About Me

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Hull, East Yorkshire, United Kingdom

Thursday 31 December 2009

I`m back!

I`ll start by appologising for being AWOL for so long. I picked up a nasty virus from somewhere ( my Dad I think lol) and although I was only poorly for a few days, it really knocked me for six and took ages to properly get over it. What with the run up to Christmas and everything I didn`t get a lot of time for crafting. Anyway excuses over I`m here now.

I want to wish every one of you a very happy and prosperous New Year and I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

My first card is for my son`s girlfriends birthday which was on wednesday. The stamp is the one I have been raving about  from Flourishes and couldn`t wait to start playing with over Christmas. This is Gerbera Daisy and it`s great because you are not limited to colours. Sons GF is Rachel and she loves bright colours so I coloured this one in Bright Yellow marker. The background paper is from Papermania and I thought the blue contrasted nicely. I a;so got a Martha Stewart  punch from my daughter so I used that along the top. Some flat backed pearls ( ofcourse) to finish off.
The second card is for my daughters friend Karen. It was also her birthday on wednesday and I used the same stamp but this time coloured in bright lilac.
The background paper is Papermania again.  I`ve had this pad of papers for ages and keep forgetting to use them, they are so versatile and come in a good range of colours too. Once again some flat backed pearls to finish off.
Right I`m off to play with my other new stamp now and I promise not to leave it so long this time.
Thanks for popping by .........Lynne xxx

Monday 30 November 2009

Another male card


For someone who doesn`t do male cards, this is my third in as many days I think.
Once again appologys for the photo. I tried to make my own quick lightbox and it obviously hasn`t worked but honestly it looks much better in real life, lol.
This is for my brothers birthday which is tomorrow.
I`ve matted and layered olive and fawn card. The paper is from Artilicious Damask delights cd.
I`ve added some corrigated fawn card and some buttons (not sure about the buttons).
The bird stamp is from Elusive Images Dawn chorus set and the sentiment is computer generated.

Thanks for looking    Love Lynne xxx

Sunday 29 November 2009

Dads Birthday


It`s my Dads birthday in January so I thought I`d get an early start with this card.
He`s a wise old so and so is my Dad so this stamp from Inkadinkado was perfect. Apart from male cards being so difficult to do anyway, I don`t have alot of stamps that would do for him.
He does`nt like cutie cards and, because he`s my Dad, I always think of him as being a bit sophisticated and bookish. This gorgeous owl fits the bill I think.
The backing paper is from a pad I bought from `create and craft` yonks ago and I don`t have a clue who made it I`m afraid.I`ve matted it onto some gold mirror card, added some navy blue ribbon ( no bow this time ). The owl is stamped onto a circle from my new nesties that favourite son (only son lol) bought me for my birthday and mounted onto a gold mirror card circle.
The sentiments are from Rubbadubbadoo and are stamped onto a nestie labels die cut.
All in all I`m rather pleased  with this one.

Thanks for looking
Love Lynne xxx

Saturday 28 November 2009

Pink card

This is another card I made to stop me from overdosing on Christmas.
I just needed to work with something other than red, green, and blue.
I`m actually not too sure about this one, maybe I should have made the base card a bit smaller. Anyway it`ll go in spare card, just in case box.
Another very simple card, the paper is from a freebie download from `Fred she said`.
The roses label is from the `Dreamy flowers collection`by Hinny bop designs.
I`ve added a huge bow and some flatbacked pearls
and a sentiment by Anitas on the smaller label.
Thank you for popping in, enjoy the weekend.  Lynne xxx

Friday 27 November 2009

With Love

I got a bit fed up with making christmas cards so I played around with some papers and came up with this.
Naturally it`s orange ( or at least a bit peachy) as you know its my fave colour and unless I make a conscious decision to use another colour I always end up with an orange one. I think I might have to hide all things orangey for a while.
Any way appologies for the photo, as you know I`m the worlds worse photographer but when I took this one it came out either too dark or too light. I`ve asked santa for a light box for christmas so hopefully that will help.

I love these papers, they are from the Papermania `exquisite` collection and just cry out to be used.
I teamed them up with a piece of peach ribbon and some dark peach roses tied with a bow.
The sentiment is by Anitas and is stamped and embossed in detail gold on a nestie label 4.
I`ve added my usual flat backed pearls to finish and thats it.
Thanks for looking, have a good day Lynne xxx

Thursday 26 November 2009

Blue Christmas

I wanted to make a card that would be good for those who don`t `do` cute. I know my dad hates cards with teddies on so I thought this one would be perfect. A very simple to make card, I don`t do difficult.
The backing paper is by Pink petticoat matted onto silver mirror card.
A piece of baby blue ribbon and a small bow.
I used nesties labels four in silver and smaller one in baby blue pearlised card from Paper Cellar.
The sentiment is Elusive Images `Deck the halls` set stmped with clear ink and embossed with silver detail powder.

