Annie's Creative Moments

Almost Christmas !

2011-12-15T01:38:00.000Z

Well not long to go now, only 10 days, it makes you wonder where the year has gone. I was really pleased to hear that one of my cards has been featured on Little Claires Blog, made using one of their Christmas stamps, "Mr Darcys Christmas Post". I'm going to upload it here so you can see it, I love Little Claire products and am a member of their club so I get a lovely stamp and project kit every month, something to look forward to !

Summer already !

2011-07-02T02:03:00.000+01:00

Here we are, July 2nd, and it's been a while since I was here (again !). I am going to try harder and keep this blog of mine updated ! Since I was last here we have acquired two young kitties, a grey and white male who we called Chile, as we got him when they were rescuing the Chilean miners, and a midnight tortie who we called PepC (a play on words a bit there !). They are good friends and lovely, coming up to 10 months old now. Sadly, very sadly, we lost our last two elderly cats, Chloe and Billy, both 18, who died in February and June 2011 respectively...still getting over the loss of Billy who was a very special cat...you can see their pics on the right hand side of this blog. I will add a pic or two of the youngsters soon :o) I have managed to alter the background of this blog, and deleted a few old bits and pieces, in the hope that I will be able to add some new things, I have been trying to get into stamping more, and have bought some distress inks which I hope to play with soon. I have lots of ideas and good intentions but actually getting to put them into practice is another matter. I think if I stayed up all night I would get more done than I do during the day..don't know exactly why that is, but I seem to function much better at night ! Anyway, I have decided to have a stall in our village fete on July 8th, so must get cracking...I'm beginning to wonder if I have made the right decision....

A New Year

2011-01-19T01:32:00.001Z

Well, I can't believe how much time has gone by since I last posted on this blog of mine. Just a quickie this time, 2010 was one of those years, my husband suffered a heart attack in April, and since then has had a few health blips, funnily enough, unrelated to his heart, it's almost as if the attack and medication has triggered a whole host of other things ! We still have three hospital appointments to attend, one of them being mine, but that's another story ! I will have a go at improving this blog as I feel I need to do something to fill my time a little, somewhere I can escape to, so watch this space. Like many others we had our fair share of snow, and we got two kittens in October, so I will put some new pics up as well. Maybe even a few new cards may appear, you never know your luck !

Where does the time go ?

2010-02-13T02:55:00.000Z

Isn't it strange how the time passes, I knew I hadn't tended my blog for a while, but didn't realise just how much time had elapsed since I last visited...quite frightening really ! We are now into a new year, and I am sitting here in the early hours, with a definite touch of the lurgey hanging about me....I should be tucked up in bed all nice and warm, but dont feel tired, and hate just laying there with my mind whirring away. I feel I have let the world of blogging down somewhat and will try to make a few more appearances on here from now on..until then I will try and find a couple of snowy pics of our view from our garden and field taken over the last few weeks..our snow has gone again now, but it keeps coming back, like a bad penny !!

Another award :o)

2009-08-24T17:49:00.000+01:00

Well, what a lovely surprise to find I have been given an award by Ei, (Eiglas)....you must check out Ei's blog as her work is an inspiration :o) Thank you very much Ei, I appreciate it, and will pass it on to seven other bloggers shortly..it's almost time to feed everyone again ...i.e. husband and pusscats, oh and then me :o) So, I will check back later and have a go...it's amazing how time flies when I'm on here ! I haven't posted the award on here yet, but will do later, plus the requirements that go with it :o)

Hot, humid days and awards !

2009-08-24T16:25:00.002+01:00

Phew ! It's so humid here today I don't know what to do with myself...I have been learning how to upload and resize all my own pics of my cards and any photos, so I can do it as and when, without asking for help (that's my independent streak shining through !), so I will add some pics of my cats in a minute, plus one or two cards I have made. The lady who owns the cattery we take our cats to has said I can leave a few of my cards there, and she has asked for cat and teddy designs, so I have made a few up for her..I haven't taken many pics of the teddy ones as yet, but will add them as I go along. I have also been taking a few pics in the garden, we have had so many lovely butterflies this year, so I will put them up on here too, once I've tweeked them :o)
Also, I have had three awards on my Blog for a while now and would like to pass them on to five friends, who each have great Blogs..I take my hat off to you all, you seem to get so much done, while I feel like I'm just plodding along...I don't know how you all do it, but keep up the good work ! Now, I don't know if I'm doing this right, but I am going to say just pick whichever award you fancy, but before I do, here are five things I like to do:

1) Take my time in the morning, as I am most definitely a night owl !!
2) Watch a good film with a bag of Giant choccy buttons by my side :o)
3) Sit in the garden watching all the lovely birds
4) Visit a large craft shop and spend, spend, spend :o)
5) Take one day at a time

I would like to pass the awards on to Rose, Eileen, Lyn, Cheryl and Sandra - enjoy girlies, and thanks for all your support and friendship :o)

Two more awards !

2009-08-06T03:11:00.000+01:00

I just checked the comments left for me and discovered I had been given two more awards, one from Fliss and one from Rose, thanks so much to both of you, I am really chuffed, and do appreciate them :o) I have linked them back to your respective blogs, so anyone reading this, click on the awards and check out these ladies blogs, they are well worth visiting, as is Lyn's (Spyders Corner), who gave me my first award, the little teddy bear, tucked away a little further down the side of my blog..go and find him, and have a look ! Bye for now xx

Burning the midnight oil !

2009-08-06T02:32:00.000+01:00

It's 2.35 in the morning, and I am sitting here having a bit of a catch up on my blog as I haven't been on here for a while..it's very warm and humid, and as I feel wide awake I may as well be doing something, so here I am ! I have been making a few cards recently, but mostly I am trying to organise my craft room a bit, I seem to be getting nowhere fast though, as I keep finding things I had forgotten about, and then I go off on a tangent ..does that sound familiar to any of you out there ?! Anyway, I did make a card for our neighbour, using a spinner card, Jolly Nation decoupage, swiss dots Bazzill, glitter card, gems and peel offs, so I will load that on here before toddling off to bed, hope you like it, and thanks for passing by :o)

Flower arcs

2009-07-18T00:44:00.000+01:00

I had a go at cutting an arc shape on the front of a square card, using a compass to get the semi circular shape, then I added some flowers and used backing papers on the insides of the cards. One was made for a friends birthday, one for the village fete selection, and the red one was for my (step) daughter in laws birthday, she hit the big 40 on the 14th July..I added a little fairy charm to that one. As always, I added some stickles to the flower petals..couldn't be without my stickles and/or glamour dust ! (Thanks go to Phill, over at Honeypot Crafts who introduced me to glamour dust !) Hope you enjoy looking at these cards !

Sketch Challenge 6

2009-07-18T00:28:00.000+01:00

This was my entry for last weeks Sketch Challenge over on the Trimcraft forum. The butterfly papers were freebies with a magazine, and I added some pearlescent card, a flower and gems and the sentiment, (from the Daisy and Dandelion range), plus a bit of stickles. Thanks for looking :o)

Catching up !

2009-07-17T23:49:00.001+01:00

I haven't been on here very much in the past week, I was busy making cards for our village fete, and then we had to take our little Billy (one of our cats) back to the vets last week as the abcess in his mouth flared up again..he is still taking his anti biotics ( with a struggle !), and touch wood, he seems ok. Keep your fingers crossed everyone ! Anyway, the fete wasn't very busy I'm afraid...our village has what they call a "late fete" which starts at 6pm on a Friday evening....hmmm, we keep saying it should be arranged for a Saturday or Sunday, but they are set in their ways...anyway, I managed to sell 12 cards and one neighbour asked if I could make a wedding card for her husbands cousin, so here it is ! I'm pleased to say our neighbour liked it, let's hope the recipients are pleased with it as well, the wording wasn't my choice, but as they say, the customer is always right !

Sketch Challenge 5

2009-07-06T13:21:00.000+01:00

I had another go at the Sketch Challenge this week and this time decided to use one of my Little Claire stamps which hadn't been out of its packet up until then ! I coloured in with Whisper pens, and added some stickles and some little jewelled flowers. We have a village fete fast approaching, so this one will go in the box for that !

