Friday, 6 May 2022

A Mini Beast Parade Digital Page

 


At Kate Hadfield Designs there are so many fabulous sets it is really easy to get inspired to use them. There are digital stamps which you can colour, coloured versions you can scrapbook or make into digital layouts. Papers, patterned overlays and doodles galore. No matter what your skill level there are so many goodies to play with.


 In honour of National Scrapbooking Day and Teacher Appreciation Day Kate is offering 25% between 6th and 9th May so what better time to add some of these fabulous sets into your collection.

There are some amazing new releases this month one of which is this cute set Mini Beast Parade. It is available in pre-coloured Doodles and also as Digital Stamps. You can buy them individually and as always there is a specially priced bundle including both formats.



There is a free digital scrapbook page template each month and I have used the one for May Blocked and Squared 2. This is only the 3rd ever page I have created and I cannot tell you how much easier it is to create when you have a page template to work with. As a complete newbie it really helps me to be able to be creative without worrying if the layout looks right. 

If you fancy having a go yourself this template and many others are available to download on Kate Hadfield's blog


Now anyone who visits my blog knows I LOVE butterflies so when I saw this new set I just knew I had the perfect photos to create a page with it. This particular visit to the Butterfly Farm in Stratford Upon Avon I was so blessed to have 5 butterflies land on me and my hubby was able to get photos of some. In a bizarre coincidence I have a butterfly tattoo on my right shoulder, just where this particular beauty was. The blue one is really large at about 5 inches across and this is the main photo on my page.

I started with a background paper from Painted Pretties. This is a really useful set with soft coloured backgrounds which I have used for several projects.


Other papers for the square panels have been included using the Spring Papers which is a free download for subscribers to the Doodle Den.


The border along the edges has been created by linking caterpillars together. I mean how cute is a little row of caterpillars with little smily faces ☺

Using the panels I added photos of my visit and doodles and stamps from the Mini Beasts set. The leaf for the leaf cutter ant was added from the Pumpkin Spice Doodles. That is the great thing about Kate's designs, you can mix and match from all the sets and you know they will work together. The only limitation is your imagination.


Over at Kate Hadfield Designs there is lots going on. Kate is really generous with her freebies which are readily available. If you sign up to the newsletter you get access to an extra subscriber area the Doodle Den where there are loads more freebies. There is a gallery full of projects by the Creative Team and customers and so much inspiration for crafters and teachers. I would highly recommend you pop over there and join in the fun.


Digital Images 


Mini Beast Parade Doodles

Mini Beast Parade Digital Stamps

Pumpkin Spice Doodles


Digital Papers


Painted Pretties

Spring Papers Subscriber Freebie



I would like to enter this page into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)


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Tuesday, 19 April 2022

A Very Special Birthday

 


Hi everyone,  Long time no blog!

All has been very quiet for me crafty wise as we have had a very unfortunate emergency in the family.

If you do not wish to read all about it please jump to the ***** for the card details.

Usually on a Wednesday I pick up my mother in law from the supermarket on my way home from work and take her home. As it was so close to Christmas and I knew she had meals out planned I called her on Monday 6th December to see if she needed to go a different day. She sounded like she had a chest infection or something as her lungs sounded full of liquid. I asked if she was feeling okay and she said she had hurt her arm. She lives on her own and she sounded so bad my first thought was she had developed Covid. I was really worried about her so when hubby finished work we went round. She was in a bad state, I tested her for covid and it went positive straight away. She was in a confused state and went in and out of lucidity. She said her arm hurt and it had a lump where it was swollen. Hubby had spoken to her Saturday afternoon and she was fine then but she had not eaten or drank since the Saturday night, nor had she phoned anyone to say she had fallen.  I was just so very grateful that I had called her that day and dread to think what would have happened if I hadn't.

My hubby stayed with her overnight and then spent most of Tuesday speaking to her Dr and trying to get an ambulance. They said they were under so much pressure, nothing available, back of the queue as she was covid positive. After 6 hours of waiting they even told us they could not do anything for her and told us to put it in a sling. We were told we couldn't take her to A & E as they would refuse her due to being covid positive. In the end her daughter took her to a smaller hospital closer to where she lives (but 45 miles away from us). They x-rayed and found she had broken her left shoulder in 2 places. She was not vaccinated and the covid was really bad on her lungs. She was in hospital for 6 weeks and a rehabilitation unit for another 2 weeks. It looks like she developed low blood pressure and collapsed thus breaking her arm. While her lungs were so full of fluid they could only strap it up to immobilise it. They were unable to lay her on her left side or front which made it harder to clear her lungs. We were told twice she had 24-48 hours to respond to treatment and they gave us the most terrible prognosis for her. Basically they said as she was 78, not vaccinated and also a woman if they put her on full ventilation in ICU then she was unlikely to survive. At the very least her quality of life would be minimal afterwards. She was on full oxygen for weeks, not allowed to get out of bed as her BP went too low and they were worried she would collapse.

