They did go to the ball

OK - this is a boring Granny post but I couldn't resist showing you this picture of number one grandson, Matt and his gorgeous girlfriend Ally before their school prom. I have to say that it makes me feel seriously old when my grandson looks down at me from his 6' 2" height - I just can't believe where that (nearly) 17 years has gone! Hey, ho!

I also find it amazing what a major occasion the school prom has become now - it makes me slip into 'Grumpy Old Woman' mode and say 'It wasn't like that in my day!!' Anyhoo, I think they had a marvellous time.

I promise to try and post a card next time!

Diane x

Memories

Well, last Sunday was my baby's birthday (my baby is now 38!!) so I made him this card. The image is from the Digi Doodle Shop and is called 'Boy and Dog'. The reason it brings memories is that when Neil was a small boy, my parents had a Retriever called Sadie and she was inseparable from my children when they were around. They could do anything with her so this image reminded me of her and how patient she was with the kids.

Anyhoo, I cut out the panel for the image with my Nesties (of course!) and distressd the edge with Faded Jeans Distress Ink. The image is coloured with Copics and I very carefully kept a list of them, which is below for you. I wasn't too delighted with the colouring of the boy's hair. My son's hair was virtually white he was so fair (he also had hair then!! LOL) but conveying that in coluring an image is not easy! The papers and button are from my stash, as is the rafia. I drew the star by hand on the reverse of the Bazill card and then cut it out. I made up the sentiment from a group of clear word stamps I bought eons ago from Sir Stampalot - sorry don't know who makes them.

Copics used:
Book - Y17, Y38, Y28
Jeans - B93, B95, B97
Hair - Y00, Y21, E41, E43
Socks/Shadow - W1, W3, W5 then Colourless Blender to fade out the shadow
Dog - E53, E31, E33, E35
Skin - E50, E00, E11, E21, R20
T shirt - R22, R24, R27

I hope you like it.

Bye for now

Diane x

All Dressed Up

As soon as I saw this image on someone's blog (I'm sorry but I can't remember whose) I knew I had to buy her. She's from Digi Doodle Shop and I just thought that she was so cute. It makes me think of a saying I've heard many times here in the UK - 'Big hat, no knickers' (or is it 'red hat, no knickers' - never sure!!).

What I did know is that the shoes would be red and the rest of it just fitted in with that. The only problem is....and not a new one for me....it's a while since I made the card but it took me some time to find the right sentiment for it and I don't know which Copic colours I used to do the colouring. I've taken a pretty good guess though and listed them for you below.

The hearts were punched from a Sizzix die I've had for years. The image was cut out with my faithful Nesties and the distressing was done with Fired Brick Distress Ink. The leaves were punched from DP that was lying around in my stash and I used my McGill Pine punch for that. The flowers are from the amazing Wild Orchid Crafts (link in my sidebar) and the ribbon is from Fantastic Ribbons who have a wonderful selection of ribbons at really bargain prices. Buttons are from my stash and scured with some crochet thread.

The DPs are from MME Be Loved Dearest Dots and K & Co Sera Sera. Now here goes for the Copics:

Skin: E50, E00, E11, E21, R20
Shoes and flower: R20, R22, R24
Hat: E40, E41, E43
Hat ribbon: G20,G21, G24

I hope you like her.

Diane x

Wow! I've won an award!

The lovely Neet has very kindly given me this Creative Writer Award - in fact, she gave it to me last Sunday but it's been such a busy week that I haven't had a chance to tell you about it. These are the 'rules of the game' that I have to follow:

Proudly display the award - above

Tell up to six outrageous lies about yourself, and at least one outrageous truth, or switch it around and tell six outrageous truths and one outrageous lie.


1. I married my teenage sweetheart
2. I go to the gym regularly
3. I once appeared at the Royal Albert Hall
4. I climbed Mount Snowdon the hard way
5. My latest novel will be published at the end of the year
6. I love to go to the movies
7. My goal in life is to walk the beaches of the world


OK so these sound boring - but ... which is the lie and which are the truths?


Nominate seven creative writers who might be into doing this. Post links to the seven blogs you nominate and let the owners of those blogs know.


Now to seven creative writers who I admire and who I hope enjoy a bit of fun. Most of these people I only 'know' through the wonderful world of blogging, which is an amazing medium for bringing people together.


