Weebles wobble but they don't fall down..but I do!

Hello from a windswept Glasgow!! We've had such nice ie dry weather lately but today it's howling a gale and not very pleasant at all.

I've got some great news to share with you ...

1) I know it's only been a couple of days since Amanda bid us farewell after her GD spot but I've managed to persuade her to stay on as a permanent Ladybug (stash is in the post!!!)

2) New ribbon and felt arrived this morning!!!! I had a little shopping frenzy the other night and decided to add a few more ribbon lines and felt colours to my website. I hope to have them on very soon and I hope you'll squeal as much as I did when I opened the box lol.

3) Tams is a bit more mobile since her back operation and she's managed to make a card for next weeks TLT!!!

I saw this card on Diane's blog and loved the unusual shape (as well as the image lol). I commented as such and before you could say Ladybug Crafts Ink she'd emailed Lyndsey and asked her to send me the instructions!! No getting out of making it now lol. Make sure you check out both Diane's and Lyndsey's blogs...they make flabulous cards. Diane takes classes that Lyndsey teaches and you can see the instructions for this Diamond Fold card and others on Lyndsey's  Lora Crafts Tutorial blog.

This is my take on the Diamond Fold Card. I hadn't made one before so I did a practice run on scrap paper and it was pretty easy once I got the hang of the folding part.

My friend Pat's daughter and her husband recently adopted a little girl and I wanted to send Pat a card. I love how it turned out though I thought it a bit plain compared to Diane's but the pp I used was really busy and every time I added an embellishment it didn't look right so just settled for the flowers. Pat loved it so that's the main thing. The picture doesn't do it justice :-(

 

I thought Robyn was the perfect image

Jean's progress hasn't been a fast as we thought after my initial visit after her surgery. She's developed a lot of fluid in her lungs and doesn't seem to be able to get rid of it. She's on 100% oxygen which they'd like to get her off. She has post surgery pain which is understandable but they seem more concerned about her lungs at the moment. She's a fighter and I'm sure it will be just a matter of time before they throw her out of HD and onto a normal ward!!

I took Rocky and Ruby up to CB yesterday and met up with Lynn and Pepper. Rocky and Pepper have a great time chasing each other but you'd think they only had a small area to run instead of miles and miles. On one of their passes they flew passed within inches of us and I managed to jump out of the way just in time. But on the second pass I wasn't so lucky. Too busy gabbing to Lynn I didn't see them until it was too late...one of them (neither Rock or Pepper is owning up!) clipped my legs. I thought I was going to do a Weeble (you know the phrase...Weebles wobble but they don't fall down) but my legs flew out from under me and I landed flat on my back with my head hitting the path and my teeth clashing!! As I lay there stunned I could hear Lynn saying OMG Kerry are you alright with me replying...can you hold the flippen' umbrella over my face please lololololol. She helped me up and dusted me off...no broken bones or anything but I was worried about my teeth more than anything. I thought I'd chipped one as I had bits of grit in my mouth but it was either part of a filling or some dirt from the path. I was fine but later on I could feel the effects and was more sore from that than the 20 minute run I had done with Suzy Q the day before... that's a story for another day!!

Right...I'm going to drool over my new ribbon and felt and try and make a card or two.

Have a great day and thanks for popping in.

Catch ya later x

TLT - Amanda's Challenge - Make Your Own Flowers

Mornin! Welcome to another TLT challenge .... this week is the turn of our flabulous Guest Designer Amanda. Sadly this is her last week with us and I know we're going to miss her :-( But you never know...you might just see her here again...stranger things have happened!!! Thank you Amanda for your beautiful cards this past month. Good luck in all you do :-D

Before I yak on about my card ask yourself this question...Am I a winner??? You'll never know unless you make your way to the Challenge Blog lickety split....good luck!!!

Ok, here we go. Amanda's challenge is Make Your Own Flowers...she couldn't have picked a better one since I seem to be making flowers for all my cards these days so I've had plenty of practise. Not that you'd know it looking at my efforts this week lol.

I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and use this challenge to make my MIL her mother's day card. You'll have to excuse the pictures. I finally dragged out my lightbox but one of the lights isn't working. I changed the bulb but it's still not lighting up so I had to make do with a daylight lamp and Photoshop hmph!

