Diva's and A Proud Mum!

Morning lovely peeps, my doesn't the time fly!! Can you believe January is almost over already? I haven't even had time to get myself organised this year and I had such great plans lol!

I had a day out in London on Monday, my friend had bought me a ticket to see The Bodyguard musical for Christmas and I had such a lovely time, I was worried it would too much for me too soon as I got picked up at 8.30am and we didn't get home till gone 1am but it was very slow paced with a long lunch and an early supper tucked inbetween the retail therapy!! We are doing it all over again in a fortnight to see The Commitments. The only thing I missed out on was I had to have orange juice in Harvey Nicks Champagne Bar as I'm not allowed alcohol for 6 Months!!

Now the real reason for my visit, it's time for a new challenge over at

DIVA'S BY DESIGN

and this week the theme is

Vintage With Lace

I have to be honest I struggle with making vintage cards though I do love the style, I'm hoping my frayed and torn edges will be vintage enough!!

I used a beautiful Saturated Canary stamp that is having its 2nd outing with me lol, I have so many that I haven't used yet so to use one twice is really rare. It's such a shame they are not carrying on with their challenges this year, not that I joined in that much but I always wanted too!

The papers are Pion and the tiny stamp is from Stampin' Up! My usual flower display is from everywhere!! WOC, Hobby House, Ribbon Girl, Kort Et God and Magnolia and the beautiful little 'love' clip is from this weeks fabulous sponsor, where I spend all my pennies

http://www.liveandlovecrafts.com/

 I dare you to visit and not buy something amazing!! Everytime I go there they have something I can't live without - again!! Head over to the Diva's Challenge blog for all the information you need and some glorious vintage inspiration from my talented teammies.

Before I go some of you that actually read to the end of my waffle may remember I went off to my eldest sons PhD Graduation ceremony a week or so ago in Exeter and I promised a picture.

Meet Dr Jordan James Large.........

I was so proud and on the verge of tears all day!! To think I was so ill just a few days before that I could have missed this doesn't bear thinking about. I'm amazed at what he has achieved, he worked so hard going through school a year ahead of himself from the age of 4 and not stopping till finally at the tender age of 25 he has more letters behind his name than he has in it! A Dr of Mathematics and Economics and (I know I'm biased but) one of the nicest, kindest people I've ever come across.

I love you little man!

I'm crying now lol, what am I like? Thank you to everyone for all your comments, 

all your good wishes and your friendship.

Love 'n' Hugs Laurie xx

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges
Creative Card Crew - Recipe (1 ribbon, 2 papers, 3 pearls)
Inky Chicks - Bingo (Lace, Flowers, Pearls)
In The Pink - Die Cuts & Punches
Allsorts - Vintage
The Ribbon Girl - Anything Goes
ABC Challenge - D = Dazzle

A Purrfect Challenge @ MAWTT

Hello folks, I'm slowly but surely getting back to normal health, I'm surprised how long that takes after an operation and my crafting is coming on very slowly!! Thank you to everyone for the good wishes and fabulous Get Well Cards I've received, I've been feeling very special and very spoilt I can tell you. Just another few days before I'm allowed to drive, thank goodness, I'm going a little stir crazy stuck at home 24-7. I will never moan about having to go out to get the grocery shopping again - well I might not LOL

It's time for a new challenge over at

MOVING ALONG WITH THE TIMES

and my little Scottish friend Janice is hosting with the theme of

CATS

I'm not sure I should admit this as everyone at MAWTT is cat crazy but I'm not a cat fan, they always scratch me. Maybe the cat and I fight for top spot in a household!!

I didn't feel 100% when I made this but I've missed so much over at MAWTT lately I felt was in danger of being sacked if I didn't snap to it!!

(Not really everyone has been so kind and my lovely boss Hazel has been covering my commenting)

 

I did however, decide to go down the Clean and Simple route to speed things up, not that it does as I spend so long deciding if I should add more things to this style of card!! My cat is a rub on, so I haven't even coloured anything here!

Head over to the main challenge blog for lots of much more creative cards and news of a super prize up for grabs this week. We also have 3 new teammies joining our happy band that you can find out about there.

That's it from me, I'm off for a lie down LOL

Love 'n' Hugs Laurie xx

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges....

Use Ribbon @ Diva's

Hello Peeps, this post was all scheduled from before Christmas as I was meant to be away on my holidays but circumstances changed so I thought I'd fill you all in on what's been happening and rewrite it.

I was taken ill on Friday 3rd of January and ended up being rushed into hospital with acute pancreatitis caused by a 'popped' gall stone, jaundice and an infected gall bladder, they decided on Thursday I was too high risk to wait to recover for the operation so they went ahead and removed my gall bladder, I am now home, after swapping 10 days on a sunbed for 10 days on a hospital bed!
Not quite the start to the new year I was planning!!

Good job I had made this card fort the new challenge at

DIVA'S BY DESIGN

and this week is nice and simple (just how I like it)

Use Ribbon

This is a card I made for my Niece for her birthday just before Christmas. I did actually start this card way back last summer as a DT project but I never got it finished with work taking over my summer!

It's very busy but I think I like it!! Hopefully Mackenzie did. The papers are a mix of Bo Bunny and Echo Park and the 'birthday' is a new PTI die that I love. The red letters are tiny wooden ones that I painted and I love a bit of gingham ribbon.

We have a fabulous sponsor this week

http://www.craftyribbons.com/

Head over to the main challenge blog for all the details and some gorgeous inspiration from my teammies.

Thank you for sticking with me, I've been a dreadful blogger lately but I hope things will settle back down in the near future. I don'[t know how long it will take me to actually make a card now, I'm not up to trying yet!!
 I have a trip this weekend that I thought I might miss, but it's so important to me I'm going to risk it, my eldest son's PhD graduation ceremony. If all goes well I'll share some pictures next week.

Thanks for popping over

Love 'n' Hugs Laurie xx

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges.
Deep Ocean - Birthday
Dilly Beans - Celebrations

Charisma Cards - Birthdays
That Craft Place - Charming
Sweet Stampin' - Girly but not Pink

New Year, New Challenge!

Hello folks, a very Happy New Year to you all, I'm just hoping that this one will be better than last year lol, it wasn't my greatest!!

I've been a bit slap dash with my creating and blogging of late and I'm afraid that will continue for a a couple of weeks more then I hope to settle into normal services and some peace and quiet.

Today I've rushed around to make something for the new challenge at

HECK OF A CHALLENGE

and it is just that with a 

'NEW'

theme to kick start the 'new' year!

It can be new baby, new job, new home or even new stash if you had some for Christmas, if that's the case don't forget to tell us what it was you used,

Here's my card for a new baby

A Teddy Bo image I've been meaning to use for ages and some gorgeous Echo Park papers which I can't resist buying when I know I've more paper than I could ever use in 10 lifetimes!!

Head over to the main challenge blog for all the details and some inspiration from my few remaining teammies!! I think there may well be a DT call soon if you'd like to join me!

I'm off on a little holiday on Sunday and I'm not sure if I'll have wifi but I'll be along to visit when I get back if not. Thanks for stopping by

Love 'n' Hugs Laurie xx

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges.....
Crafts 4 Eternity - Something New
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards - New Beginnings
Sweet Stamps - Something New
Simon Says Stamp - Something New