Quick card

Hello Everyone
Thank you again for your kind comments on my previous post. It's good to know Ang that I am not the only one who makes a card and lay it on their grave
We did have a lovely day. There was 14 of us plus 4 children. I don't think the pub/restaurant quite knew what had hit them! it was very heart-warming to see some of his friends there too. 

Anyway, on to today's post. I think I ought to change my blog name to something like...karenlotty does simple craft. Yesterday, I was asked by a work colleague to make a card for a fellow colleague who has just had an operation on her shoulder. She needed it today to pass around the office.

My latest "thang" is fonts and there are lots of web sites that do some amazing free stuff. "Speedy Recovery" is in a font called Scriptina" and I like to mix fonts. The other one I used is Gabriola

Ingredients

Sentiment printed onto A4 super smooth 250gsm card stock - landscape orientation, trimmed and folded into a 5x7 card 

Memory Box Blushing Bouquet die cut in green and patterned paper and paper pieced from my stash

Docrafts chalks in pink and pale lilac for background - I bought a whole set of about 16 from our "Wotever Scrappy Store" for about £1.50 - Great Bargain!

Sorry it's not very news-y but it's been one of those weeks. Going to V&A museum tomorrow to see the Alexander McQueen exhibition "Savage Beauty and we're going to the Sky Lounge at the Shard! SO.... my week end starts here

See you Saturday

Happy Birthday son

Hello Everyone
Thank you for popping in and if you have the time to leave a comment, again, thank you. I appreciate all of your feedback.
Today's card is posted with great sadness. Today should have been my son's 35th birthday. He died just over 6 years ago. he became too ill to be considered for a heart transplant. I still make him a birthday card. I keep it flat and laminate it, so that we can place it on his grave. My OH writes beautiful poetry (for all occasions) and this is his one for this year. It just goes to show how popular my son is, we are meeting some of his friends and work colleagues (and obviously some family) for lunch. My cards always revolve around ring-tailed lemurs or as in this case beer! Sadly I had already laminated the card before I photographed it. It doesn't quite catch the gold foiling of the word "BEER" on it

The poem

Gary, we miss you very much

Each day you are on our mind

Little things remind us

of a man who was so kind

Another birthday, without you here

We send our love to you

No doubt we will shed a tear

But will celebrate it too

Your life was far too short

But you filled our hearts with joy

Gary, you are so special

Our precious little boy

See you Thursday

xxx

Oldie for Fffriday

Hello All
I've scheduled this post because I am meeting a blogging friend Maria. This will be our second meeting and I'm really looking forward to it. Lot's of chatting, laughs and coffee!
Maureen I have to agree with you, the buttons did look sad in that photo. Perhaps that's why they were such a bargain from Hobbycraft!
Friday night (I'm preparing this on Friday afternoon) will be a visit to a Salsa event where my daughter is a guest teacher, teaching Rueda and lots of dancing until 1am Saturday

Today's oldie inspired by Erika's blog here
It was my first attempt at a fold fancy fold card inspired by Kay from Hougie. No die sets in those days, so I had a go at quilling. The pale lilac was cut using an EK Success punch 
Ingredients
White card
lilac and purple card - Don't know where from
Quilling papers
Pinflair flexi-bend peel off

Another attempt with a very dodgy box I made and I'd progessed to Petal Pair punches. Not sure about the inking too!

Have a great week end everyone 

See you Tuesday

Daisy daisy

Hello Everyone

Today is Thursday isn't it? This week is going so fast. Got an evening to myself today, OH working a late shift. So first thing, I'll be watching Sue Wilson's posted video and on Create and Craft later (4pm and 7pm) and crafting in between. I need to make 3 cards but am also knitting furiously a baby jumper that my daughter asked me to make (she didn't like any of the colours I had in stock) and I'm still making the infamous dress. Tomorrow, daughter is a guest teacher at a Salsa venue, so we'll be going along and then it'll be Saturday when I'll be meeting a friend I have met through blogging - see previous post

It's still hot and sunny here (although storms keep threatening), so I thought I'd post a simple card with daisies. It is based on a design I saw on Create and Craft demoed by Ruth... can't remember her surname, sorry!