Anyhoo I thought Dressing Up Robyn would be perfect so I stamped her with Momento ink and coloured her with my Copics. I mixed it up a bit and made a gatefold card. This one's smaller than my usual square card...it's 4 1/4" x 4 1/4". I used kraft cs for the base and mounts and Imaginesce pp to decorate the panels and inside.

I kept the glitter to a minimum...I know what's wrong with me lol?!!!

the inside

My not-so-perfect flowers

I think this is my favourite part...her sparkly socks lol!!

Luckily I don't have to worry about my mom's card till May which I'll be able to spend with her for the first time in years!!!! I make Sadie one every year too as she's like a surrogate mom.

Sue may or may not have her card posted on her blog today because she had a total computer melt down yesterday :-S She's been working hard at getting it fixed but if her card is not up today it will be some time this week. You will see it on the Challenge Blog so you will get a sneak peek but make sure you keep checking and leave her some ladybug love. You'll find plenty of inspiration from the rest of the Ladybugs in the meantime so off you go, put the kettle on and enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by...hope you have a great TLT!

Catch ya later x

Flat Stanley's Advenutures

Jeanie aka The Spotted Chick emailed me a while ago asking if I'd help out with her SIL's neighbours daughters school project (still with me lol). They had read a book called Flat Stanley whose main character Stanley gets flattened by a bulletin board which allows Stanley to have many adventures. On one adventure Stanley gets mailed to visit some friends who live far away. Each of the class got to colour their own Flat Stanley and send them on their own adventures. My Flat Stanley arrived via Switzerland the other week and after resting today was the day we went for our Scottish adventure with Rocky and Ruby in tow....

In the car ready to go but....

safety first...we buckled up!!

First stop

on the bridge

Second stop

I thought it would be a good idea to take a picture of Stanley at the door ready to go in. Being a Girl Guide once upon a time I came prepared with blu-tack. Unfortunately when I took Flat Stanley off the wall some of the paint came with it!!!!! Oops ... I made a quick exit!

On the beach in Troon

Rocky and Ruby

Royal Toon Golf Course Club House in the background

Playing in the sand

That was our adventure this morning...it was great fun and I'm really pleased Jeanie asked me to play along :-D

I went to see Jean last night. She was so much better than I was expecting and she definitely wasn't loopy lol! In fact quite the opposite...bossing me about. She wasn't happy with the clock in her room and insisted I take it down off the wall and change the time as she thought it was 2 minutes fast! Today she was getting out of bed for a little stroll and hopefully will be back to a normal ward in a few days.

That's it from me today. I hope you've had a great weekend and you have a great week ahead.

Catch ya later x

Update on Jean

Jean finally had her operation to reverse her stoma yesteday although it was touch and go whether she'd get it as the day before her blood results weren't great. We've known for about a month now about the surgery and it has been quite a worrying time as her health has been up and down like a yoyo. She's been in hospital since August last year at which point we thought we were going to lose her so it's incredible that she got to this point. It was a major operation as her heart, lungs and kidneys have been affected badly so I was on tenderhooks all day yesterday. I couldn't concentrate on anything, started half a dozen jobs and completed none. Even colouring couldn't take my mind off it. I spoke to her at 9:15 am as they were about to take her to theatre and was told the operation could last 3 hours or 6 hours all depending on what they found. I kept watching the clock and at 2:30pm thought it was safe to call. She wasn't back...4 pm not back, 5:30 not back 7:15 not back. At this point I started to really worry but she had finally arrived at High Dependency by the time I called at 8:45. I was told the operation had gone according to plan and she was groggy but that was all...they couldn't (wouldn't) tell me anything else on the phone. I called this morning to be told she was talking and doing great and she told the nurse to tell me she wasn't loopy! When Jean had her operation last August the anesthetic made her hallucinate. One day when she was in HD she pointed out the window to the apartment buildings and said they were c**p (her word not mine!) because they'd fallen down three times that day lol. She also had a rabbit on her shoulder she wasn't happy about and a biker at the foot of her bed in full leather gear! This went on for months afterwards and really traumatised her although it kept us highly amused if not concerned when we visited her lol. I think she was more scared of this happening than the actual operation. So her saying she wasn't loopy meant the anesthetic hadn't the same effect thank goodness. I'm going up to see her tonight and speak to the nurses about her op. All going well she should get out of hospital in 3 weeks but it's early days and with Jean's history of being well one week and not the next all that could change. I'm just glad it's over and we can work to get her well to finally leave the hospital.

