Forever Friends Cards from Forever Friends CD

During my recent absence from blogland I've made a few cards using my Forever Friends CD.  I love this CD which helps  me to create the designs that I love - as I've said before, I love working digitally and have quite a few software programmes which I use for different reasons... While the FF programme is quite simple to use - its quite restrictive too but the amount of images on it helps me to make loads of variations.

Anyway, rather than blog each one separately, I'll include them all in this post.

Apologies in advance for the quality of the pics - I think I took them at night judging by the shadow on the flowers - they will have been cast by my table lamp.

Anyway, this first card is for a lovely lady who is my friends Mother-In-Law.  She recently celebrated her 70th Birthday so I made her this card:

This next card was made for a friend that we met a number of years ago when we went to Barcelona.  She was there with her friend, and I'd taken my Mum and the boys.  We've stayed in touch ever since through emails and texts.  I once went on a 60's weekend to Butlins Bognor Regis with her and took my Mum.  Anyway, she lived in Bedfordshire, but was in Chesterfield for the weekend (last weekend) and she got in touch to arrange a meet-up.  Unfortunately, we never got together cos I wasn't well enough to go.  We said we'd try and re-arrange later in the year.

This next card was  made for my friend and colleague who got engaged on a recent holiday abroad - and it was a complete surprise to her.  Her parter popped the question in Cyprus and they are getting married at the end of this year.  In fact, she is getting married in the same church that I was married in and where both my boys were christened.  A beautiful village Church in Heath, Derbyshire.  She came to see me to discuss her wedding stationery which was lovely as she valued my advice and opinion.

The next one is for another colleague who recently had her tonsils out - which was not a decision they take lightly these days - and she's in her 50's.  It was bad enough when I had mine taken out when I was 22 and DS was only 8 months old.  I had a good idea how she's be feeling, so I sent her this to cheer her up.

This next card was made for a friend I have made through crafting - who is also called Paula.  She now has her own blog and makes some wonderful cards of her own - her blog is called Yorkshire Crafters - check out her creations here

I am in the process of making another card using this CD - a baby card for a colleague who had a little girl the other day... so I'll show and tell when its completed.

Thanks for reading - I hope you enjoyed these cards.

Hope to see you back here again soon,

hugs, Paula x x x

p.s. - you may have noticed that my easel from Julia is put to very good use time and time again... thank you Julia x

WOYWW 21st July - yey, I'm back!!! (well, WOYWT - cos its Thurs 22nd now)

Hello peeps

I really hope that everyone is ok and having a great summer so far - whether that be blogging, crafting, gardening or even going on holiday (lucky peeps)!!!  Well, sadly - i've hardly been doing any of these things apart from the odd card - which I hope to share with you over the next few days.

Followers and blog buddies will probably notice that I haven't posted since 7th July and haven't really been blogging either - i've had quite a few issues to deal with so blogging and crafting have taken a bit of a back seat.  However, lots of blogging friends have kindly been keeping in touch via e-mail.

Anyway, i'm going to try and make my posts a bit shorter (I hear some of you cheer)!!! leaving the everyday life stuff for the private email conversations for now.

Also - I just want to apologise for not keeping up with you all through WOYWW - and thank all those who have dropped by asking how I am and noticing that i've not been 'around'...

So, without further ado - here is a pic of my desk from last week - more on WHY later!!!

Very untidy industrious!!!

Well, apart from said issues - i've not been up to much apart from being pretty miserable and in a lot of pain - this has not improved at all since I last blogged and have seen the doctor twice in the last two weeks.  I am now on a lot more tablets and still waiting for an appointment letter with the pain specialist to land through my letterbox.

Some news that I can share with you is that our eldest DS is currently in Madrid with school - and has been marching his friends all over the place as, having been twice before, he really knows his way around.  The three of them went to Athletico Madrid stadium on Monday (we'd been there before and watched a game against Deportivo), and yesterday he went to Madrid Zoo - (we've never been there before though) - and today he was supposed to be going to the Bernabau - where we have been twice before - and had lunch there for our birthday - you see - and i've said this before - me and eldest DS share a birthday - and youngest DS is only one week after, so we've taken them twice in the past to Madrid for their Birthday celebrations - so much more memorable than an animate object.  So, even though he's gone with the school - because he's in sixth form and knows his way around (yes, even after two visits he know where everything is and had remembered everything after our first trip having said that we did stay for five nights both times), they have let him and his two friends (both 17) do a bit of their own thing.  I just hope he's putting his Spanish to good use -(unless he's talking a load of crap when he's at home and pretending he's speaking fluent Spanish lol) as, we noticed when we were in Madrid - not a lot of people speak much English - at least not like the touristy holiday type  places.  Which is nice actually.

