Squeezing In A Quick One!

Hi lovely friends!  As the title of this post suggests.  I'm just popping by quickly before I'm off to the nursing home to see Mum.  I made this card late last night.  I got the inspiration from a video that Jennifer McGuire recently showed on her You Tube channel and I loved it.  It uses vellum and partial die cutting . . . another get well for my stash!

Thank you so much for your visit today and especially if you have left a comment, I will return your kindness, but I'm afraid I am still unable to just visit on speck, but I will get around to you all when things are a little less frantic!

You are all appreciated more than you know! If you have a question, please be sure I have a way to contact you so I can answer, as a lot of you are 'no-reply' bloggers, so I am unable to reply via e-mail.

Still No Mojo . . . So Bought New Stamps!

Hello my friends!  Another quick post today.  Due to my lack of mojo I wondered if new supplies might shake me out of my slump - well that's how I justified it anyhow!  They arrived today and I got them out immediately - usually, I file them for use another day and then . . . forget them!

The stamps were, Mama Elephant 'Brushed Florals' and Concord & 9th 'Perfectly Penned'.  First, I stamped the sentiment, then I built up the florals around it.  I finished it off with some foiled accents.  My mojo didn't make an appearance, but at least I have another get well card for stash now!

I'm sorry if I have been remiss in visiting all your lovely blogs lately, but being so short of time I have only been returning visits.  Hopefully, as Mum gets a little better and I have got things more sorted (there are things needing sorting every day at present), I will be able to return  to visiting everyone's lovely blogs.

Thank you so much for your visit today and especially if you have left a comment.  You are all appreciated more than you know! If you have a question, please be sure I have a way to contact you so I can answer, as a lot of you are 'no-reply' bloggers, so I am unable to reply via e-mail.

Lost Mojo & Finally A Card!

Hi my lovely lovely friends!  Just a fairly quick post today, to let you all know how Mum is progressing.   First, I want to thank everyone who took the time to extend their well wishes, prayers and support for myself and my mother during this very worrying time. 

Here is a brief(ish) explanation of what went wrong.

My mother had had a leg ulcer for months and had been prescribed at least four courses of antibiotics during that time and it had shown no signs of improvement.  At the same time her GP had insisted that she attend the surgery twice a week to have it dressed.  She had also been getting very muddled with appointments and had been getting very short of breath.

Bottom line . . . she was rushed into hospital and it turned out that she has Chronic Heart Failure (for which there is no cure, just meds to ease the symptoms), she also has Sepsis, due to the very long running infection to her leg.  The Sepsis is what was causing her confusion and Delirium (she had also been saying bizarre things, so the hospital did a scan of her brain, as they suspected Dementia or Alzheimers)  However, they said that there was nothing wrong with her brain - thank God - and that it was all due to the Sepsis, which was causing Delirium & confusion!  Her doctors has so much to answer for!

I am happy to say that she is now in a nursing home for respite and recuperation and is gradually getting the treatment that she should have received from her doctors.  We still have a very long way to go and I don't think that Mum will ever be able to manage totally alone, but she will - hopefully - have a certain degree of independence back.  I am still sorting out so many things that had gone wrong, due to mum's confusion and am still attending the nursing home every day to ensure we are back on the right track, so my posts will still be very sporadic and I apologise for not being able to visit all your lovely blogs just yet, but as soon as I am able, I will!

I just found a little time for myself yesterday evening and made this card.  It's not one of my best, but I found that my mojo and motivation had deserted me, but I had realised I have a woeful shortage of get well cards and so wanted to make some for my stash.  Here it is.

I already had the fern stencilled on to the panel before my hiatus, so I just cut the bottom with a scalloped border die. faced a card blank with the check paper and adhered the panel with some wet glue, stamped the greeting and to finish it off, I added some drawn lines to border it and a few drops of gold Nuvo Crystal drops to co-ordinate with the gold sheen of the pearlised embossing paste.

Thank you so much for your visit today and especially if you have left a comment.  You are all appreciated more than you know! If you have a question, please be sure I have a way to contact you so I can answer, as a lot of you are 'no-reply' bloggers, so I am unable to reply via e-mail.

Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge - Embossing On Vellum

Hello my lovelies, how are you doing today, I hope this finds you well.  Another month has whizzed by and that means another new challenge on the Happy Little Stampers CAS blog, where we want to see, embossing on vellum.

As ever, Happy Little Stampers are sponsoring the challenge, so there are prizes to be won!  There are a number of techniques you can use for this challenge and you will find tutorial videos linked over at the challenge for ideas and tips.  Also, check out the rest of the talented design team for even more inspiration!

First, I will show you my card and then explain my process after the pictures - that way, you can leave as soon as you have looked at my card if you are in a hurry!  Here it is,

This was a tricky one to photograph, it leans more towards the pink side, than the blue (as it appears here) but I have got it as close as possible - the reflection off the Glossy Accents didn't help much ... but I digress!

I took a plain, white card base and made a top fold.  Next, I took a water-coloured panel, made with the 'smooshing' technique and die cut a stitched edge panel, slightly smaller than my card base, and adhered it down with tape runner.

Next, I took a piece of vellum and stamped the Kaisercraft 'Birthday' sentiment with Versamark on to a piece of vellum and heat embossed it.

**Tips**

Make sure your heat gun is really hot before applying it to the vellum and start from the back.  Work quickly and don't hold the gun too close, that way you will minimise any warping.

If your vellum has warped, place it between two cutting plates and run through your cutting machine, or place under a heavy book for a while. 

Now, I don't know if you have worked with vellum, but, if you have, you will know what a pain it is to adhere.  I have tried every trick in the book, and none have been successful . . . until now.  The trick I used, was to use, 'Stick It' double sided sticky sheets (it's thin enough, that you can still see through the vellum!)


Thank you so much for your visit today and especially if you have left a comment.  You are all appreciated more than you know!