She needed full time care when she came out of the rehab ward as she is left handed and could do nothing for herself. The first few weeks she went to her daughter's house where she had carers twice a day washing and dressing her. Then on 13th February she was transferred to our house where our council could not provide any care so personal duties fell to me. The first few weeks were just full on and so tiring. Mom was getting up to the loo 4 or 5 times a night and I am a light sleeper so would wake up most of the time too. I work part time but its early morning starts, then shopping, personal care, washing and cooking for 3. It was bloody exhausting I can tell you. My free time went completely out the window so crafting was on a needs must basis. I had to pause all my Design Team commitments as I just could not be relied up to to do anything that was time sensitive.

The most fantastic thing though is that we have been able to rehabilitate her and give her back the majority of her strength and mobility. We got her maisonette decorated, sorted out a long list of things she had needed to get done for a long time and made her home much more welcoming for her. On Sunday 10th we took her back to her place and most days we have popped round to sort things out for her, take her shopping and basically support her. She is surprised how easily she tires and I think it will be a while before she feels 'back to normal'. I'll not lie to you, these last few months have been exceptionally challenging for many reasons but when all is said and done family is super important and we all have to do our part when bad times come. I am just so incredibly proud of the fighter that Mom is and that she managed to pull through this, despite all the naysayers.

*****

It is therefore quite fitting that this first card I have blogged for 2022 is for Mom's Birthday. Considering there was a very real possibility she would not see this birthday I am sure you can agree it was indeed something to celebrate.

I used a digital image that I had already coloured some time ago with Promarkers. I updated it and added lots of twinkle with some glitter markers from Spectrum Noir. I used the colours of blue and yellow as they look lovely together, but also to show support for Ukraine which is just the most awful situation.

The card is 8" square. the patterned paper is a really old Hot Off The Press one with blue card matting layers. The gold edged ribbon has sunflowers which were fussy cut from a DCWV sunflower themed paper. To this I added epoxy alphabet stickers to spell MOM. The sentiment is a Kanban diecut. Finally I added a yellow pearl and a plastic butterfly that looks like it is diamante.

Made by Mandy is not back upto full steam just yet but hoping it will only take a short while for Mom to adjust to living on her own again. As time goes by and she gains more confidence she won't need her hand holding quite so much and I can get back to crafting for pleasure again and get back onto my DT work. I have missed it so much but sometimes in life you are thrown a curve ball and the path leads you in a different direction.

Card Details -


Size - 8” Square

Digital Image - Swallowtail & Sunflower (Just Inklined Retired)

Colouring Medium - Promarkers, Spectrum Noir Glitter Markers

Paper - Citrus Cardmakers Creative Pack (HOTP), Flowers taken from DCWV sunflower themed paper

Embellishments - Ribbon, Epoxy alphabet stickers, diamante effect butterfly trim, Kanban foiled sentiment



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)









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Friday, 10 December 2021

Toy Box Robot

 


Today is my hubby's birthday and this is the birthday card I made for him. He is into tech and gadgets and whilst looking for an aftershave for him I saw this cool new one shaped in a Robot bottle so it inspired me to make a co-ordinating card with the same industrial feel to it.


At Kate Hadfield Designs there are so many fabulous sets it is really easy to get inspired to use them. There are digital stamps which you can colour, coloured versions you can scrapbook or make into digital layouts. Papers, patterned overlays and doodles galore. No matter what your skill level there are so many goodies to play with.



The image is from the Toy Box Stamps pack. There are so many great stamps depicting well loved toys for little kids and big ones too.



I chose to use a masculine colour scheme of greys, blue and black. The robot is coloured with Promarkers and a fine liner for the small details.

I used a self adhesive foiled 'paper' for the grid background. I bought a pack of 5 from Hobbycraft probably 15 years ago. This has been added onto a blue card blank. The patterned paper is a snippet from a Ki Memories sheet I actually used for his card last year and then I just trimmed it with a black cardstock border.