Anyway, the reason i've not been able to take a piccy of my desk this week is because my camera is in Madrid with DS.  And hopefully he's not lost it - like he has his phone! Well, he says its been nicked - and he's probably said this as he's lost 5 phones in the past 3 years as well as breaking a brand new one after less than two weeks of having it.... DH said that he also nearly lost one in Wimbledon, plus he lost one when I took him to London last November on the tube, before that he lost one within an hour of arriving on a campsite - so, you hopefully get the picture that he's pretty rubbish with phones.  He was on about going to the police station today sometime to report it and will have to claim on the insurance... he did say it was in his bag and that he never left it unattended - so i'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. 

The reason I've got a pic of last weeks desk was because I had good intentions of joining in, but in the end I just never got round to it then had a really bad weekend again - hardly being able to get on and off the sofa come Sunday... Anyway - turns out it came in useful after all!!!

Here is a close up of that bathroom rack i bought from TESCO a couple of weeks ago for £6 - with all my Martha Stewart punches (and one Stampin Up punch) on.

I've made a few cards over last few weeks - it takes me a while to do each one as I have to have the usual break and come back to them later.  I hope to blog them over next few days so hopefully you'll pop back again and have a look.

I will try and pop round to see some desks over next few days - but it'll be sporadic.

Really missed you all - and if you have popped in to read this post - please leave a comment.  Also - if you are wandering what this WOYWW thing is all about - pop over to Julias blog and read all about it... better still - join in!!!!

Thanks for reading - please leave a comment to say you've been - then come back again. hugs, Paula x x x

WOYWW 7th July

This is going to be a short post today as I have some reading to do for interview ... so I'll post then dash off...

here is the desk

The wire basket on the left was £6 from tesco and i'm going to suspend it from the poles at the back - hope it fits - you will see next week if it did...

The tubes of paint stood up towards the right are acrylic paint and were half price from tesco £2.50 each - there is also some new stationery on the chair out of shot... that'll teach OH to make me go to tesco after the hospital...

You may also have spied this on the desk

That was my pressie from the boys visit to Wimbledon - this small jar of sweets was reduced from £7.99 to £4.99 - daylight robbery if you ask me!!!  I could have got some craft stuff with that!!! LOL

Anyway - yesterday I was in a right state - EVERYTHING got on top of me... all the stress of the pain, the heat, the interview... anyway, yesterday, I was trying to type something and the laptop decided to go on a go slow to stop... it was doing a healthcheck despite me saying I wanted to wait... which just added to my frustrations and stress further so I slammed my hand down on the keys in sheer temper and frustration.... and broke the laptop... so last night, we had to go to tesco for a new one cos there was no way I was waiting - OH didn't argue (he daren't) so we got in the car and got one... so here I am, typing on the new super duper laptop with windows 7 and office 2010 (not sure what the differences are just yet).

I will come round as soon as I am able.

Hope everyone is well.  If you want to join in with this madness and show off your mess, tidyness, desk, floor, dining table - where ever it is you craft or what ever you do... visit our Julia at Stamping Ground - she'll explain the rest.  Don't forget to say "hi" and leave a hug wherever you visit - oh do I need a hug right now!!!!

Bye for now, 

Paula x x x

Vamos Rafa, a card and hospital update... 3 for the price of one

Well - Happy Monday to one and all.

I haven't been up to much since posting my last card - the Encouragement card.

I didn't go to Wimbledon in the end, I managed to persuade DH to go in my place and take the boys.

They went off on Thursday morning leaving me to my own devices (until Saturday night).  Wow - I very slowly, carefully and tentitively cleaned up, emptied the laundry basket, wiped and dusted like it had never been done before (and I paid for it afterwards)... I've taken photos for nostalgic reasons, so I can look on them with fondness and remember how tidy my house can look!!! I might even scrapbook the pages LOL!!!

Now obviously when you are drawn from the ballot for your tickets, a) you are never sure what tickets you are going to get and b) you don't know who will be in the competition still at that stage (although when the draw is made, you can work out who you might get)...

So, Thursday when they arrived, they went shopping then Friday was their day at Wimbledon... eldest DS managed to get Nadal's autograph on his ticket and later managed to get Henri Leconte's autgraphed sweatband (EUK)....  And... the best part of all - he got centre court tickets and enjoyed the Murray v's Nadal Semi Final...  All this has been the absolute highlight of his 17 years to date - bless...

