming up saying I am trying to log in from a different location and I need a verification code again. Last time this happened my blog turned into Portuguese, at least today that is still ok. Thank You all for your comments and I am happy with what I shall be doing on those cards. 
As my title says "it fell off the shelf" so I shall not keep you all in suspenders any longer, it being my Christmas snippets box and my card is heading for the playground. Now I thought I was being clever a year or two ago and bought this cuttlekids penguin die, but boy did I find my brain just wouldn't fix it together properly, so the bits got thrown in the box and here they are today. I think one penguin is missing a white bit. All my Christmas cards this year are going to be bits based, I'm off now to find that snowman decoupage I won years ago, don't remember how or why that came about. 

Paper  and card - card blank is 7 x 5 ,

 Dies used - Wplus9 birthday basics cut from little snippets  for the gifts,

the sleigh cut using my craftrobo (I think)

the cuttlekids penguins,

the backing paper from my scrap box cut using Sue Wilson Seville Die. 

Hugs to all, Flora.

I am entering this into the snippets playground where I love to have a browse

snippets-playground-week-124
and Winter Wonderland challenge "Winter Animals"
christmas blog challenge

Cala Lily

Hello to all my crafty pals and I hope you are all well and coping with whatever life is trowing at you these days. Thank you for looking and commenting on the shiny ones, I appreciate your doing so very much. Hopefully I am more careful with what I buy nowadays. There are a few non-repeats still lurking in the cupboard but I will use them a little at a time. 
Today's card is to meet the simplest request, simple sympathy cards/thinking of you, that can be sent to the families of the kennel customers when one of their pets have passed away. I have been told that my lily cards will be perfect, peel-offs are fine and the inserts are to be totally plain. I can make whatever I want so long as I keep them simple, so you will all have to keep me in line, lol. 
I am sorry that my commenting is very erratic, we are having trouble with the broadband in this area all of a sudden and spent hours without it yesterday. I will try to keep in touch with you all.

Image - Cala Lily by Joanna Sheen 

coloured with polychromus pencils,

Paper  and card - card blank is 6" square 

 Dies used - Spellbinders Radiant & Resplendant Rectangles. 

Hugs to all, Flora.
PS: Thank you Ang for the giggle, you were commenting as I was posting this.

Shiny and Blingy

Hello to my very ignored crafty pals, gosh I am naughty especially as you have been so wonderful about my de-stash and my good news of course. I hope you are all doing well and are seeing a bit more sunshine than we are having here. 
On the conveyor belt today, hee hee, we have the shiny and the bling. I wonder if anyone else has dufex in their drawers!! My oldest daughter did help with the wee bling and has a charity in mind for these. I would like to say that this latest effort has made a bit of a dent in the stash, maybe it will show up better when I have sorted the inserts, envelopes and bags. You will only get a gist of what the cards are like as they are almost impossible to photograph. 
All my doggy and simple sympathy cards have gone and I have been told more will be welcome so you will see some more of those in the following months. Also a selection of my male cards will be welcomed so I think I will be kept busy.
Well the BIG tidy will continue for some time to come so who knows what comes out of the cupboard next. Again I am so pleased that you all visit and comment as I do love reading those. Get ready for shiny photo overload.

                                     

 

Hugs to all, Flora

More notelets and good news

Hello to my crafty pals and I am so pleased you stop by to see me. I need your strength to keep me going with the big tidy. I cannot believe that all I had to do was one die cut and a few card trimmings to get twelve notelets done. I honestly think the stash is breeding, lol. 
Now for my good news, I have to take the bogs back into the craftroom for a bit of a spruce up because this morning we managed to buy our tickets for Glastonbury on the resale, boy were we lucky as the resale finished in fifteen minutes. For anyone who didn't see them on their first appearance, or just needs a smile, they are on 
http://crafty-lark.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/woyww-cheers-me-up.html and sorry I didn't paint them. Now for the notelets and please excuse the photos, lots of shiny bits.

Sorry for missing commenting on some blogs, our internet is going loopy
Lots of hugs to all, Flora.

Neverending Kit

Hello to all my crafty pals and Thank You for wishing me well and commenting on my Gallant Knight albeit he never turned up in reality, that's life of course, lol. I really do enjoy having you join me in my adventures. 
Today saw me heading to the craft show in Shepton Mallet which I did enjoy. The paws survived my weight as I wandered around so I shall hopefully join you all tomorrow. The show was very enjoyable and small enough to bump into a lovely ex-colleague more than once. The only downside was that I only saw about half a dozen red rubber stamps. There were hundreds of clear ones and although I have a huge collection of stamps I would hate to see the demise of actual rubber ones. 
The big tidy up is going very slowly as I decided to use stash. When I first started making cards I bought one of those kits that makes a zillion cards so I made a few A6 cards that can be used as little notelets. I have only done one die-cut, it is on the first card and that was to shrink plastic the big Cheery Lynn Hummingbird, hope you like him. 
Sorry my new stash is not very interesting, some A3 storage, glue which I urgently needed, masks and some bottles from the £1 box which I really like. Hoping to catch up with you all soon.