Ingredients

DL shaped card, inked with a little chalk bought from our local Scrappy Whatever store

black card

Spellbinder Little Leaves

Sue Wilson complete Delicate Daisies

Hobbycraft buttons

Lyra die

Hello All
The BBQ went very well. The rueda lesson was great fun, with over 100 people joining in! I call it Scottish dancing or Barn dancing  to Salsa music. There is a "caller" shouting out the moves and the rest of us do that particular move and pass partners on etc. It's brilliant when it goes right and a laugh when it all goes pear-shaped
I am very flattered that some of you want to "borrow/use" my "Growing Together" design and yes - feel free. I don't sell my cards on a commercial basis, so no problem at all. I made it originally for a friend who was moving in with his girlfriend

Today's card is for a friend who loves my Art Nouveau cards and Rennie Mackintosh designs

Ingredients

5x7 card blank

My Craft Studio Art Nouveau cd 1

Sue Wilson Gemini collection - Lyra

Black card lightly scored with a Hougie

 

 Another variation with Sue Wilson New York collection - Times Square added

Quick note I am meeting a blog friend Maria A on Saturday. I met her through Sandra's blog (I think you all know this one) here. We are meeting in John Lewis coffee shop in Watford at 10.30ish. if you're in the area, please come and join us for a natter

Take care eceryone

xxx

Oldie for Ffffriday

Hello Everyone
Thank you for visiting, I appreciate you coming by. I value you taking the time and trouble.
Thank you Linda and Tammy for popping across from House of Cards.
Jenny L, you did make me laugh re the reference to a marathon. I am humbled when we visit Harefield Hospital and see recent patients taking part. They award a cup to the one that has taken part who'd had their transplant closest to race day. The day is always the first Sunday in September and last year's winner had had their heart transplant in July - truly amazing. Did you know that there is a transplant athletic team and they have their own Olympics!
Jackie - the dress is finally cut out. I just need to sew it now!

Today's  oldie for Snappy Crafts curtesy of Erika See here

I saw this idea on Pinterest using a Memory Box die. I hadn't got the die and these are my interpretations

Ingredients

6x6" card blank

backgrounds from Serif digikits

Spellbinders D-Lite Vines of Passion,Whimsical Tree and Flower Burst

Hope you all have a great week end, having nails done tomorrow which means a bit of quality time with my daughter and on Sunday we are going to a charity BBQ organised by a Salsa guy for Macmillan Cancer Support where my daughter will be teaching a fun Rueda class and a Cha-cha-cha class xxx

House of Cards July Challenge Food and/or colour

Hello Everyone
Thank you for popping by
I don't know where you got the idea that I do Marathons Jennie L The closest I get to a Marathon is something called a Snicker now. I do a Fun Run once a year at Harefield Hospital which is only 5k long. 
On Tuesday I mentioned that I'd bought an X-cut puzzle shaped die and this is the first project I have made and I'm going to enter it into House of Cards July challenge See here 

This is the photograph for inspiration

And this is my offering. The photo is not showing very well that I'd pieced the puzzle back together and left one fixed with a 3d foam pad. I always make something in its simplest form first. Next time to showcase the separate pieces of puzzle I will space them apart slightly and/or sit some flat and some raised.

Ingredients

6x6 card blank

Serif digikit - a freebie called Eccentric Carousel 2x pieces of material ( The first mat is merry-go-round horses shaded pink to match the pink card

Liddl pink card 

Enjoy the rest of your day. I'm off to Craft Club tonight I am determined to cut out the infamous dress I am trying to make. They have large tables I can push together or a large parquet floor I can lay the fabric on 

Apologies re photos (again!) not sorted camera out yet

xx

Salsa Friend's Birthday

Hello Everyone

Thank you for popping in. A special welcome to Maria and Bibiana. Thank you for joining the dance!