While the world, particularly the English LOVE Nadal, he was playing Andy Murray - who has a massive following - although that doesn't apply personally - I think he is somewhat boring, monotonous and full of self importance - and he'll remind you - he isn't British, he's Scottish... But this was Wimbledon - and a great number of the crowd were routing for Murray...

...but not my DS... or his friend.  DS has been a fan of Nadal since before he made it big on the adult circuit - yes - that would have made DS young indeed, but he knows what he likes, and has followed Nadal all that time.... so in the crowd amongst shouts for Murray, came the cries of "Vamos Rafa".  When asked by a Dutch man why they weren't supporting Murray - the answer was simple - "We're massive Rafa fans".... Last year when I went with DS, Nadal had pulled out due to his knee injury - it was the biggest disappointment ever.  So this year, my DS was rewarded not once, but twice - and he's on cloud nine!!!

So we watched the final together and were treated to a great game dominated by the lovely Rafa (did I ever tell you the time we had to go and find his place in Mallorca - we drove the Manacor and drove round until we found the tennis club where Rafa played and was basically brought up on tennis - DS had to go and have a look round the club and buy a top the same as Nadal's from the shop - that was 3 years ago)...

The Wimbledon Champion 2010....

While they were away, I concentrated on completing my statement of application for a job at work  that had to be in by 9.30 this morning so have been working on it right up until I sent it off at 2.30am this morning - just in case I fell to sleep and missed the 9.30 deadline due to oversleeping.

This afternoon I have been to see my Thoracic surgeon, who said he was surprised I was still in pain, but on the other hand, unlike most thoracic surgery which is usually carried out to remove bits of lung etc, mine had been to remove the tumor - which was a tumor (proper term Schwannoma) which is a tumor of the lining of a nerve - in my case the intercostal nerve and this is why I had the pain... intercostal nerve damage - through surgery itself - but because that is where the tumor had been.  He cannot do anything more for me, as a thoracic surgeon, but is referring me as a matter of urgency to a pain specialist.  This will be a consultant anaethetiat that specialises in pain management and he said it was likely i'd have to have a nerve block - what ever one of those is???  So, I just have to wait, in pain, until I get an appointment through.

Anyway - I made a card a week or so ago so I thought i'd show it - no point in coming here and seeing nothing at all....  this was made especially for Julia as a thank you for my lovely WOYWW easel, which has already proved to be quite a valuable asset to my workdesk - i.e. it keeps my cards stood up straight when I try to photograph them...

DP is from Papermania, sentiment is Anna Griffin, flowers - Prima, punch design made with Martha Stewart punch, fern leaves - woodware punch (I think), pearls from stash

Thanks for reading - please leave a comment to say you've been - then come back again. hugs, Paula x x x

Encouragement Card

I have made friends with a lovely lady in Cumbria.  I got 'chatting' with her through the Craftrak site - (I've made some lovely friends through the site) and often 'chat' via e-mail.  Recently, she told me that her daughter has MS.  In fact my friend is in the process of moving house to be nearer to her.

Anyway, she happened to mention that her daughter had been feeling a bit down as she had very recently developed a new symptom caused by the MS.  She is only young (around my age) and has two young children.  Well, it really struck home how lucky I am not to have a condition such as that, and while I might go on about my current state of health and use my blog as an outlet, I can't imagine what it must be like to have something that is degenerative.  Despite me mentioning it from time to time *what do you mean all  the time?* - I never stop thinking how lucky I really am - and how different my news could have been.

I asked my friend if she thought her daughter would mind if I sent her a card - and luckily, she didn't think she would.

Now, the difficult part was deciding what sentiment to use... I didn't think 'Get well soon' or 'Thinking about you" were really appropriate sentiments so I thought I would send one that said "'sending you encouragement'.

Here's how it turned out.

The card base is 6x6.  The die cut mats are some that the lovely Susie Sugar sent to me a while ago.  The ribbon is organza double edged in satin.  The sentiment is from the Anna Griffin set of sentiment stamps I bought a few weeks back from QVC - so are the corners and the flourish under the sentiment.  I put black pearl type gems in each corner as well as on the sentiment mat.

I stuck the ribbon on the card top to bottom, then tied the bow around it.  The stamping was done using Black Tuxedo Momento Ink.

I really do hope that she didn't mind me sending her the card.  I knew how all my blogging friends have made me feel by sending me fabulous cards and hope that she knows that there are people out there who care - even if they haven't met or aren't aware of their existance.  I hope she likes it.

Thanks for reading - please come back again soon.

Hugs, Paula x x x