I think it makes a quite classy card which is understated without being boring.

Thanks for looking, enjoy the rest of your day,  Lynne xxx

Wednesday 25 November 2009

Christmas Baubles

A couple of weeks ago, Sarita over on littleprincesscards showed us a beautiful card she had made with a brocade stamp. How that girl comes up with some of her ideas is beyond me but this particular one I know she got from a magazine so I hope she wont mind me making a version of it.

Of course I didn`t have the stamps Sarita used but I do have a background stamp from Elusive images that I like alot. This is my take on Sarits card.

I stamped the background stamp in red and cut out circles with my nesties.
Added some tiny red gems and some ribbons
Some larger gems along the red strip to finish off.

Its my birthday today so I`m having a lazy day, finishing off some cards and blog hopping for new ideas.
Thanks for looking   Lynne xxx

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Seasons Greetings

Good morning all, its a horrible day to day, very overcast and drizzly, hence the terrible photograph.
(apart from my now legendary poor photography skills)
Anyway, to the card. This is another stamp from Inkadinkado, this time its the ornate christmas set. I love this stamp, it`s so versatile.
I stamped in clear ink and embossed in detailed gold on a piece of card cut out with a nestie. I chalked the shape with blending chalks and it looks quite pink on here but in reality its much darker.
The paper is from Shabby Princess matted and layered onto sparkly gold card..
I added a ribbon and a huge bow and thats it, quite quick and simple but I`m very pleased with the outcome and I think I`ll be making more of these.

Thanks for looking, enjoy the rest of the day, Lynne xxx

Sunday 22 November 2009

male cards

It`s Alans birthday tomorrow so ofcourse I had to make a card. I don`t do many male cards at all as I think they are so difficult to get right and if I do I usually go for whatever the person has an interest in. There are only so many footie cards a girl can make so this time I went for something completely different.
I used a nestie labels die and blended with chalks.
The main image stamp is `inkadinkado Birds Galore`
The sentiment is by Rubbadubbado.
The paper is Pink petticoat Dots
I used my scallop punch along the bottom and added some black pearls to finish.


The old bugger will be 55yrs old tomorrow but I can`t say too much because it`s my birthday on wednesday and as there are only 2 days between us he is only older than me for a while. Mind you I will make the most of it lol.
Thanks for looking, enjoy the rest of your weekend. Lynne xxx

Thursday 12 November 2009

Jak Heath

No card today but would you all like to visit Jaks blog on `Crafters kitchen` and support her charity after the tragic death of her baby nephew recently. She is selling two gorgeous digi images to raise funds for a vaccine for menningitis. A truly worthwhile charity as I`m sure you`ll all agree.
Thanks for looking   Lynne xxx

Sunday 8 November 2009

Rosy Apples


This is the same stamp as in a previous post from `Elusive images`
but this time I decided to make all the fruit, apples.
I coloured the image with watercolour pencils and gave the apples a rosy glow (sounds like an anti-aging cream advert) with chalks. The berry`s have been glittered to give it some zing and the bow was painted with Twinkling H2O`s.
I added a ribbon and a huge bow and some gems from my stash.
Going to have a shower now before X factor, please let the brothers grim go tonight!!!
Thanks for looking,
                                Lynne xxx

Saturday 7 November 2009

Black and amber Christmas

Now I know these aren`t the usual colours for a christmas card but my grandson Nathan is a mad passionate Hull City fan. He`s a season ticket holder and goes along to every home game with his Pop Pop
( my hubby) and his uncle Alan, my son. So what better than to incorporate city`s colours, black and amber into his christmas card.
I nearly scrapped this card and made a new one because I really didn`t like the way the blanket turned out but I was scrolling through my digi papers looking for black and orange (amber) stripes when I came across this one from Shabby Princess. The thin green stripe matches the blanket exactly so I kept it as it was.
The image is by Mo Manning and I coloured it with markers and water colour pencils. The backing paper is from Pink Petticoat.
Thanks for looking         Lynne xxx