We had a great time on Saturday at a friend's birthday. He's a fellow Salsero and even had laid a "proper" dance floor on their patio. So today's card is his birthday card and as a thank you I created a tag for a shoe bag bought from www.thecleverbaggers.co.uk. I printed it onto T-shirt paper and ironed it on. I tried to get the background really black. It didn't work, so it is a little visible, which is a shame. Now I've got a new sewing machine I will invest in some printable fabric and make them from scratch.

The craft fair didn't happen on Sunday! But OH did take me to one of my local shops where the "deer and the antelope play" and bought A3 black card which I love and is very reasonably priced. An X-cut die just happened to fall into my basket. It's a 4" puzzle die. Watch this space!

My new favourite dies - Sue Wilson Noble Squares

I'm sorry about the quality of the photo's but I've had to resort to my iPod to take photos as camera has broken!

Hope the rest of the week is kind to you all, see you Thursday

Oldie for FFFFriday

Hello All

Thank you for taking the time to pop in.
This weekend looks like we're going to be lucky enough to have sunshine. Tonight we're off to a party of a fellow Salsero and tomorrow OH may take me to a local Craft Fair (what's he after?) Enjoy whatever you have planned.

Today's oldie inspired by Erika's blog Here 

I gave the card to a female work colleague, I was so pleased with it at the time but now I think I was trying to be too clever and made yellow bows to pick out the colour in the "tiles". I will do it again but go for blues or pinks.... It's was inspired by a Sue Wilson design  and this one by me! Here 

Ingredients

7x7" card blank - It needed to be big enough for lot's of signatures

Pale pink and yellow card stock from stash

Sue Wilson Art Deco Embossing folder

Spellbinders Marvellous Squares 

Serif "Aviary" collection Iused a piece of "material" and sized it to fit the die

Sue Wilson 3D bitty bows

Quick card

Hello Everyone
Thank you for popping in. The stitches come out tomorrow - Yay! But I won't get the results of the biopsies until 15th August! Might even go dancing tomorrow night instead of going to watch.
We're off to a party on Saturday night, which should be fun. daughter and fiance going too and OH will meet us there after work. There'll be some of the Salsa "gang" so lot's more dancing, laughs and drinks!

Today's card was made for a friend's birthday last Sunday. He helps at a Salsa event we go to once a month on a Sunday afternoon. The "boss" ( a great friend of ours) had given him the day off. We won't see him now for another month, so I've doctored it for another time. OH saw on FB that it was his birthday and told me about 30 minutes before we left the house! Men!

The original version

The text was made using Serif. I used a 2 inch square shape and rotated it 45 degrees to ensure the text fitted the box

And now the doctored version

I carefully removed the smallest square I had placed the smallest square on with 3d foam pads and replaced it with the above sentiment. Now, I would have used the small square in the SW Adorned Noble Square dies but I had omitted to remove the box before I printed it, so I used the smallest square in the Card Creator matting Basics B

Ingredients

5x5 card blank

The smaller dies from SW Adorned Noble Squares

Spellbinders Card Creator 6x6 matting basics B

Serif digit kit - Corners Brush and Stamps. Next time will do the bottom repeat at the sides!

Free font - Penelope - I liked the swirlyness of this font. It seemed to fit the pattern on the die 

This card probably won't ever get used....

... but I will do a copy!
Thank you everyone for your kind comments and yes, she was an amazing person. 
I am scheduling this (hopefully) as I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon. Thank you for popping in and welcome to any newbies

Today's card was a disaster from start to finish!
Firstly, the stamping of John Lockwood's stamp wasn't perfect, I'd forgotten to dust the card with an anti-static bag. So there's bits of embossing powder in places where there shouldn't be.  There were gaps too  (my fault), circular sentiments needed to hide those mistakes.
I wanted to use CS pva pearl dots on some of the circles. I opened the white and the nozzle was stuck in the lid. Most of the pva ended up on my black trousers! I cleaned it all up, and proceeded to do the dots. Job done I thought, and then noticed that there were a couple of spaces that I'd missed. I carefully took the lid off the white pot again for it to happen once more, this time a large blob landed on the card. I tried to scrape it off carefully, but the fibres of the card started to break. I was a bit angry by now and was prepared to throw it in the bin. But, I decided to spray the rest of the card base with water and rub gently to break the fibres and therefore create a uniform looking card base. It sort of worked!  Hey ho, it's only a piece of card

