Kindness

I would like to share with you some photos of a gift that a very dear friend sent me. I was so touched by her kindness and by the time and love that must have went into making it. My very talented friend's name is Margaret, and here is a link to her blog to see more of her work.
It is a prayer pillow, or another name for it she says is a 'biscornu', which apparently is French for 'quirky'! The cross on the front is beautiful, but the back is where I overlooked the amount of detailed work put into it. I honestly thought she had bought the material mottled like that and then added the wording, but I was sooo wrong.. Margaret actually stitched every single stitch to make that mottled background- how neat is looks.
Thank you once again Margaret, for your very welcome gift, and of course the lovely card also.

I am so very blessed to have made a couple of really lovely friends on the internet, through crafting. I have never met them, and probably never will, yet these friends have been so very supportive and we have fun sharing our highs and our lows also. You know who you are and I thank God for each one of you.xx

I am looking forward to this evening, when my daughter and her boyfriend arrive from Scotland to spend a week with us. I know things will be upside down and I'll be even more sore and tired, but I can't wait to see them.

Hugs,
Trish

Late again!!

Hi,
I am really struggling to get my act together with this blogging... I wanted to enter this weeks challenge over at Phindy's. It was to have embossing somewhere on your card. I found this week's card patterns layout and proceeded to make my card, only to find the challenge finished yesterday... Doh!! LOL
Anyway, I love the finished result and have decided to enter it into a couple of other challenges..
!) Card patterns- Sketch 72
2)Stamp something- Go digital
3)Stampavie- Anything goes
4) 2 Sisters- Anything goes
5) Papertake weekly- In the garden

A brief list of items used:-
6" x 6" White card
BP's My Mind's Eye- Quite contrary (These were a free gift with 'Cardmaking & Papercraft' magazine)
Image: Petticoat Patty by the talented Phindy
Image cut and embossed using Labels1 nestability and coloured using Promarkers
White card embossed using Cuttlebug Swiss dots folder
'Squares' cut using a Creative Memories punch which my good friend Alice brought me from USA. (Hope you like seeing what I make with it, Alice!!)

Tomorrow is going to be a long day here, as my hubby is away from very early in the morning, to a craft fair at Dunluce castle, Portrush. It is one of his favourite craft fairs of the year, I only pray that the weather will be favourable as it's been very windy with heavy rain all this past week. They depend a lot on passing tourists, it really is so scenic and beautiful on a good day! Hopefully I will get a couple of card orders finished- it will help to keep me busy.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend- however you are planning to spend it.

Hugs,
Trish x

Treats for All

Hi Everyone,
Many apologies yet again for being such a terrible blogger. Health and holidays have hindered me a little which gets me down a lot. I've not been on holiday(unfortunately not able to!) but it is the holiday season here in Northern Ireland and my niece, hubby and little Stephanie were over visiting from Scotland. It was fabulous seeing them and I enjoyed my time watching and playing with Stephie- she's now 9 months old and looking so well after having a tough beginning to her wee life.

There has been lots happening on many blogs and I have added a couple that I love and think you might also enjoy....

Michelle Perkett is having a blog hop which I have now signed up for. This will be my first ever experience of being part of a blog hop, so do come and join in the fun as it sounds exciting.

Simon Says stamp is having an incredible Christmas in July giveaway (see image at side of my blog) The more people that leave them a comment- the more they will give away... it's a win win situation. They have already started the giving, so do have a look and leave a comment while you're there.

The next giveaway I want to mention is from Crafter's Companion. They have a new CD and a range of the most incredibly cute stamps being released this week. The range is called SWALK and to promote it, they are giving away a complete set to one lucky person. Do have a peek- the stamps look really good and there are some lovely cards made by their talented DT's.

Todays card was a commission for a friend's 70th birthday. I used a pyramage set called McDooli clan. I chose this particularly as the recipient was from Scotland and I thought it would be appropriate.

Thank you all for your patience with me and I hope things will improve and my blogging become more regular.

Many hugs,
Trish x

Emerald Anniversary (3)

Hi Everyone,
This is the 3rd in my series of 3 emerald anniversary cards which were made for friends Anita & Mickey, This one is from myself, so I wanted to try something different, and this is very different from anything I've previously made.
The background embossing was made using another 1 of the Glitter Girl's embossing boards, then the segments were trimmed using gold fine line border peel offs to enhance it.
This card was particularly good for using up lots of little bits of scraps etc.
Please let me know what you feel about the card- hubby doesn't like it and says it 'too busy/fussy'
All I know, is it took me ages to make, but the jury's out on this one!!
I welcome all comments.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
1) Allsorts challenge 58- use any form of embossing

Later this afternoon, I have a dental appointment to remove a wobbly tooth which was recommended by the hospital before I have my surgery. I am not looking forward to it at all!! One good thing though, the receptionist has asked me to bring in any cards I have ready, for the prospect of buying- so something good might come out of this appointment after all!!

