Hic !!!!

By far the very BEST thing about drinking just a little too much brandy is the warm toe effect. How much have I drunk? Em, let's just say I have exTREMEly warm toes.

:)

Hehehe....

well as I'm sitting here...er, sloping here... I thought I'd FINALLY load up pictures of some cards I produced in the summer. I was so busy I never got around to doing this...sorry!

Here is the card I made for Luvbug this year. His birthday was months ago but he still has this card on display!!!

Here is one I made for Jo, my friend from school. I love this stamped image; two wee girls killing time together, just like we used to!

Lastly, Luvbug's sister had a big birthday this year ( I shan't say how big) and this is the card we sent. Luvbug isn't a fan of decoupage. I find it soooo relaxing to do though, and so long as you fancy it up a wee bit it can still be artistic, IMHO. I did a crohet border on this one, which took a TINY crochet needle, so thin you could use it as a bookmark!!! Boy, I must have been feeling extra patient!:

Ah well Scooter has woken up for his midnight (ish) snack. I think I'll give him some of the pork we had left over from Sunday lunch. HE LOVES pork. But have you ever seen it as a flavour of cat food? -Never! This is quite worrying- first, it means they aren't providing a flavour that cats apparently love, and second, it may mean that the reason is cos they use EVERY part of the porker for US! Now THERE'S a sobering thought if ever I needed one!

All different cards....

I posted earlier today about how I've been doing head-wise and stuff, so scroll down if you're up to the heavier stuff!!! Meanwhile, here are some cards that I've made for people over the last month.....

This first one is a birthday card for Luvbug's mum, Oonagh. She's a lovely lady and always makes me giggle......

This is a First Holy Communion card for Luvbug's niece, Yolanda. (The exotic name is because her daddy is from Nicaragua!)

I really enjoyed doing some embroidery again. I took a pattern from an old book on blackwork embroidery and turned it into a cross....

Something completely different next, for the Confirmation of one of Luvbug's nephews....

 Now a Dufex decoupage card. I've seen Dufex for sale on a craft channel on TV and it's true what they say- you really don't get to see the depth of the engraving unless you see it in real life!

As this was a peachy coloured cat, I sent it to Miss Peach. I was very happy when I heard that she loved it :)

 Another Dufex decoupage puss-cat went to Yolanda, for her birthday:

 Lastly, here is another decoupage birthday card, for my friend Josephine's mum. I've known Jo since we were 8 years old!

Decoupage has its critics, but I find it so relaxing to do. This last card is my favourite. It has 6 different layers of coloured card/paper and 5 layers in the flowers which doesn't really show in this photo... Luckily, Jo paid us a visit on Sunday so she was able to take it with her to deliver in person this weekend. I was worried it would get so squished in the post!!!

I think I'll do a bit more sewing. I enjoyed that......

Bye for now!

Two very different cards...

.... but going to the same address!

I made this one for one of Luvbug's nephews. He'll be ten. Always difficult to do boys' cards. I suspect I already sent this chap a dragon card, last year, so I was at a wee loss as to what stamp to use.... cats to the rescue!

I decorated the inside with pawprints....

Then there is this one. This is for the nephew's Mum, who also has a birthday next week. This is a simple decoupage thingy. I use sticky foam pads to get the 3D effect. Occasionally I use gloopy glue, which I enjoy more cos it's gooey and gloopy. But I made this with mum here, and she hates the smell of the glue!

I decorated the inside with a little butterfly, sticking down only the middle so that the wings lift up....

Speaking of birthdays.... ;) I'd had 3 cards already, and opened them all. Ha! Leaving them to the actual day is a sign of age!! Like not trying to find your present. Now, where haven't I looked......

2 more cards..... and nose diving.

Thanks for your comments, especially re. that birthday card. Here's the other one, the one for mum's neightbour, Sylvie. She was 91 on Saturday.

inside....

Here's one I made for my nephew, Alex. He'll be 10 on the 22nd but I'm safe posting it here as my family don't bother with my blogging!!

Meanwhile the strain is starting to show, I think. I had thought I was holding it together soooo well. Too well, maybe.

Mum has burst into tears twice in the last week, clinging on to me and crying. I find it amazingly difficult. It leaves me stunned, shocked. Mum never showed emotion. NEVER. And I don't mean just that she never hugged us or said she loved us, or congratulated us when we did things well. None of that happened. But I also mean she showed no emotion to movies, stories on the news, even the deaths of pets or the burial of my murdered cousin. NOTHING. ZERO. ZILTCH. And so now she is tiny, half the frame she was a few years ago, and she is clinging to my arm, which she has touched more in the last few months than in the rest of my entire life all rolled together, and she is WEEPING. Of COURSE I am being gentle. Of course I am looking after her. Of course I am being the kindest I can be. I just didn't realise what it was taking out of me.