Friday 6 November 2009

Apples, oranges or both


I love this wreath stamp from `Elusive images` at Graphicus. The only problem I had with it was whether the fruit was apples, oranges or both. Could even be neither. So on this one I went along with both.
I also made a dl card which I haven`t done for ages.
I coloured the image with water colour pencils mainly because it`s quite small and I found it easier than with my markers which have quite large tips. I coloured the berry`s ( of which there are millions) with red glitter and wasn`t sure about this at first but they seem to have worked better once dry. The backing paper is from `Shabby Princess` and the sentiment is also from elusive images.
One thing I do like about waterclour pencils is that I can stamp loads of images up and then sit and colour while watching telly without spilling wet stuff all over the furniture. I do have to do my glittering in the craft room though `cos Alan complains when he finds it in his tea!!!
Thanks for looking
Lynne xxx

Thursday 5 November 2009

Cute card


I don`t usually do cute cards but as soon as I saw this `Mo Manning` digi stamp I knew it was perfect for my youngest grandaughter. Ruby Ann will be 17 months at Christmas so we will have a great time this year. Not that we don`t every year but I think Christmas is special for babies.
The image is called Kai in the snow and I think it`s genderless (is that right?)
I coloured her in watercolours and added some glamour dust to her bonnet and pom pom and also to the bottom to look like snow.
The bp is by Pink Petticoat and I added a little bit of glitter to the centre of each snow flake to give it some sparkle. Some gems along the bottom to finish off and the sentiment was computer generated and cut out with nesties .
Thanks for looking
                                                                                                                Lynne xxx

Monday 2 November 2009

How good is this...

I mentioned before about how gorgeous FLOURISHES.ORG stamps are and how much I would love some but thought the postage would be too expensive. Well my youngest child, my darling son said he would buy me some for Christmas but would I order them. How could I refuse.
Unfortunatley no matter what I did the order wouldn`t go through so I sent flourishes an e-mail. The lovely Sharon Doolittle got back in touch with me and over 3 or 4 e-mails we`ve (she) came up with a solution and my stamps are on the way. I know I can`t play with them until Christmas but I am beside myself with excitment AND the postage wasn`t that bad either. For two sets of stamps, and they are good sized sets aswell, plus postage came to less than £25. How good is that!
When they arrive, if I can sneak a peek and photograph them before he hides them away I will post the photo to show you all. If not I`ll probably do it Christmas day `cos they are that gorgeous. I can`t wait..
I just want to thank all the team but most especially Sharon for all her hard work and patience and for going that extra mile. THANK YOU!
Lynne xxx

Thursday 29 October 2009

Big is beautiful!




After feeling pretty pleased with myself on making cheap embellishments (see previous post) I set off yesterday to see what I could find.
I popped into the Range but they didn`t have what I wanted, (still managed to find stuff to spend money on though lol ) so I trundled along to Dunelm just on the off chance. OMG I could have flower arrangments in every room, every corner of every room they are gorgeous. The colours, the massive choice of different types of flower and foliage. All miles too big to put on a card though. But then I found these gerbera daisy`s. Aren`t they gorgeous?

Just 35p each and when you take them apart you get 3 large, 1 medium and 2 small flowers.
They are, obviously alot bigger than the usual card toppers but, hey, big is beautiful.
Thanks for looking
Lynne xxx

Big (cheap) flower embellishments


I was wading through crafty blogs the other night when I came across `Running with scissors` and Leslie Millers lovely designs. On an older post she tells of finding some artificial flowers in the local supermarket which she took apart to make card embellishments. So ofcourse as I`m always on the look out for cheap ways to maintain my passion I dragged out a bag of my own artificial flowers that I kept just in case chintz ever comes back into fashion. All I could find was something resembling a dahlia but when I took it apart I found flat flower heads.A shake about in some soapy water to get the dust off and a pat dry with a towel and look what I made...



It`s my friend Gail`s birthday soon and I always think november is such a miserable month so I thought what better card than a bright, in your face sunny yellow one. The large petals are from my cheap taken apart flower, the white petals are Papermania I think and the middle yellow could be Dovecraft but I`ve lost the packet.
A jewelled brad in the centre, some scoring (as usual) and some bright yellow jewels from my stash and there you have it.
Thanks for looking
Lynne xxx

Saturday 24 October 2009

Sympathy Card


I had some very bad news yesterday when I was told that my brothers, mother in law had died. My brother John and his now wife Jo grew up together and were friends for donkeys years before finally getting thier acts together and of course my Mum and Jo`s Mum, June were friends too. I realised that I had known June for 40 years although I didn`t see her often. I always remember her smiling. She had a wicked sense of humour and if she wasn`t smiling, she was laughing. My heart goes out to Jo and her sister Lynne and of course my little bro John. The world has lost a special lady.