Challenge 28

2009-06-30T02:15:00.003+01:00

Here's my entry for Challenge 28 over on the Trimcraft forum, the subject was simply "Quotes and sayings". I used Lili of the Valley papers, and one of their mermaid toppers, and stamped the image with Stazon Timber Brown, on pearlescent card. I bought the stamp a while ago, but this is the first time I've used it....it says "Life is a sea of wonderful treasures"....hope you like it and thanks for looking x

Sketch Challenge 4

2009-06-29T14:13:00.000+01:00

I decided to have a go at the Sketch Challenge over on the Trimcraft forum. I've never entered one before, but it was good fun having something to work to. I made two cards, using some freebie papers from a mag together with a bit of resist stamping with a butterfly stamp for a feminine touch, and a motorbike die cut, with Bazzill swiss dots and cuttlebug embossed card for the boys (that's not to say that girlies don't like bikes, you understand !). Hope you like the cards.

New cards

2009-06-29T02:07:00.001+01:00

Here are a couple of those cards I mentioned ....the Smirk card is for Hannah, one of Daves grandaughters, the other DL card is for Daves daughter, and I did a bit of resist stamping for this one and colour washed with Whisper brush markers. I thought I'd mat and layer the squares at a "jaunty" angle, as apart from making a change, it also makes life easier if you don't have to get everything straight....well it does for me anyway !

Early morning ramblings

2009-06-25T00:55:00.000+01:00

Well, I haven't done much cardmaking these past few days due to having a poorly cat....had to take Billy to the vets last Thursday as he seemed to be suffering a bit when he ate, and his left eye looked a bit swollen.... I thought he maybe had a dodgy tooth, but it turned out there was a nasty swelling and he was kept in that night so they could lance it and make sure it wasn't a tumour . We were able to fetch him home Friday afternoon, armed with antibiotics, and a return visit booked for Monday. Two doses of pills (great fun !) and Mondays visit later, he seems a lot better and it's pretty certain that it was a nasty abcess and nothing more sinister. Consequently, I haven't done very much in my little corner of craft, only 5 cards, and I need to get cracking as I have put my name down for the Sketch Challenge on Trimcraft, and that needs to be uploaded by Saturday. I have made a card for it, but not taken a pic of it yet, and I would quite like to do another one as well..I also need to make a card for my husbands daughter (I suppose I should say step daughter, but I just don't like that term much), and I can't get an idea of what to do..I have made one card, but I'm not sure if I like it or not..I have, however made a card for one of Dave's grandaughters (Dave is 15 years older than me and has a son and daughter, and 4 grandaughters, so a ready made family almost !), and I am quite pleased with that card. I bought some of the Smirk range recently, didn't think I liked them at first, but thought I would try some of the decoupage kits, and they aren't bad, although you will see I've added a little something when I get around to uploading the one I made..can you guess what I wonder ?! On that note I had better pull the plug for now, and I won't be on here much tomorrow as we will have no power till the late afternoon as they are working on the lines all day..now, where's that camping stove ?

Birthday Blog Candy

2009-06-17T13:14:00.000+01:00

Just a reminder, there's some lovely blog candy going over on Jude's blog, Crafts-International, see the pic on the right hand side, nip over and take a look..it's to celebrate her two daughters respective birthdays, what a great idea..and generous too ! By the way, I saw the little black cat on Jude's blog, and as I am a cat person, I had to have one as well, so thanks Jude :o)

Non-pyramage pyramage !

2009-06-17T12:48:00.000+01:00

In these credit crunch days, and times when you have to think twice about how puffy a card can be in order to slip through the slot on the gadget used by the good old PO counter staff, I decided to try something a little different. This lovely dog image has about 8 layers overall..that's great if you are giving the card personally, (although I have to admit I still wouldn't layer it up to that extent..less is more in my opinion !), but when it's going in the post, that's a different matter. I know you can make boxes, but I haven't reached those dizzy heights yet lol, and anyway, it's nice to have a change don't you think ?! So, I separated all the layers and used the alternate ones, which means I still have a set to use on another card, slightly different than the first as I don't have the complete base image, but it will still be acceptable. Hope I'm making sense ! Anyway, I layered the images onto gold mirri card, and then placed them dropping away from each other, until I was happy with the way they looked. If you look closely you will see that I have used two sections on the smaller picture, but I stuck them with glue, as opposed to layering them with foam pads. I used a piece of green backing paper (free with a mag), and added a couple of chipboard pieces and a peel off. Then I drew an outline around the edge of the green backing, using a brown Whisper pen. Hope you like it and thanks for looking !