I received a parcel in the mail from BFF this week. In it was a book, some soy bean seeds and my newest Copics!!!! Karen loaned me a book when I was staying with her last month called The California Club by Belinda Jones. If you want a good book for your hols get it because it's flantastic!!! This next one is called Divas Las Vegas and it's coming with me when I go home in May. So you're probably thinking soy bean seeds...that's a bit random. But you should know by now that I usually have a story about most things I write here and this is no exception lol. When we were in LA and went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner we orderd edemame beans for a starter. I'd never had them before (I belive they're the rage in N/A) but they come in their pods, warm with salt on top. You pick them up with your fingers and slide the beans out of the pod with your teeth. Well, Karen and I couldn't get enough of them and more or less finished them between us. Tracey and Shelly were lucky to get any lol. When we came home Karen and I scoured the supermarkets to find the edemame beans and do you think we could...NO! I'm sure I saw them a couple of years ago when it was revealed Posh Spice was an addict but they obviously didn't take off here. Healthy eating in the UK??? Nah!!! I was so obsessed with getting them I spent ages googling them and finally found a company in England that had them in the freezer section and would mail them to me!!!! I was about to order them when I realised that after p&p it was going to cost me about £20 for 4 small bags!!!! I decided that although I was desperate I wasn't THAT desperate. I have since found them in Holland & Barratt but they're not in the pods and that's half the fun of eating them lol. So with my parcel came a card and inside Karen wrote 'we'll have to grow our own' lol.  I don't think I've told Karen that I don't have green thumbs so I might have to give them to my neighbour who has a greenhouse to grow them for me!!!

This is the card Karen made for me...think it suits our cause perfectly don't you!!

I'm sure Tulip Ruby wouldn't mind a few bean stalks growing amongst her tulips lol. Karen's sewing is amazing...I don't think she knows how to sew crooked!

I think I've got enough time to make a card before heading to the chippy for dinner.... I feel I deserve a night off from cooking :-D

Hope you're having a good weekend and are enjoying the same good weather we are.

Catch ya later x

2 weddings????

What a great morning Nicole and I had yesterday! Not only was it a beautiful and warmish day but wait for it....we found THE dress!! OMG...can't believe it's done and dusted. We arrived at our appointment and looked through all the wedding dresses. Some were stunning and some were, well...OTT lol. They had the dress Nic and tried on on Friday and I picked one, Nic picked another and the lovely lady helping us picked one. She tried on the one she picked and it was nice but I wasn't gaga (not Lady!) about it. Then she tried on mine and it was absolutely stunning. I could feel a lump form in my throat and when the veil went on I'm afraid I lost it a bit....I wanted to bawl  but managed to hold it together by nodding my head and blinking furiously lol. I was like one of those bobbing head dogs in cars but with a quivering lol. I knew then that that was the dress and she really liked it but she tried on Friday's dress again, then the saleswoman's, the 4th dress then mine again and I'm so happy to say she picked mine! I would love to show it to you but Nic's decided only I'm to know what it's like until her wedding. That's the whole element of surprise...the grand entrance of the bride. We're also going to change the order of who goes down the aisle first. Over here (though it's slowly changing) the bride walks down the aisle first followed by the bridesmaids. In NA it's the other way around. I thought it very strange when I went to my first wedding here. I just presumed the bride didn't want any bridesmaids when I saw her first with the bridesmaids following behind her. Not sure the point in that really...the bride really should be making that grand entrance and getting all the gasps...hopefully in a positive way lol.

The other day a friend of Nicole's dropped off some wedding magazines. She was flicking through them when she came across a familiar face...Ryan!! He had done a modelling shoot for Scotland's Best Weddings last year but we never got a copy of the magazine. It was strange seeing him in print like this instead of just the photographs I've shared here in the past.

Here he is....what do you think?

  This is one of my favourites

My other favourite

I've never seen him in a kilt before and I think he looks pretty good. I know Ben and his family (the male side!) will be wearing kilts for the wedding and I would love to see Ryan and Steven wearing one too. I think I can safely say Pierce won't be lol.

Finally, I got an email from The Spotted Chick aka Jeanie the other day with a flabulous LCI card. I think you're gonna love it!!!

How cute is this card!! That sentiment is perfect with Cheeky Jack and I might just have to steal  erm borrow it lol. Thanks Jeanie for another flabulous card :-D

That's it from me today. I've got my Zumba dvd on pause so I'm gonna press the play button and have some fun!