Hugs to all, Flora

Gallant Knight

Hope you are all well and Thank You all for your lovely comments. I am in great need of a Gallant Knight to comment on all your great cards for me. I am browsing and enjoying your blogs but I tumbled UP the stairs and hurt my paws so typing is being kept to a minimum. I am hoping to go to the Shepton craft show on Friday not that I need anything, lol but I like to see stuff.
This stamp was in the bottom of the bottom box of stamps and I still cannot throw anything crafty away. I cannot say who made it as it came in a box of pre-loved stamps some time ago. If any of you have a spare gallant knight let me know, sample attached (would prefer one without a beard, lol).

Hugs to all, Flora

25 to be celebrated

Hello to all my fun pals and hope you are all well and sending special hugs to anyone not feeling up to par. Thank you for your comments which I enjoyed reading very much. I have been reliably informed that 25 is the new special birthday to celebrate, well I was happy to babysit the little fellow as my daughter got taken out to dinner and a bit of a relax. It is the first time she has left him so a new experience for all. So that is number 2 past the 25 post and daughter number 3 will follow suit next year and have those years just flown by. 
Our motorhome is back home finally, a big delay as the Italians sent the wrong part and it should have come from Germany in the first place. If we ever buy another vehicle it will be the most common make in the country.
I have managed to move the array of things stored in the house back into it so I can now enter my craft space without a hard hat. No excuse not to tidy up in here now, but I am not going to do the vital stats thingy, lol.  I managed to get my first set of cards for this year to the charity shop yesterday, got to put inserts in the next lot and they will follow, the lady in the shop was very enthusiastic about them which made me happy. 
My daughter hates fuzzy or large cards so this card is simple with three die cuts layered using Die-versions solo sentiment Happy Birthday which found it's way into my shopping basket and I think will get a lot of use. Also the Accent IT - Labels & Tags.

Hugs to all, Flora

Barking

Hello to all my friendly pals and Thank You for liking my wishing card. Hope you are all well. My neck is still twinging but I can look about now, just not up and down. It is a bit of a disadvantage at 5 foot 2 inches not to be able to look up of course.
As you all know my attention span is ....... so I cannot find this blog again but it gave me a real giggle. Someone had posted their vital statistics at the side of their blog. It consisted of 

• Number of stamps owned
• Number of stamps used
• Number of dies owned
• Number of dies used
• etc, etc

This appealed to my newly formed OCD tendencies but perhaps not to my sensible side. I could buy new items if I set my optimum usage percentage very low, lol .

OK I know I'm barking so here goes my last 2 doggie cards. The labrador die was a bargain but I realised after I had bought it that I have never seen a labrador standing still. 

Paper  and card - card blank is a 6 inch square , 

backing paper from my scrap box,

 Dies used :- Popystamps labrador ,

Spellbinders Tile Works.

Paper  and card - card blank is a 6 inch square , 

backing paper from old stash,

 Dies used :- Die-namics Chicken Wire ,

Spellbinders Labels 23 and

Wooden  Scottie dog.

Hugs to all, Flora.

Wishing Well

Thank you all for your happy comments, they have relaxed me totally. I have found something worse than driving on the M5 - yes, driving on the M6. These narrowed lanes and contraflows with huge trucks made me tense so in stepped my cervical spondylosis big time. I really hate being such a wimp where my driving is concerned and only managed a third of the distance. 
I also cannot believe that we were stationary on four different motorways on the return journey. I wonder how people cope with travelling on a daily basis these days. It is just as well my works put me out to grass some time ago, good job I'm not a horse of course with all my ailments. 
Now that I have put my little world to rights I shall pop my wee card on here but before that I will share a smile. I have been creating cards with manly colours and was surprised when hubby came to select a card to send, he chose my "too bright" card, lol. Here is today's play hopefully not too dull.

Paper  and card - card blank is a 6 inch square , 

backing paper from a pad with a lost cover, and a bit of mirror card,

 Dies used :- Cheery Lynn  kitten from Kitty Kitty Meow Meow ,

Spellbinders Labels 21 and

Tattered Lace Wishing well.

