hi everyone.  i'm sorry to have to tell you i have now broken my left wrist after falling on black ice on saturday. i broke 3 bones ,but one is really bad ,so i am going in this afternoon to get it repaired and hopefully get rid of the awful pain.  please take care of yourselves if you are out and about.  wishing you all a very merry christmas.  hugs to you all.  rita xxxx

Just to say I took a really bad tumble down the stairs and hit my head off a cupboard door and then hit the other side off the small loo door and it threw me in to the cloakroom at full blast and I have badly hurt my tail bone, right hand,both elbows and my neck as well as multiple bruses to my head and body. I really cannot sit for long and although in great pain I had to come and tell you why I had been missing . Hoping once my hand heals up properly I will be back to my cardmaking again. Hope you are all busy with Christmas projects or have you all had enough of that. Hugs to anyone who needs them at this time of year.  Hugs Rita xxxxxx

Hello Folks, Very windy here in West of Scotland this morning and a biting cold wimd too.
This card was made using the template from NannyGee;s blog.  Simple to make and very appealing when finished too. The image is from JS CD rom "From the heart of the garden" by Jane Shasky, an absolutely brilliant artist. Sorry about the poor picture, daylight is bad at the minute and I can't find my light box.  I'm about to start the cleaning up later to-day and I may be away for a while, the dust is everywhere. Hope you all have a lovely week-end . Hugs Rita xxx

Thankyou for all your lovely comments as I appreciate them so much. x

Hello Folks. Isn't it great what you get up to sometimes. I want to show you my lantern that was made using  the brilliant tutorial from Linda Hill. As most of you know Linda is a superb artist and creator of lots of arty/crafty things, but follow the instructions and you can make one of these in time for Christmas. Thanks Linda for this wonderful Tutorial. The little candles are led lights and look brilliant when lit. Go on give it a try. I really enjoyed making this. So sorry about the pictures as daylight is very bad here to-day and my light box is ??? Hope your all well and keeping busy. Still no finish in sight of the bathroom being finished for another few days at least ,then the whole house will need cleaned. Ugh.  Hugs Rita xxxx

Another download ,but I love this one too. Its from Card-downloads. Very easy to make and I just embellished it with amber gems and some gold stickles. Hope you can put up with cards like these just a little longer, and it won't be long before I'm back fulltime.  Thankyou for all your lovely comments, I so appreciate them all. Hugs Rita xxx

Hello Everyone, hope you are all well and making cards. At last I managed to get a couple of cards made today, no stamping required. I cut out and decoupaged this one last night and put it to-gether to-day. Most of my crafty stash is not reachable at the moment, so good old printer and things left around and I manage to make a card.  Thanks for looking and I appreciate all comments .  Hugs Rita xxx

Sorry for not being able to show anything for the last week as the house is in such an upheaval due to the new bathroom going in. However, Card Carousel is giving away a free sleigh template that looks absolutely gorgeous.  Hope to get back to blogging at some point next week. Hugs Rita xxxx

Get a free "Santa's Magical Sleigh" card making template from Card Carousel.
Just visit www.cardcarousel.co.uk/free/sleigh.html

Please don't be offended by the title. This was a Christmas image from LaPashe " The Big One" cd-rom. I was asked to do a christmas card for 3 children  and I thought they would love the fun aspect of this one. Its an 8X8 card and I used two matching papers from a Papermania pad. I matted the picture on to dark red card and then gold behind that.  The inside I cut a oblong from the side panel and covered it with acetate, added a frame to hold the front and back picture of Santa Claus relaxing after his hard day.  Really running out of time with all the other things I'm making at the moment. I'm also finishing a wall hanging for one of my daughters, cross-stitch finished ,just to back it and finish it off.  No time for mischief at all.  Hope you've all had a good day. Hugs Rita xxxx



Thankyou for looking.