Hope your day is as sunny as ours here in Glasgow!

Catch ya later x

A maniac, a wedding dress and a baby card!

Nicole and I have been busy looking at more venues. We saw a beautiful one on Friday which I think is 'The One' so she's taking Ben to see it this afternoon. The sun was shining so we got to see it at it's best. It even has a resident peacock called Ashley lol!!! On the way back from the venue we almost got pushed off the motorway by what I can only describe as a first class idiot! Nic looked and signaled to get in the right lane and just as we started to change lanes HE (hmph!) doesn't look and doesn't signal and almost takes us out. The fact that he did it twice and didn't even acknowledge his stupidty still makes my blood boil. Since we couldn't get into the lane we needed we had to stay where we were and go another way which took us to near where we used to live. Both of us were starving as was the car so we filled up with gas and I told Nic to drop me off at Gregg's and I'd get us lunch. When I came out Nic was nowhere to be seen but she soon phones hyper excited to say that she'd taken a wrong turn and that she found a wedding dress store!!! Now I maintain everything happens for a reason so if you want to find a positive about almost getting killed then there you have one ...we wouldn't have ended up looking at dresses otherwise lol. By the time I got to the store she already had her hands on one and Anne-Marie the owner was pulling out more. She loved the first one and it was beautiful from the front but the back reminded me of the dresses Laura Ingles wore on Little House On The Prairie! She tried on a few more which were just ok and then an absolutely gorgeous one which she loves. She looked beautiful and I got a lump in my throat and could feel the tears pricking my eyes.  I think she'd like to stop looking but her dad thinks she should have another look around...men!!! I ended up buying the first dress I tried on. I thought I looked amazing but now when I look at pictures I wish my dad had told me to keep looking lol.

Today we've got appointments with 2 bridal stores before Nic and Ben head off. Thank goodness we only have an hour in each one!!

I was asked by a neighbour to make a card for her new grandson and this is what I came up with...

I hadn't inked this Baby Baby image up yet and I'm so glad I did. I loved colouring it and my neighbour loved the card. I was tempted to colour the bear suit blue but decided on brown in the end. I figured one monochrome card for the week was enough!! I pulled out and dusted off my Cuttlebug baby embossing folder and ran it through. I didn't want to cut any of the sentiments off so I just left it whole and I think it worked pretty well in the end.

This little guy is just too stinking cute! Don't you just want to pinch his cheeks lol.

I stamped one of the sentiments from the set and punched it with my SU! word window punch.

I'd like to enter this card in That's Krafty #49

Eeek...Nicole will be here soon and I still have to take the dogs out! Hope you have a great Wednesday.

Catch ya later x

TLT - Gaelle's Challenge - Monochrome

You know what today is...yup...it's TLT and we've got a cracker for you this week. I hope you'll all give this one a try :-D But before I go into the gory details I want to thank those that entered last week's WOW challenge. The numbers were down slightly but the quality was just as amazing as ever! Take a wander over to the Challenge Blog to see if you were a winner and get back to me at lcichallengeblog@aol.com with your choice of stamp (value £6.50) :-D

On to this weeks challenge...it was the turn of our lovely French Ladybug Gaelle and she chose monochrome. Now I don't know about you but to me monochrome is black and white... I've never heard it defined any other way...until now. Gaelle explained it better (I was going to copy and paste it but I can't find her description on the DT blog) but basically the way my small brain sees it, monochrome is shades of one colour. So basically pick a colour and keep your card to that except for hair and skin!!!

I really wanted to use Amber for this card since I've used the other 3 BFF's so that's exactly what I did....see what you think...

The light for these photos wasn't the best and I'm reluctant to bring out my photo tent because I know it will sit on the dining room table until I next entertain and that could be a while lol.

It looks like I've got everything but the kitchen sink on this card lol. I just kept going and going but I think it looks alright. I hope it's monochrome enough otherwise I'm in big trouble!

 I'm really enjoying cutting out the images ala Mary J. Apart from taking up less space than a mounted image it's looks flabulous!

She's just so purdy :-D

I wanted to use more than one sentiment but in a different way and since Amber's a cheerleader what better than having the sentiments coming out of the megaphone.

This is one of gorgeous new ribbons I am selling on my website and yes it comes this way. I've been wanting to use this one for ages...it's a lovely soft pink and would be perfect for a baby card.