Ingredients

John Lockwood - Butterfly Striplet stamp

Archival ink black

EK Success Circle cutter

Sue Wilson - Striplet outside edge die

CE - pva glue - black and white

Black cards tock from stash

Sue Wilson - NY Collection - Times Square 

Oldie for FFFFriday

Good morning all and thank you for visiting. I really treasure and appreciate you taking the time out to pop in.
Yesterday was very emotional and if you feel like scrolling down to the bottom of this post I have made a little dedication to my friend
Today's Oldie, inspired by Erika's blog here follows on from Thursday's post and from my very first post here 

I've upgraded it and used a couple of dies. I quite like it and still use the layout but the top Becca Feakin die cut is placed the same way as the topper. In other words swapped the layers. I've also used the deckle edge dies which were my "go to" dies for labels

Julie

I met Julie in 2009. She was student nurse at the time and was one of the many fantastic carers that looked after Gary when he became extremely ill. She is one of those people that could read everyone's mood and knew exactly how to treat it. She'd have us all laughing but also when it was needed she'd be there with the tenderness and sympathy. Part of her job was to give daily heparin injections. She hated doing them (as a student) and poor Gary never complained, and as he'd lost so much weight, were awkward to do, very painful and they used to bruise. She told us later that she always thought of Gary when she had to inject other patients and say to herself stop being a baby and "suck it". She adamantly believes that one night (about 2am) when she was studying, she was on the verge of giving it all up, Gary visited her and told her that she was the best and to carry on. Her last job was as a staff nurse in an intensive care unit. We'd meet for coffee a couple of times a year and she always knew the right thing to say. Along with her two children, she was a member of Team Gary and took part in the Harefield Hospital Fun Runs, helping us to raise funds in Gary's memory. She did them wearing flip flops! Seemingly she wore them a lot as mentioned at her service yesterday. As well as being very emotional, her service also shared laughter which is what she'd have wanted. She'd be so proud of her family. the music they played described her wonderfully, I Will Survive, The Only way is Up, Let Me Entertain You were just a few. They also played Angels and they/we sent her off with Dancing Queen. Julie described Gary as her hero. She was certainly our hero. Bless you Julie and I expect you and Gary are having the biggest party ever

Julie

OH and Julie sharing a joke

  

MAWTT

Hello One and All, if you're getting the sunshine I hope that you re enjoying it
I am so pleased July is out of the way!
This post is picture heavy and so I'm going to keep this brief. I finished it all late last night, so I am going to enter it in the MAWTT challenge whose theme is BABY this week See here

The gift in a different colour way to my previous knitting projects and if I'd really thought about it, I would have used different colours on the card/bag to match - I just went for safe pink!

The layout is based on a Saturday Sketch dated 13th June 2015

The gift bag, I was really pleased with this bag - not my usual "thang" but I will make more for future gifts and just change the colours. I also, didn't have a lot of white ribbon so next time will make that a little longer and will place the velcro more towards the edges of the flap

I got really excited when I discovered a clock "shape" on Serif and you can alter the time to suit

I added a small daisy to the top left hand corner but forgot to photograph it

Ingredients

5x7 card blank

White card - some of it coloured pink to match topper

Serif 

My Craft Studio cd-rom "Young at Heart"

SW Open Daises

SW Pierced Tags

SW Pierced Flags

SW New York Collection - Herald Square

SW Gemini Collection - Lyra

Tonic - Swirls (I think)

I don't think I've ever made something with as many dies! 

Out dancing tonight - well watching, until the stitches come out

Blogger playing me up now so I'm going to hit the "publish" button before I lose the lot!