Over the week-end I made this card for Bah-Humbug Challenge 43. It is the first card for months that I have done for those lovely ladies that give up their time every week to set up challenges for us cardmakers. I started 2011 off very well  doing all the BH challenges then come summertime and I lost it completely. So I thought I would give this weeks challenge a go and this is my card. The stamp is one from years ago by Rubber Stampede, but I think he is happy to be a snowman. The papers are from a Papermania pad and a snowflake embossing folder with a few snowflakes just to make him feel at home. Thankyou for looking at my card for this challenge, as always I appreciate your comments.  Hugs Rita xxxx

Good Morning from a very Sunny Scotland. fairly cold mind you, but I'm not complaining. Today's card is from the Crafter's Companion CD-Rom " Popcorn the Bear". I needed a quick card for a child's get well card and I love teddy bears, so this is what I did. It is decoupaged, but the picture never seems to pick it up very well. I finished it off with a double bow in seambinding ribbon.  Hope you All have a lovely week-end.  Hugs Rita xxxx

Well, I have had fun this afternoon making a box for "Joan's Gardens" Challenge blog. You can find the tutorial on the blog, but I follow Selma Stevenson's blog and it was Selma's tutorial that I used to make my box, and it was such fun to do and did not take me long at all. I used White Hammered card to make the box and matted and layered it with christmas backgound paper that I have had for ages, sorry ,but I cannot remember where it came from. I used white card again for the band and used a lovely red satin ribbon to add some colour. I made the embellishment with gold spellbinders dies, and some red gemstones. This was a fun challenge for me. Thanks for looking at my creation. Hugs Rita xxxx

Challenge:  Joan's Gardens.

Well, after a good old rest I feel much better now. My card is a Digital Image by Mo Manning at (Digital pencil too ) that I bought back in May, and it was great fun to make up into a card. I coloured it in with promarkers. Then I felt that it needed to be aged and distressed a little. I then layered it on to Kraft paper and that was aged as well. Matted it and layered with gold & red card with some lovely backing paper, Easy card to create really. Hope you are all taking good care of yourselves and busily crafting for Christmas. Thanks again for looking at my creations and leaving your lovely comments. Hugs Rita xxxx

Challenges entered:
  Lothian Crafts ( Christmas )
  One stitch at a Time ( Christmas ) 
  

Hello Everyone, I had a wonderful week with my youngest daughter and her family and of course my elder daughter and son came visiting too, so we had a bit of a family gathering really. Molly who is nine just loves crafting and uses Tim Holtz inks better than me, kids have no fear and just do what comes naturally, and it produces some great cards too. Mean-time I did get another order for a Wedding card ( not the same wedding as before ), the colours had to be Ivory and Burgundy, so I hope they like what I've done. The pretty images were from Jak Heath as a freebie some years ago now and always make a special card. Hope you are all well and madly creating christmas cards.  Thanks so much for looking at my cards as your comments mean so much to me. Hugs Rita xxxxx

Hooray, This is my final Wedding card for now anyway. Its certainly quite plain compared to the last few. Its Ivory hammered card with vintage lace down each side. I made the two doves as well, so I was pretty pleased with that. To finish it off, I made a wallet to keep it in and Hey Presto I am all finished and even cleaned up my craftroom too. My youngest daughter and two grandchildren plus their miniature snauzer arrive to-morrow for a week, so better get my house in order.  So be good and I'll miss you all for a whole week. Thank-You for all your inspiration and lovely comments, I appreciate them all.   Hugs Rita xxx

Just a quick card for to-day as I am still making cards for the wedding. Poor bride, most of cards are going to be RMG.creations. Just one more to finish and that will be it. I need to get back to my stamping too as I'm missing it greatly.  To-day's card was for a lady moving depts in her job and to another area as well, I found it quite hard to make in the time allowed ( 24hrs )  See what you think, and Thanks again for comments as you know I so appreciate them all. Hugs Rita xxx

Hope you are all well and busy crafting. As you can see I am still making wedding cards for the same wedding, so I really had to do something totally different to mine. More art deco I think,but I really love this ribbon as it adds a little glamour to the card. Hope you like what I've done. Thank-You for looking.  Hugs Rita xxx

Well, after a busy week I finally got round to making and finishing the wedding card for the couple that I made the invites for. They are going to Mexico to live after the wedding. The card is 8X8 and made mostly with dies. I wanted it kept relatively plain with heather, thistles and tartan as the main theme. Hope you like what I have done. Thank-you for looking and you know I appreciate all your comments. Hugs Rita xx

I think I'm back on a learning curve again. Tim Holtz was my first love in cardmaking and now I'm so unsure, hopefully it will get better. This card is for friends who are getting married on the 29th October and moving to Mexico to live. I still have their wedding card to do ,but thought I would start with this one first. Hope you like what I've done, you know your comments are special to me. Hugs Rita xx

Well, at last I'm feeling more like myself after taking a wee break from crafting. To be honest I lost my mojo and had no interest in anything at all. However, my card for to-day has just been completed and I thought you might like to see what I've done. Most of it was done using Spellbinder dies and a few of Marianne's as well.  It had to be shoes,handbags and JPG perfume, all designer of course.   Hope everyone is well, and now I'm off for a catch up to see what you have all been up too. Hugs Ritaxx

Thanks for looking at my cards, and of course your input will be more than welcome.