The sentiment is an old freebie from Birds Cards. It is from 2012 and still available to download. Just follow the link. There are loads of free digis and SVG files on this blog and is a great resource.

For anyone interested this is the inside of the gift box with shower gel. It is called Phantom from Paco Rabanne and smells really nice, citrus, vanilla and lavender.




Over at Kate Hadfield Designs there is lots going on. Kate is really generous with her freebies which are readily available. If you sign up to the newsletter you get access to an extra subscriber area the Doodle Den where there are loads more freebies. There is a gallery full of projects by the Creative Team and customers and so much inspiration for crafters and teachers. I would highly recommend you pop over there and join in the fun.

Card Details -


Size - A5

Digital Image - Toy Box Stamps (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Digital Sentiment - Happy Birthday 2U (Birds Cards)

Colouring Medium - Promarkers, Fineliners

Papers - Ki Memories & Hobbycraft


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)















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Sunday, 5 December 2021

Santa & His Helpers

 






I love to take part in many challenges and have been very fortunate to have been included in a list over at 613 Avenue Create of some amazing crafters who have had so many featured projects last year that we are 2020 Master Rockers. I am truly honoured to have been included in such a talented bunch and we have been invited to be Guest Designer during the course of this year.


The challenge theme is always Anything Goes and the 
Optional Twist for December is: Any Holiday



I have created a scene by combining the Santa image from Very Very Merry along with 2 of the little girls from Santa's Little Helpers. 



This card is for my manager and she has 2 little girls. The images come with different hair colours which makes it really easy to personalise your projects.


The image has been printed onto glossy photo paper which really makes the colours pop.


I used an older sketch from Cheerful Sketches for the layout of this card. The papers are from the same paper pad which makes it easy to co-ordinate different patterns with the same colours throughout. Finally I added a sentiment which has been recycled from an old card we received.

Over at Kate Hadfield Designs there is lots going on. Kate is really generous with her freebies which are readily available. If you sign up to the newsletter you get access to an extra subscriber area the Doodle Den where there are loads more freebies. There is a gallery full of projects by the Creative Team and customers and so much inspiration for crafters and teachers. I would highly recommend you pop over there and join in the fun.


Card Details -


Size - 8” Square

Digital Images - Very Very Merry & Santa’s Little Helpers (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Designer Papers - Christmas Basic Style (Craft Sensations)


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)













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Wednesday, 1 December 2021

Marshmallow Snowfolk

 


How on earth is it December already? The last few months since I started working again have flown by in a blur.

It is time for another challenge over at The Paper Funday.
Our challenges are always Anything Goes with an optional twist. 
The twist this time is the theme 'Holiday Time'



We are very fortunate to have 2 sponsors for each challenge this year which means we get to choose which artist we would like to work with. This really is great as it gives us double the choice. We are very lucky with the amazing sponsors that are lined up this year, many of which are old favourites and some are new to me. This month our Sponsors are Polkadoodles & My Besties by Sherrie Baldy


I chose to work with this super cute image Marshmallow Snowfolk Doll 5 from My Besties. I love snowmen images and thought this was so cute.

I coloured the image with pencils and added lots and lots of Stickles glitter glue to the snow figures. The card really sparkles. The image has been framed with a navy blue stitched edge square die and then matted onto silver grey card. This is then mounted onto 3d foam to give dimension

I used a pink snowflake patterned paper from my stash and added a stripe of metallic grey card with embossed snowflakes on it. 

The large snowflake is from a pre-cut pack of shapes I bought years ago at a crafty show. It was cut from iridescent glitter card which has speckles of pink and blue in it so matches with the colours of the snow couple. To this I added a large jewelled brad from DCVW which I find very difficult to part with. This is going to be given to very special friends though so worth it.

Final touches are some little red gems for the berries and an appropriate sentiment.

I hope you will join myself and our fabulous Team over at the Paper Funday Challenge.

Card Details -


Size - 8” Square

Digital Image - Marshmallow Snowfolk Doll 5 - My Besties by Sherri Baldy

Dies - Pre-cut glittered snowflake, Generic stitched square die (Ebay)

Colouring Medium - Arteza Expert Pencils

Embellishments - Gem Brad (DCWV), Stickles Glitter Glue. Small gems



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)



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