On Tuesday I didn't make it to Art Therapy- 2 weeks in a row now, because I just didn't feel I could leave her. By the evening I think my body had started to rebel! A stye the size of a pea came up on my eye literally within a few minutes. I put my fingertip to my eyelid, expecting to feel a loose eyelash or something, and I felt the lump. By the time I'd got a mirror it had grown. We dashed to the pharmacy and got some anti-infection eye drops. By the time we got back I was feeling sick and dizzy, seeing stars.

We drove mum home early, about 8ish. I went straight to bed. Apart from Fluffy's loud mewling through the night and morning, I slept on and off till after midday Wednesday. Even after I was up I felt wobbly and the room was spinning.

I convinced mum to let me have a sleepy, lazy day on my own. We still rang each other a few times. Then Luvbug picked her up after work, about 5.30. I was still so tired. My eye is better though.

Today, I am tearful and shaky and I can't keep my mind on anything. I feel so low.

I had decided to join a new fitness class starting tonight at the school at the end of my road. But I didn't get home in time. And it just felt like, oh, why bother. There was I feeling positive, thinking I could meet new friends maybe, or get fit, lose a few pounds and -God forbid- have 90 minutes to myself a week.... but it just isn't to be, is it?

Luvbug lost his rag this morning over his computer. Man, you should have heard the swearing and cursing. It got me downstairs, and more to the point, it turned my stomach over and over. After the rows I grew up with at home, I just can't bear anyone shouting and getting angry. But bang bang, stomp stomp stomp, swearing and shouting at 40-odd decibels. Poor Scooter got a rude awakening and I found him creeping away from the living room.

Well that just left me shattered for the day, dazed and tumbled.

"Oh it was just the machine was playing up and I was late and blah blah blah...." and "You know I would never aim it at you..." so what???? So stir up a foul atmosphere, then smile and go to work and forget about it. SOME OF US CAN'T.

Sorry. Just want to quit, today.

A card- at last!

Mum's new place is on an over 55's complex, but the average age seems a fair bit higher(!) in fact, we've told her she's a spring chicken at 68.

Her next door neighbour but one, Dorothy, is having her 90th birthday party in the communal lounge on the 13th. Mum asked if I could do a 'special' card for her. This is what I've managed. Not having made some for a while, is it ok, do you think??

It's a stamped image which I've coloured with Promarkers, then layered up on lots of scraps of paper, lace and ribbon, and a felt stitched flower, and blobs of 'liquid pearl' paint to add a bit of texture, and some gold peel-off stickers...

Mum likes it, but I'm aware it isn't as nice as tons of others I see around on other people's blogs!!! Hey ho!

Now I've discovered that her neighbour, Sylvie, will be 91 this Saturday, so it's back to the drawing board for another one again!!!!

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Fluffy is definitely improiving. Thank you for your messages, which certainly did calm me down a bit and stop me lying awake at night.

Fluffy, herself, didn't stop me lying awake at night of course, but at least I wasn't worrying my fingernails down over her. Yes, she still wants snacks and cuddles at regular intervals through the night. Any food I leave down as I go to bed won't work, as (1) she forgets where it is and (2) no, no, it has to be fressssssssshhhhhhh meowwww. Oh, and kindly hold OPEN the catflap for me, too, please.

:)

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Feel guilty not being with mum this afternoon or morning, though we've chatted on the phone a couple of times. My tummy is hurting and so I wanted to stay in and feel sorry for it, catch up on laundry, blogging and vacuuming.... she has 'afternoon tea and quiz' at 2.30 so at least she has had something to look forward to and something to do. Though she did tell me how BORED she was. I sympathise, I do, and, as I say, I feel guilty. But I shall be going down there afterwards, and then bringing her here for dinner....

We had a good meeting yesterday with Pat from Age Concern. She filled in lots of forms for us for another benefit mum should be able to get. If so, it will cover the service charge on her place and make her more confident about having the heating on when it's cool...... I hope she gets it! Pat said that if she doesn't, they won't leave it there, they will demand a reason why and chase it up! It's so good to feel someone is fighting for her!


Let me know what you think of that card!!!!!!


ps........... I can't believe it's September!!!!

2 quite different cards...

I tried Twitter this morning. I lasted about 2 hours. Sometimes you just know when something isn't for you!

I am fighting a cold. Luvbug returned to work just recently and already the screaming brats dear children in his class gave him a bug to bring home. It's mostly throaty and shivery. Do you think it could be Swine Flu? If it is, and I eat bacon and eggs, is that cannibalism? Tough if it is, cos that's what I'm going to have for lunch HAHAHA.