I`m quite pleased with the way this card has turned out. Maybe it`s because its so personal and I spent alot of time on it. Once again appologies for my photography.
The papers are Papermania Christmas papers but I love the damask pattern and  its definately not just for Christmas.
The sentiment is computer generated and cut out with an oval nestie.
I added some ribbon and a bow and some flat backed pearls
Thanks for looking
Lynne xxx

Sunday 18 October 2009


My third and final for today is the snowflake tree also from Inkadinkado. I stamped this onto pale blue card and embossed using white Cosmic shimmer powder. I cut the shape out with my oval nesties, added abit of ribbon and some tiny gems. I embossed some lines down the side to give it a bit of texture.

My second card is much the same as the first except I stamped and embossed in sky blue embossing powder and just added some gems of the same colour.The gems are from The Stampman.

mojo music

Well I think I`ve found a cure for my missing mojo. I came to play yesterday and thought I`d start by playing some music on the pc. Started with a bit of Snow Patrol, a touch of Jam, a full power ballads cd and quite a lot of Royal Scots Dragoon Guards ( can`t get Skye Boat song out of my head now lol ) and finished up with a couple of Led Zeppelin. (Got very eclectic taste). While this was playing I got out all my christmas stamps and just stamped away. Before I knew it I had 3 cards made.
Don`t know if this is a permanant thing or if it just popped back to say hello but we`ll have to wait and see.

My first card is made using Inkadinkado Seasons greetings stamp set. I stamped in clear ink and heat embossed in detail silver. I added some tiny blue gems from Anitas to give it a bit of sparkle, a bit of ribbon and a bow and there you have it.

Saturday 17 October 2009

one stamp + one paper = three cards

I`ve had a strange week, you know when you just can`t get going with anything. I`ve started making loads of cards and then half way through decided that they just weren`t working. To be honest I blame you lot, lol. There I was happily making cards that I thought were not bad, then I started blog hopping and realised that there are some fantastic crafters out there and that I really had to `up the ante` ( or what ever it is ). On top of that my mojo has gone on holiday... in fact I think it`s taken a gap year.
So I`ve reverted to my comfort zone for this post and will have to cross my fingers that mojo comes back soon nice and refreshed.



The backing papers are from Pink Petticoat but I`ve tweaked them on the computer and changed the coloue slightly. The stripey paper is from Artilicious Seasons greeting cd
The stamp is from elusive images and the sentiment is creative expressions. I`ve added some flat backed pearls and some ribbon. Don`t look too closely at this one `cos you`ll see I left a bit of glue near the bow lol.

Sunday 4 October 2009

christmas tree, oh christmas tree

By heck I`m going mad today, two posts in one go. I thought it was time I started on some christmas cards seeing as every one else seems to have been doing them since about July. So I dragged my Artylicious seasons greetings cd out of the rack, dusted it off and began to play.
I had already stamped the tree from graphicus Elusive images but when I put it with the paper I decided it needed something else. A few blobs of glue and a sprinkling of glitter and `voila` fairy lights. I`ve said before my photography is appalling but believe me in real life it looks great.
Phew thats me done for now, hopefully I won`t leave it so long til my next post
bye for now xxx

Autumn card

I told you in my last post that I love this time of year. Not only is it a bit cooler than the summers we have had just lately ( when it hasn`t rained that is ) but the changing colours on the trees are beautiful. Not only that but orange is my favourite colour so I think Autumn was created just for me lol. Which brings me to the card I made to celebrate the season. In this country we don`t celebrate enough I don`t think, our friends across the pond seem to embrace every thing and celebrate it so I thought I`d put it right ( in my loft at least).
The backing paper is from shabby princess and the stamp is by Hero Arts
I`m not sure about stamping orange onto orange card for the sentiment but it looks good when the light catches it.
The sentiment stamp is Anita`s.

Saturday 3 October 2009

View from our caravan window

First of all can I appologise for being a very bad blogger. I know I haven`t posted for ages but I have had soooo much going on. Right excuses over, we were away in the caravan yet again last weekend and I thought I`d take a photo to show you why we keep going back.
As I`ve said before I`m the worlds worst photographer and the light isn`t very good. If I`d bothered to go out the day before, the sun was shining and it was a glorious day but as usual I left it too late. Anyway I hope you can see how the colours of the trees are changing. I love this time of year and the trees look so much more colourful.
Thanks for popping by and hopefully a card soon ...