The other Ladybugs have got some megalicious inspiration for you so make sure you check their blogs and while you're there why not leave some Ladybug Love. I know some of you might think what you have to say isn't important or worry your comment might sound silly but believe me when I say your comments push us to work that bit harder to bring more inspiration your way.

Have a great TLT and I'll...

Catch ya later x

Phoebe

Hiya...just a quick one as I've got a train to catch in 48 minutes!!

I still had 2 of the BFF's to play with so chose Phoebe to make this card last week. I wanted to make a card for the BFF's illustrator Laura to go along with the stamps I was sending her. It wasn't her birthday (I don't think lol) but she loved her card anyway :-D

This card wasn't my favourite when I finished. If you'll notice there is NO stitching. I was trying to challenge myself and I didn't enjoy it at all. I kept glancing over at my sewing machine longingly as I was using my snot gun to stick the layers together lol. I managed to get to the end without having a break down and once I added the glitter, love blossomed :-D I actually followed a Sweet and Sassy sketch I saw over on Mary J's blog but I think I'm too late to enter. At least I tried!

All the BFF's have got the cutest faces...I just love everything about them

These are individual stamps so you can stamp them as a background or stack them up like I did. Because they're clear stamps it's easy peasy to do.

Anyone see a brown flower before??? You have now lol.

Ok...still have to vacuum and have some lunch so I'm off.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Catch ya later xx

TLT - Michele's Challenge - WOW (white on white)

I don't know where to start. Do I mention the fact that the week has zipped by and it's time for TLT again (boring!) or the fact that we had 101 entries for last weeks challenge???!!!!! 101...can you believe that! I don't envy Sue the task of picking the winners. Thank you to everyone who entered...they're all flabulous!!! Check out the Challenge Blog to see if you're one of the winners...good luck!!!

Before I go onto my card I want to wish our Lovely Ladybug Tams a speedy recovery. She had back surgery yesterday after suffering months of pain. In amongst the pain she managed to finish her cards for last week and this weeks challenges even though I told her not to!!

So this weeks challenge was set by our craftylicious Mary Poppins Michele who chose WOW or white on white. I {heart} WOW cards ... they're so fresh and pure. As I've done a few baby cards like this recently I wanted a change so I went for Bride Nikki and this is what I came up with...

This card came together very easily...don't you love it when that happens! As soon as I'd decided on Bride Nikki,  swirls popped into my head so grabbed my swirl Cuttlebug embossing folder and swirl ribbon....what a perfect match :-D A bit of stitching and some pretty pearls and job done. Oh...and how could I forget...GLITTER lol

I love the fact that there is very little colouring in this image....it took me longer to cut it out!

For a change I glued a little crystal on her dress

I stamped the Congratulations sentiment from the Baby Baby set and punched it out with my SU! Word Window punch.

I guess that's it...I'm not going to waffle today...you've had enough of that from me lately lol. All I'll say is make sure you visit the rest of the Ladybugs and leave some love (we thrive on Ladybug Love!)...you won't be disappointed :-D

Thanks for popping in today

Catch ya later x

Snow??? You gotta be kidding!!

We've had sprinklings of snow the last couple of days but nothing to get our knickers in a twist about....Until this morning that is! Take a look at what I woke up to this morning....

Come on Mother Nature...it's MARCH....it's suppose to be SPRING or at least winter should be OVER!! The snow is still coming down hard and I think the only ones happy about it are Rocky and Ruby. They had a great time when I let them out this morning :-D

I was commissioned for a baby card...twin girls! I hadn't made a twin card using Baby Baby yet and I couldn't decide which image to use but finally settled on the pram/buggy. It took a long time to like this card let alone love it. I started it on Thursday and put it aside then pulled it out again last night and fiddled with it some more. I put the finishing touches on it late last night then went to bed. When I came down this morning and saw it sitting I was quite pleased with it. Let me know what you think....

I've had these charms for a couple of years. I love them when I see them on other people's cards but when I put them on they never look as nice as Anita's, Sue's or Mary J's. Something was missing and I found these little feet when I was rummaging around. I think they look quite sweet on the card and they certainly helped me love my card lol. I just hope the girl who commissioned it and the mom of the twin's do too.

Looks like my day is going to be changed about because of the snow. I was going to go to the mall to pick up a few things for Jean but Suzy Q text to say the roads are really bad so I'll either get the train to EK or shovel my driveway!

Hope you have a great weekend....are you going to be building snowmen???

Catch ya later x