Hope you all have a good day.
Hugs,
Trish x

Emerald Anniversary (2)

Hi,
Today's post will be quite short as I feel I waffle on too long sometimes!! Please feel free to tell me if you agree with this.


As mentioned on yesterday's post, this is the 2nd emerald anniversary card. It is from Anita to her husband.
I wanted to make a very special card, so I used a white scalloped edge card, 8"x8"
The embossed background is from using the Glitter Girls embossing board- I love using all their different boards.
Using my knife, I cut away areas to reveal green hologram card.
Finished off by using gold fine line border and text peel offs.
Yet again, I will enter this card into Michelle Perkett's challenge on fancy cutting.
I was pleased how this card turned out and so was the recipient.

If you have a minute, please have a look at my friend Elaine's blog- here,. She is giving away some gorgeous stamps, but her cards are a joy to look at.

Have a lovely Sunday.
Hugs,
Trish x

Emerald Anniversary (1)

Hi,
This has been a very mixed week of emotions- up and down like the proverbial yoyo! I had the pleasure of having my sis from Scotland stay for a few days. We didn't do very much which is what she really needed as she works hard, but it was lovely having her company and nice long chats. The weather stayed really good and we were able to use our new decking area to lounge about on and to eat our meals. This area has been a very welcome addition to our house.
Also on the positive side was my daughter's birthday on monday- she loved her 'big boots girl' card (see previous entry for details) and she's looking forward to her teaching term finishing soon to go on a well deserved holiday.
It was also my friend Elaine's birthday this week. She is a very special crafting friend who is very generous with her time and helps me sort out my blog problems etc even though she's new to it all herself (I think I must be a slow learner!!)
On the downside, wednesday saw the 1st anniversary of my Nanny passing away. She was a very remarkable lady who managed to reach her 100th birthday 2 months before passing. She was blessed to have all her faculties intact and lived life to the full- infact she had a better social life than I did!!! I still miss her terribly, but thank God for her life and the special times we had together.

Todays card was a commission for my mum's dear friends, Anita & Mickey. 55 years is quite an achievement. This card is to be sent by my mum.
It is quite a basic A5 white card and punched using 2 of Martha Stewart heart punches and some lovely green hologram card.
The green square is a hologram peeloff and the heart charm is from Craftybitz.

I am going to enter this into Michelle Perkett's challenge of fancy cutting
I made 2 other emerald anniversary cards and will post them in the next couple of days.
Hope you all have a lovely day, especially if it's spent crafting.

Hugs,
Trish x

Feeling my age!!

Firstly can I apologise for not posting regularly. I have many health problems which mount up at times and generally floor me for a while. Hopefully those who have chosen to follow my blog will have compassion and understanding- thank you for this. As I have previously mentioned, I appreciate you taking the time to look at my blog and all the comments are very welcome and help build up my confidence to try different things.

Todays card is for my daughter, Ruth. Her birthday is on Monday- the longest day. I always say that I was very well aware it was the 'longest day' when I was lying in the maternity hospital- I thought the day was never going to end LOL!! That was nearly 24 years ago and it honestly feels a lot less. So much has happened in those 24 years, much of which I can't remember, yet I can distinctly remember giving birth to her. I thank God every day for my children, Ruth and my elder son, David.

When Phindy released this digital image, I knew I had to buy it, as it brought back memories of my daughter when she was about 4 or 5 years old and she came shuffling out to the garage where we were at the time. When I looked down she had her dad's old work boots on her feet, with untied laces dangling- what a sight! We actually have it captured on video, but unfortunately I don't have a photo of her as I would have liked to show you just how alike this image is of her.

Items used;
Phindy- 'Big boots girl' digital image
8"x8" square white scalloped edge card- Craftwork cards
Hot pink & lime green card- Hunkydory
Circular flower die cut, flourishes and ribbon border- Marianne creatables
Hot pink ribbon- old stash
Coloured using promarkers
Layout using Card patterns sketch 68
Happy birthday sentiment- Craftwork cards

Entering this card into the following challenges:
1) Bee crafty challenge 31- Bloomin marvellous
2) Card patterns sketch 68
3) Donna's den of Crafts- This is the 1st challenge... Happy Birthday theme
4) Paperplay week 24- Something old (My ribbon- it's so old and part of a kit I bought about 4 yrs ago!!)
5) Phindy's Friday challenge number 9- One for the girls

Hope you all have a great weekend and that the weather stays nice here in the UK.
Hugs,
Trish x