Debbie whose blog I visit regularly and always enjoy reading. If you haven't seen her work yet hop over and leave her a comment
Kim a very talented lady whose blog is also another regular stop when I'm able to go blogging around
Dyan also known as Dylan, a mega talented lady whose workshops I enjoy enormously
Mina who produces some fabulous work with amazing regularity
Bev whose blog is another regular stop for me on the blogging round and who never fails to share her techniques with us all
Vix who produces some lovely work
Sandra Hammer a wonderful artist and if you haven't seen her work, do visit her blog

Sorry if I have missed anyone off but the rules made me stop

I do hope the talented ladies I have selected play along with the fun but, of course, there's no obligation - we're all such busy people these days and it's hard to fit everything in.

Tilda is distressed!

So, flushed with success, I made another easel card but I promise not to get stuck in this rut!

I've been admiring lots of wonderful cards with the distressed look on various blogs lately, probably in the main those of the wonderfully talented Hanna and Kim, so I thought I'd give it a proper try. I've never been over impressed with my attempts with this technique in the past so told myself I musn't give up but just try harder.

Anyhoo, just to make it more of a challenge! I didn't want to use distress inks on this occasion, I wanted to use my Copics so, I consulted the videos in my Color me Creative Classroom set up by the uber talented Suzanne (there's a link in my sidebar). Suzanne does some very good tutorials on how to colour with Copics to look like distress inks. (There are also some videos on You Tube for the same technique.) So colouring Tilda was helped very much by these tutorials, although I don't feel I obtained the right look with the (part of) Spring Background but, better next time, hopefully.

There is Glossy Accents on Tilda's bicycle frame, the flowers are from the wonderful Wild Orchid Crafts (another link on my sidebar), the pearls are from The Hobby House, the corners are produced with a Cuttlebug die and the leaves are from a McGill punch, also from The Hobby House. The 'stopper' for the main panel is cut with a Nestie and the sentiment is stamped on to shapes from a Stampin' Up Word Window punch. The layered lace is cut from an EK Success punch called Diamond Lace from, yes - you guessed it - The Hobby House!

I was going to list the Copics I'd used for you but I ended up with as many on the desk that I'd used as I seemed to have still in the containers so I won't bore you with that detail! I distressed all the edges with scissors and Pumice Stone Distress Ink.

I'm going to enter this for the following challenges:

Crafts and me - Distressed
Cute Card Thursday - no designer papers

Thank you for taking the time to look - it's a long weekend here in the UK so enjoy the rest of it!

I finally made one....

... an easel card, that is and I can't believe that it's taken me so long to get around to trying out this design because it's so easy and effective.


So, here she is - Tilda with Tulips perched on the Watercan (sorry for the rather dark photograph). The sentiment is hand printed on the Lace Banner. The pearls are from The Hobby House. The diamante (on the butterfly's wings) are from my stash and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and The Works. I punched the leaves with my McGill Pine Branch punch and used Pumice Stone Distress Ink for the distressing. The lovely papers are from the Papermania Rose Garden collection, which is one of my favourites at the moment.

Now, wonder of wonders, I remembered to note down the Copics I used for the colouring - it's rather a long list:

Tilda's shirt, socks and bow: BG000,00,01 & 05
Tilda's dress, the pink flowers and the butterfly: RV000,10,21,34,95. R20,83,85
Tilda's skin and hair: E50,00,21,11,13,31,25,29
Tulips: Y17 & 21
The grass and leaves: G20,21,24,82 & 85
Watercan: C1,3,5,7 & 9

I hope you like it - I had great fun making it and I definitely won't be so slow to make another easel card!

Thanks for taking the time to look and please leave me a comment so that I know you've called in and I can visit you!

I'm entering this card for the Paper Take Weekly Challenge which is 'Say it with Flowers'.

Lilac time

I've been itching to use this image for ages - you know how you do? Anyway, this seemed like the perfect time of year to use it.

The original plan for the design was totally different, Tilda was going to be set into an early summer scene but ... the best laid plans of mice and men..... so this is how she turned out. I'm not one hundred percent sure about this card because she seems a bit swamped by the curly rose from Wild Orchid Crafts - I just can't resist them. It's difficult to see thatI spritzed the rose amd the asters (from the same source) with Glimmer Mist in Juneberry Wine to glitz them up a bit.

The design is based on a sketch by the lovely Mina although I can't remember where I picked it up (sorry Mina!) I just always loved it so stored it for future use.

The ovals were cut with my trusty Nesties and the smaller one was embossed with a folder from Indentz - a new range of embossing folders by Samuel Taylor, a retailer here in the North of England. The pearls are from The Hobby House. The ones in the bottom right corner started off cream but I coloured them with my Copics.

I hope you're all having a lovely, restful Sunday - thanks for visiting today.