Hugs to all, Flora

more clean crafting

Hello to my wonderful crafty pals. Hope you are all well today. Thank You for your "timely" comments which I enjoyed reading. My desk space is still down to a 6x6 space and you will know I am in trouble when I start showing 5x5 cards. 
Again that naughty peel off box has been out this time for some cars. As I had a left over stray car you get two cards today. The second one is as uncluttered as I can get. 
I spent time today catching up with putting some more photos of our build on my renovation page, all fun and games trying to get more than one photo in a row, then when you look at the page the layout is different. Oh! well. 
Without further ado here comes the racing team.

Paper  and card - card blank is a 6 inch square , 

backing paper from Anna Marie crafts,

the cars are peel-offs backed with bits of scrap,

 Dies used :- Dienamics Chevron Stripes and Accent-it - Labels and Tabs.

Paper  and card - card blank is a 6 inch square , 

backing paper from Anna Marie crafts,

the leftover car is a peel-offs backed with a bit of scrap,

 Dies used :- Tattered Lace Alphabet Bunting.

Hugs to all, Flora

Clock change day

Just popped  in to say that you are the best pals anyone could have. Thank You for your comments. I am not going to waffle today  and I am not even going to compete with time. Happy memories and enjoyment to all on this Mother's day. Hugs to all, Flora.

Paper  and card - card blank is a 6 inch square , 

backing paper from a candy gift,

 Dies used :- Dienamics Fishtail Flag Stax ,

Spellbinders Labels 23 (leftover) and

Wooden Grandfather Clock.

too simple, too bright

Well here we are and boy did it rain so hard yesterday, good in that I managed to relax wandering around blogland. Had a quick trip out with daughter and grandson, loved having him to push instead of waddling on my crutches, the heavens absolutely opened as he was being put in the car.  I enjoyed reading all your comments very much, so pleased with your visits. Absentminded goldfish brain was also in gear so sorry if I missed anyone.
Unfortunately my relaxed demeanor did not convey itself into my cards and I am not happy with either of these hence my title. Pay attention Flora when ordering dies, as this hummingbird, which I have turned into a too bright kingfisher is about 10 times bigger than I expected it to be, duh. Must try him with shrink plastic. Please feel free to add advice or just have a giggle at these attempts, sunglasses might also help for the second one, lol. 

Paper  and card - card blank is a 6 inch square , 

backing paper from Almanac Collection,

 Dies used :- Memory Box Resting Birds ,

Poppystamps Madison Park Bench and

Magnolia Doohickeys Talk Bubble.

Paper  and card - card blank is a 6 inch square , 

backing paper from Papermania,

 Dies used :- Memory Box Loom Circle ,

Spellbinders Square swatches and

Cheery Lynn Hummingbird and

the splash is from an old dolphin die cutter.

Hugs to all.

Same Background

Hello to my wonderful crafty pals, so pleased you liked my frolicking cats. Had a bit of my brick background left so had to have a play. I am very pleased that my blog has returned to having english instructions of it's own accord, they were a bit difficult to follow in portugese (I have enough trouble with english, lol). 
Our motorhome has a bit of a continuing saga attached at the moment, it went in for MOT and passed but then while still at the garage the doorlock failed and a replacement seems to be as rare as hen's teeth so we haven't had it back. We may be travelling in my little IQ when we go back to Liverpool next week, unfortunately to attend another funeral as my hubby's aunt passed away. She did not want to linger so we are pleased for her. I cannot believe how busy this year has been so far. We will hopefully have the rafters and joists in place on our roof before we set off, rain and hail permitting. I still think I am missing out on global warming.  
My card is for a dog lover this time and uses one of my oldest "dog" dies. I have also used a free sample die-cut, Die-versions solo sentiment Happy Birthday. Oh dear so many temptations, another one for the wish list, lol.

 Hugs to all. Flora

More cats

Thank you all so very much for your comments which I enjoyed reading, hoping to see some of your peel offs appearing soon. This past week I managed to go for a walk with two of my daughters and my gorgeous little grandson, he is doing very well so thank you for asking. I was fair puffed out after the event so have dusted off my exercise machine and have restarted my physio. I was lucky in that the physio set my exercises to do on the machine I have at home so really I have no excuse not to do them - much better idea than using the machine to dry my towel on. 
I am having some success with my decluttering and have unearthed my piano (you think I jest).  Had some fun explaining to my fuzzy FM brain that the left hand goes CBAGF, fortunately it takes headphones so the strangled cat noise can only be heard by me. 
The cats on my card are much more peaceful I think, and I did enjoy popping them all on there. My pal Val at http://aquarius-aquariusblog.blogspot.pt/ was asking what we did before so many lovely dies, my! that question had me thinking about my wonderful addiction, lol. So here is my fun loving cat card which will suit anyone and I am at last also managing to do some of these animal cards I set out to do about a year ago. 