Here is a card I made for Alex, my eldest nephew, who reached the grand old age of 9 last week:A Penny Black mouse, instead of a hedgehog, for a change!

And this one is for his mum, who has a birthday next week:I coloured the image with my new Bruynzeel Sakura water colour pencils (much better than my Derwents and a bargain in a sale).
The stamped image is from Stampin' Up! and was a sample sent to me by a SU rep.

- put a flower inside too :)

I made that second one yesterday. It was nice to do some crafting again. I really must get stuck in. I have about 40 "toppers" ready for making into cards. (Ibeati, I haven't forgotten your order! It's almost done!)

Hullo! I'm still here!

-Only just! My internet connection is so rubbish lately! BT Broadband my arse! Have you seen their latest advert? "We are rolling out top speed broadband for the fastest connection ever, even at the busiest times blah blah blah....." yeah, and I'm in training to fly to the moon for my birthday, wearing pink pyjamas and a cowboy hat. STROOOOF!

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On a less frazzled note, here's a card I made for Caroline, whom I've known since I was about 10. It was her birthday last week. I heard from her yesterday that the card and pressie had arrived safely, so now I can show it :) ....The dragonfly stamp and the smaller, swirl stamp were free with Craft Stamper magazine a few months ago.
I used a blank rectangular card but stuck silver swirl stickers to each end and then cut round them to make a more interesting shape. Most of the dragonflies are stamped with Scrappy Cat Chocolate Brown ink, but the black one is stamped in Stazon onto Acetate.

Acetate is new for me. I have experimented with it before, but the results have always been filed in the small circular file on the floor under the desk ;)

-in this last photo you can see the acetate more clearly, and also the irridescent glitter applied to one dragonfly. Sorry to go on, but I really liked this one. LOL!

This was the matching tag for her gift:I'm glad she liked them.

*** *** *** *** ***

Sorry if my lack of posts has caused concern.... please don't worry. I am in a bit of a blue funk at the moment.... not sure what to do with myself.... evenings drawing in again always make me sad, too.... but still plodding on. Hoping to keep going. Coming out of the worst, for now.... the cycling is helping. I really love my bike. Must invest in something waterproof to wear on it soon....

Anniversary Wols and pets galore....

Oonagh and Bill are Luvbug's parents, and it's their wedding anniversary today (52 years, I think.) Luvbug is over in Ireland visiting them at the moment, and he took this card with him to give to them. I'm not sure how he felt about seeing his mum and dad represented in "wol" form though :)The stamp came free with "Craft Stamper" magazine. I love bird stamps.
I stamped the letters of "anniversary" onto patterned paper, then punched out each letter with a flower punch, finishing by outlining each flower with a Sakura Soufle white pen and going over the letters with a clear Sakura glitter pen.

-2 wols inside. This time without the 3D eyes or the glossy glaze. Note that the girl wol has a red beak, as she has lipstick on (obviously haha).

Hey ho! So what do I do when Luvbug is out of town? Um, well there's this lot, to start....

OK, this isn't my usual style, never done this kind of decoupage before, but a pack of 4 sheets, mostly cats??? Couldn't resist. Besides, I like a change. It was relaxing, and fun!


Lorianna, the one on the left is on its way to you. The purple one is going to my mum....

(Why do dog pictures look so sad???)

The black lab is why I bought them, really. My friend Donna, in Missouri, has a black lab called Boston who hasn't been well lately. So this one is off to them!

Is it me, or is that kitten's head way too big???

I love this gold ribbon. Wish I could remember where I got it from. Ms Peach, the one on the right is coming your way :)

I keep hearing/reading that the fashion is moving towards really big cards, but I'm moving in the opposite direction! I like little cards. I think it's because they are easily held. I also love the way these cats sit up above the height of the card.

I like this one. I like the way the blue card picks up the blue of the cat's eyes.

OK now this one's just silly. Why would anyone have a dog the size of a cat when they could just have a cat???

Ah well, they were fun to do as I could sit and do them on a lap-tray- I haven't been feeling too well this week. With stamping I need to be at a table and press down on a hard surface. This is far more sitting-in-front-of-the-telly friendly.

Dragon Card

This week has been far busier and gone far faster than I expected, so I haven't managed to add my new cards to the shop yet, nor think any more about opening an Etsy shop. (-Though I think I will do that... but anyway, watch this space....)

Here is a card I made last week but couldn't show you till the recipient had it- one of Luvbug's nephews, Eoghan (Irish spelling for "Owen"). His 12th birthday was yesterday...I used adhesive 'gems' and 'pearls' for some of the dragon's scales :) and typed out the greeting in MS Word and printed it straight onto the craft paper. These papers and card are from The PaperMill.

I really like how it turned out and have since heard that he liked it too :)