Friday 11 September 2009

Third and final sweetpea for now

My last card for today is for another sister in law. Her birthday is not until december but I got a bit carried away with my new stamp and had to make it for someone.
Once again I`ve scored and added pearls and the background paper is from papermania.
Just going to check what other colours sweetpeas come in lol
This is the second card made with the sweetpea stamp and is for my sister in law. I`m sure that sweetpeas come in this colour but as its her favourite colour ( I think ) who cares.I did a bit of scoring on the background to give it some texture, the backing paper is from shabby princess and I`ve added some pearls.

Thought I`d died and gone to crafting Heaven

One day last week, after visiting Mum in the home and feeling pretty miserable in the rain, I decided to pop into one of the craft shops in town. It`s actually a fabric and dress making shop but they sell quite a bit of craft stuff so I thought I`d cheer myself up a bit. I couldn`t see any stamps in the shop and when I asked I was told that they were all upstairs and were half price so go and have a good rake. Well, rake I did and look what I found. They are by ART-KURE and should have been £9.99. I`ve never heard od art-kure stamps before but believe me they stamp up beautifully. I`d actually had my eye on some gorgeous sweetpea stamps from FLOURISHES.ORG but as they only sell in u.s.a. the postage is more than the stamps. I am so pleased with myself for finding these stamps, I`m almost beside myself

Any way it`s Mums birthday at the end of the month so this is the first card I`ve made. I`m really chuffed with it. Just wish my photographing skills would improve lol

Monday 31 August 2009

Daughters card

Hi all, I`m back from my bank holiday break, well rested and raring to go. While I was away I made this card for my eldest daughters birthday which is on thursday. She loves poppy`s and the colour red so I`m hoping she likes this card. The poppy`s are a digi stamp from stamping sketchers which I coloured with marvy brush pens. I added some black glitter to the centres to make them pop. The background is done with the cuttlebug swirls and I added some black pearls for effect.

Thursday 27 August 2009

No card again I`m afraid. We have a caravan near York which we get away to whenever we can but usually bank holidays are a no no.They get booked up months in advance so we don`t even bother trying. Anyway, we mentioned it last time we were there and lo and behold... they had a cancellation. So I`m off on my jollies tomorrow til monday. Gonna do nothing but sit on my backside read and make cards.
See you all soon. Have a great bank holiday weekend

Wednesday 26 August 2009

In one of my older posts I told you that I had given up my job. Well I thought I`d try to explain my reasons for this, partly because, although I`d given it a lot of thought, I feel a teeny bit guilty.
My Mum was diagnosed with alzhiemers disease 9 years ago and just over a year ago my Dad had to admit defeat and place her in a home.Although Mum is now at the stage where she doesn`t know who she is let alone us, we still visit her regularly. This means that my Dad is on his own now and to be honest he`s doing a sterling job of keeping the house clean and feeding himself. I thought it would be nice to have more time to spend with both of them while I still can.
I also have 3 grandchildren, Ruby, the youngest is just turned a year and I want to spend time with them too. They`re not children long enough as it is. My eldest grandaughter Charlotte is 13 going on 25 already and Nathan my beautiful grandson is growing up fast.
I have a couple of medical issues that are certainly not serious but can be quite painful sometimes ( actually I think I`m going bad from the neck down) and some of them I can`t even pronounce let alone spell.And, normal people get tennis elbow so how on earth did I manage to get GOLFERS ELBOW???
Any way in short I`ve only been left work for 5 weeks and already I don`t know how I found the time to go to work in the first place.
Right I`ve got that off my chest... still feel guilty though!!!

Wedding cake

Wednesday 29 July 2009

Another thank you card


My second card is for one of the staff at work. She kindly bought me a bottle of wine and some choccy`s (they know me soooo well). This one I chalked the background paper with blending chalks and inked a HeidiSwappe damask stamp with clear embossing ink and clear embossing powder. I quite like the way its come out. I then added some flowers from my craft box and a sentiment off the computer.

Thank You card. A couple of weeks ago I left my Job. It wasnt a high flying type of job or anything and to be honest the only thing I`ll miss are the girls I worked with and our tea breaks lol.
The girls had a collection for me and instead of getting me a pressy, they gave me the money to spend on crafty goodies. I got straight on the computer and ordered myself a cuttlebug machine.
This is the card I made to thank them all.
The main panel is cuttlebugs birds and swirls and the flower is `fred she said` dahlia. The sentiment I did on the computer.