Paper  and card - card blank is a 6 inch square , 

brick card was given to me ages ago,

 Dies used :- Memory Box Bistro Label ,

Poppystamps Leafy Sprig Border & Diamond Background and

All Occasion Cats.

Hugs to all. Flora

A quick bit of sun

Hello my very patient pals. Thank you for continuing to pop in on my occasional visit and also your lovely comments. Today I have a very quick card to celebrate the fact we have had a few days of sunshine in Somerset, we are all breathing sighs of happiness, also another much needed man card.
My de-cluttering continues apace although so far my crafty stash has escaped, lol. The only thing I will say is that craft shopping is now minimum, as we are told that financial recovery is on it's way - I am very proud of my contribution to the said recovery. 
The peel off box has been out again as I do like to use up some of my old stash and they are quite useful when you need a quick card and don't want to make a mess - hmmm does that sound right! 
I also used the Die-namics Sun Ray die which is one of my favourites. Goodness me isn't time flying past, seems to be leaping on in weeks rather than days. Better get this post onto here now and hopefully I will get to visiting you later. In case I don't, and even if I do, I am sending hugs and happiness to all, Flora.

Lets go fishing

Thank you all for your comments which I enjoyed reading very much. Well my grandson has arrived with a bit of encouragement, including a blue light dash between hospitals, as he was determined not to put in an appearance. I don't really blame him as we have had such an appalling spate of weather. I have been watching the news and wonder if I am on the same planet, as we had rain all day yesterday and the news said we didn't. 
I will not be able to blog or comment in the coming week as we travel tomorrow and I shall stay behind on The Wirral for a few days helping out. Fortunately I am not driving as it is 200 miles and today's journey of 60 miles was quite trying. (I really must start doing better with my driving).
With loads of thanks to my pal Hazel at http://hazelsbasketsofjoy.blogspot.co.uk/ as my nappy cake was very well received. It is not to Hazel's beautiful standard but I enjoyed making it and was especially happy with the little romper suit as both parents enjoy fishing and it got a great chuckle. Here is my attempt anyway.  Hugs until I see you all again.

Cats Watching

Hello to all my crafty pals and Thank You for being so kind. I usually find it easy to be on my own rattling about the house, but I have to say I was very glad to be playing with bits of card today, I am still so very pleased that I was introduced to such a relaxing hobby and also for all the inspiration and enjoyment blogland has to offer. I also enjoyed some telly crafting, watching Nancy. 
My card today definitely has cats on it , lol, and these ones were from a free sample again (but already ordered before this month's budget ran out, lol). I think it will make another man card in my box. Hugs to all. xx Flora

Paper  and card - card blank is a 6 inch square, 

red card is Core'dination with a bit of washi tape,

 Dies used :- Die-namics Jumbo Fishtail Banner Stax ,

Poppystamps Garden Trellis, 

Die-Versions Happy Birthday corner,

Cheery Lynn Kitty Kitty Meow Meow and

Sizzix Embossing Folder Burlap.

Man dog hopefully

Hello to my lovely crafty pals and Thank You for your comments which I enjoyed reading very much. I managed a quick look around blogland but if I missed making comments please blame the goldfish attention span. I am not going to mention the w*****r suffice to say we count ourselves extremely lucky sitting up on the Mendips. Sending hugs to all who need them and taking a few from the hug pot as I lost a dear brother-in-law this week. Hubby is away up to Liverpool today and will remain there helping with all that needs to be done. 
Hopefully this is going to qualify as a man card as that is what is much needed in my box. I think it is a dog but I suspect if it grew whiskers it might be a cat, lol. This is one of my oldest dies and had slipped to the edge of the box unnoticed for some time. 
I also wandered around the online crafty shops this week and found my January and February craft budget skipping out the door so quickly, and that was before the Sue Wilson dies appeared. I expect my wish list to look quite lengthy and might have to introduce a priority column to it, lol. I know that I don't need anything else but it is all so tempting.
I am ignoring my stamps and they are waiting patiently but I honestly need a bit of space for stamping and colouring. Without further ado here goes and please excuse the photo.

Paper  and card - card blank is a 6 inch square 

made from pearly card, 

rusty card is Core'dination,

 Dies used :- Ellison Trophy ,

Dienamics Let's Chat & Lattice Fence (sample) and

wooden Dog with ball.