One for the troops

2009-06-14T23:52:00.001+01:00

Over in Trimmie land recently there was a Red Friday Challenge, thought up by Saphira and Kevin, to make a card for the troops so they know they haven't been forgotten....I thought I'd put the one I made on here as well :o) I embossed a piece of card and heat embossed it with satin red powder, then used an Amy Butler die cut butterfly in a punched out scallopped circle. I sent it to Saphira to send on to the lads, I hope they liked it. Thanks for looking x

Glorious weather !

2009-06-14T17:28:00.000+01:00

Well, haven't we been lucky this weekend with this weather ? End to end sunshine, great for the peeps on holiday down this way, we saw loads of campers and caravanners yesterday setting themselves up along the coast. I have been sitting in the sun, and haven't done very much cardmaking this weekend...I want to, but am torn between the garden, the pc and my craft room :) I think the garden won on the whole ! I am just going to upload my first shaker card though, made after looking at Spyder's blog (thanks Lyn for your inspiration !)..I made it for our neighbours birthday in April, it is on my trimmie gallery, but I wanted to add it here as well, hope you like it, even though the colours aren't as good as they should be in the pic, it's a lovely lilac colour, from Kate Knights range (Eastern Blooms I think).

Blog Candy

2009-06-12T01:25:00.001+01:00

Hi all, thought you might like to know there is some lovely blog candy over on http://fluffscreations.blogspot.com/ ....why not pop over and take a look :o)

Try, try and try again !

2009-06-11T17:49:00.000+01:00

Well, I have persevered and with a little help from tcbotb my little ol' blog now has a new look :o) Considering I am a novice at all this I am quite pleased with my efforts ! I am about to upload a card made using one of my husbands pics and some free papers, and the little dangly heart came from a hair scrunchy I bought in a chemists..always looking for alternative uses for things :o)

My first entry in a Blog Candy Challenge

2009-06-08T23:03:00.000+01:00

I have just entered my card into Phill's (Honeypot Crafts) Blog Candy challenge....anyone who doesn't know about it, take a look on Phill's Blog, on the following link :-

http://www.honeypot-crafts.blogspot.com/

Onwards and upwards !

2009-06-08T18:35:00.001+01:00

Well, I was so pleased to sign in and find I now have 11 followers ! Thanks so much everyone :o) I've just been having a litle play and have now added a birthday cake ....there'll be no stopping me now hee hee....I saw the cake on Doreen's (Diamond Lass) Blog, and thought I'd have a go, so thanks Doreen :o) I've not had a bad day today, I had to do the hoovering this morning, then I got on with sorting out the June Swap, and sent my parcel off....only trouble was, I couldn't get my car to start, so Dave had to take me to the PO...and he was looking forward to coming along for the ride with me for a change...anyway, when we got back, he managed to get it to start using jump leads, and I took it out for a run, so we will just have to see if it starts in the morning...fingers crossed ! Off to do the tea now, chicken curry for us, bye for now xx

Making progress !

2009-06-08T02:08:00.001+01:00

Well, I think I am getting somewhere with my Blog :o) I have added a bit to my profile, and also managed to add a couple of pics, so I feel a bit better now....I think the main thing is not to be afraid of having a go :o) The next thing will be to try and get some followers....any offers anyone ?! xx

Day One !

2009-05-24T23:13:00.000+01:00

Hi to everyone who takes time out to read this :o)

I am a newbie to this blogging lark, so apologise in advance for any errors....I'm sure it won't be as good a blog as some I've seen, but we all have to start somewhere ! And at least it's a place where I can share my efforts, without seeing a glazed look on your eyes, which is what I see when I start talking craft to my husband !!