I got back safely from edinburgh yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed my time with my youngest daughter and her husband  and my two Grandchildren. Anyway, here is a wedding card I made previously and thought you might like to see it as it was made very quickly. Looking forward to making some new cards now after I catch up with washing and ironing etc.  Hugs Rita xxx

Hello everyone, I don't know if its just me ,but where are the days and weeks going too. Really moving to fast now and I seem to be constantly trying to catch up. Anyway, here are a few new baby cards for you to see. I needed a Baby Girl card and realised my box was empty so I did a few more. The baby shoes are from Aimee Asher and the other one is from Joanna Sheen.  Hope your all taking care of yourselves and enjoying your crafting.  Hugs Rita xxxx




 

Well, to-day I did not intend to do very much at all, but between Rugby, Footie and Tennis on the box ,I managed to make an Engagement card using punches and dies. Better late than never mind you.  Nothing that took a lot of thought as you'll see, but I'm sure most of you will all have been there at sometime too. Hope you all have a lovely week-end. Thanks for Looking.    Hugs Rita xxxx

Well, at last I have finished all the Wedding invites that I was asked to do. The wedding theme is Black & White and this was the sample the bride to be had chosen. I made the pouches from hammered card and I added a Marieanne doilly, plus a scalloped black circle to that I added a white circle and stamped it with the 2 champagne glasses.The invite itself was on black card with the invite in white. I added a tag to each one and I felt I was never going to get them finished. However, I made it and now I'm off to add a little gift verse to each one as the couple are going to start a new life in Mexico. Hope to do a card this week-end. Take Care and Thank-You for looking at my work. Hugs Rita xxx

Had to stop my wedding invites to make this wedding card and bag for a September Wedding. Hope you like what I,ve done. Hugs Rita xxx

Just had a break from doing invites to make a Ruby Wedding card. 30 invitations done ,but still got 70 more to do. I'm certainly enjoying making them ,but I am a bit slow. Hope everyone is well and I'm really missing blogland a lot. Its so hard to keep away from the computer though. Hugs Rita xxx

Hi Everyone, Here I am putting up my first card for a few weeks. July was an awful month for us and I hope to get things back to some sort of normality. I have 100 wedding invites to do for end of this month so hope I'm forgiven if I'm not on much ,but I will make an effort I promise you. My card to-day was made for a July Wedding and was made very quickly using mostly die cuts. A scottish themed card this time. Hope you like what I've done. Missed you All. Hugs Rita xxxx

Just to let my friends in blogland know that to-day my sister-in-law died, she was our bridesmaid 53 years ago and was special to us all. My best friend's son died 2 weeks ago aged 46, and so life is a bit rough at the moment for us both. I'm sure you'll all understand if it takes me a bit longer to get back to my cards and challenges etc, as we will have to travel to the Lake District to be with the family. Take Care of each other and God Bless. Hugs Rita xxx

Hope you all enjoyed the glorious sunshine to-day. I made 2 graduation cards before we went on holiday and thought you might like to see them. Nothing too fancy this time. I now have 4 Wedding cards to do and my mojo thinks its still on holiday. Thanks for looking as you know I appreciate all your comments. Hugs Rita xx

Well, as I said in yesterday's post I am trying hard to get back to normality after my holiday.Washing all completed ,but no ironing done as yet....... Here is a card I made for our youngest daughter{44} who loves vintage. It was made fairly quickly, but I hope you like it. Hugs Rita xxxx

Hello Everyone. Just to say we both enjoyed our holiday in Cornwall, but I'm now in need of a rest, it was such a busy holiday trying to go everywhere. On our 53rd Anniversary we went to Rick Stein's Bistro and thoroughly enjoyed it, I could happily live in Padstow. The Eden Project was fabulous and took us most of the day,I made it up to the top of the Rainforest Biome and the heat was tremendous. Lots of July cards to make now, so its head down for me this week. Hope your all well and crafting too. Hugs Rita xx

A few pictures of Cornwall