A little late to the party.... Paula's Blog hop!

Hi everyone, I am just back from two wonderful weeks on the beautiful Greek Island of Santorini. Myself and hubby had a fabulous time and returning to 'normal' is proving to be very, very hard!

I haven't managed to get near my craftroom as yet (too much washing to do) so this gives me a chance to share some cards that I made to celebrate the arrival of sweet Lilly Bug a.k.a the newest recruit to the Laird household. Congratulations Paula!

I was all ready to join in the 'Welcome Lilly blog hop' last week but I missed my cue because I was on holiday!

Here is the lovely Lilly at 5 weeks old. I copied this beautiful picture from the lovely Helen's blog.

Helen played postie for all of us girls around the world and kindly delivered our cards to Paula and her family. She therefore had the honour of starting the hop which was organised by Deborah.

Sweet little Lilly was born on the 4th June 2010 weighing 7 pounds 13 1/2 ounces,
Lilly is Paula and Doug's second daughter and apparently Em is taking her role as big sister very seriously!

I sent this card to welcome Lilly.

This is the card that I made for Em,and this is the card for the proud parents!Congratulations, and lot's of love, to Paula and her family.

This is what happens when...

This is what happens when you hang around with Vicky... you feel inspired to try something a bit different and a little bit challenging!

I saw this beautiful card a few weeks ago on Vicky's blog and felt inspired to try and use the little girl from The Secret Crafters cute Rockability stamp on her own. This is the result...
This card took ages but was lots of fun and as you can see she swings across the card on a little silver split pin!
I had to do lots of masking to edit out her dance partner, and then stamp another arm for her!

The birdcage is from Hero Arts and I paper pieced the more solid parts of the cage to give it a little dimension, and then covered them in Diamond Glaze.

I thought it could be cute to put a little hidden message under the cage for the recipient!

Thanks for all your kind messages about my new job. Telling my work friends was every bit as hard as I thought and there were lots of tears. Everyone was really kind and I think they were genuinely pleased for me.

Happy crafting everyone!

Celebrate!

The theme for Challenge #90 at The Secret Crafter is 'Water'.

I have been making some quite complicated cards recently (hopefully they'll be along later in the week), so making this sweet and simple little card made a nice change!

I stamped the cute Hero Arts duck and then added a tiny balloon image by A Muse. I have had the balloon stamp for ages and it took a long time to track it down to a tin full of my older stamps. What a trip down cardmaking memory lane that was!

The water was painted in Tumbled Glass Distress ink and the sky was coloured with Versacolour ink. I added some Stickles to accent the water and some Diamond Glaze to the balloon. All of the cardstock was Stampin' Up Scraps - so I am feeling just a bit pleased with myself.

I also rounded the top right hand corner after taking this picture, which really added some extra interest to the card.

And what is the little duck celebrating... could it be my new job??????

Yes, I have a new job at another library! The library has been closed for over a year while it was fully refurbished. It looks fabulous, and I can't believe that I will be starting as the new librarian in just a few weeks! However, I will be incredibly sad to leave the library where I currently work as the staff are just wonderful - telling them my news will be very, very hard tomorrow.

Have a great Sunday evening everyone!

June Card Chain Challenge

I'm a wee bit late posting the pics of Deborah's fabulous June Card Chain Challenge - especially as we are now in July!

Anyhoo, here is the card that I made, using Deborah's sketch, to send to the lovely Monika.

I also sent this one as a little extra! Monika is such a friendly person, and we got chatting by email. When Monika said how much she liked TGF images I decided to send her one of my favourites: cute digital Audrey. Monika is such a sweetie as she sent me this little beauty for my birthday. This picture is from her blog, as she had taken a far superior photograph to mine!
And just take a look at this fabulous creation that I received from the lovely Jenny in County Wexford!I am just sorry that my picture does not do justice to this gorgeous card. The colours and sparkle are just amazing, and her colouring is breathtaking. The picture on her blog looks lovely and shows this beautiful card in all it's glory!

If you want more Card Chain Challenge loveliness drop by at Deborah's blog to see what everyone else sent and received.

Must go, it's a takeaway Pizza treat for tea tonight!!!!

Strawberries and cream, and Jasmin!

Another gorgeous sunny day, marred only by the fact that England are no longer in the World Cup.

The challenge over at the Secret Crafter this week has been chosen by Victoria. As this is Wimbledon Fortnight she has chosen Strawberries and Cream as the theme for Challenge #89.

I was planning the layout for this card as I drove to Wendy's shop on Friday... actually I nearly drove straight past as I was concentrating on the card rather than where I was going! What this says about my driving I am not sure. This card is for my friend's lovely daughter Emelia. As Emelia is getting a little bit older now, I thought I'd use a slightly more sophisticated image. I hope that she likes the fabulously creative Jo Capper-Sandon's gorgeous new stamp 'Jasmin' as much as I do!

Jasmin was a joy to colour with Promarkers, although I know I haven't really done her justice.

I used Victorian Velvet and Spun Sugar Distress inks to create the background, and stamped the text in Worn Lipstick. I also used Worn Lipstick Stickles around the edge of the card.

I used two beautiful new Hero Arts stamps that my lovely hubby bought for my birthday, and added the little blackbird from a favourite Hero Arts cling set that I have had for ages.

My hubby has gone outside to vacuum the cars... I think he needs to be alone with his dreams of what might have been had England beaten Germany.

It's a funny old game, as they say!

That Friday feeling!

It's another beautiful bright and sunny morning here today and after one heck of a week I am so glad that it is Craftday... I mean Friday!

Today I'm sharing the card that I made for the Challenge #88 over at The Secret Crafter.

This week the challenge has been chosen by my friend Vicky and it is Weddings or Anniversaries. Take a minute to drop by at Vicky's blog for a peek at the fabulous favour box that she made for the challenge... so creative!

I have used one of the new range of Secret Crafter Stamps for my card. The image is called Rockability Couple and is a clear polymer stamp. This was the first time that I had used one of the new stamps that Wendy has produced. I have to say that I am very impressed. The stamp clings nicely to the perspex block and the stamped image is crisp and sharp. There are some great details too such as the girl's sweet handbag and her dashing partner's fabulous footware!

I couldn't decide which colours to pick for my card so I asked my hubby, who chose red and blue.

I wasn't sure at first but I decided to go with his suggestion and I am glad that I did as it makes for a really bright and cheery card! I am just sorry that the pictures are a bit dark... I think there is something slightly amiss with my camera!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!