Not just for Halloween

Hello everyone, I have a card to share today using this month's Halloween stamps, but I wanted to show how the stamps could be used in a very different way.

I have created a clean and simple graduation card using one of the book images and the starburst on a diamond die cut to represent a mortar board. I added a tassel underneath from the Baroque Eggs stamp set. I coloured the images with pencils. I coloured the centres of the starburst image with a gold Wink of Stella pen for a bit of sparkle. I added a flourish in the corners of the card from the Butterfly Daisy Collage stamp set, and finally stamped a sentiment from the Loving Sentiments stamp set onto a small tag.

The simple black and white colour scheme makes this card suitable for both male and female recipients, and could be adapted to add particular University colours. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Catching up

Hi folks, it's been a while since I've written a blog post, but things have been rather uncomfortable for me of late. I've really struggled since I had my teeth sorted out, and had to make a couple of trips back to the Dentist. Thankfully, everything is now on the mend, and although I'm not eating crunchy foods yet, I am getting back to normal.

I have had a frozen shoulder for the past few months, which has been really painful. It has kept me awake at night, and caused me a lot of trouble. Yesterday, I had a procedure carried out which hopefully will free up the shoulder socket, and give me more movement. It wasn't pleasant, and I have had two lots of physiotherapy since. I need to do four lots of exercises a day, and keep everything moving now, or the whole process will have been for nothing. Fingers crossed I won't need to have surgery and will be back to normal soon. It makes me very aware that I'm not getting any younger, as my body keeps giving me these signs that it is not working as efficiently as it was when I was in my twenties. Heaven help me when I get to my Mum's age!

In spite of the tooth trouble, and the shoulder problems, I am still managing to get some crafting done! I have posted details of a card using some great new Easter themed stamps from Chocolate Baroque over on the Design Team Blog today. It uses some great Spring colours, yellow and purple. I made the card while I was staying at my Mum's recently, and even cadged a piece of ribbon from her crafty stash!

While using this stamp plate, 'Baroque Eggs', I made another simple Easter card using one of the large eggs, which I stamped onto acetate, and foiled the back. Glenda sells some sheets of imitation gold leaf on the website, which are great for this. I used my favourite Memento ink colour at the moment, Cantaloupe, to colour the background, and stamped the large swirl in the same colour. I used some of Glenda's fab ribbon for the bow, and some lace from my stash to finish the card. The sentiment is from the same stamp plate as the eggs. It's an A4 set, and has some great images.

I can't eat chocolate, as it gives me migraines, but I love this time of year, buying Easter eggs for the rest of my family. Wouldn't you love to get an egg that looked like this?

I will try to be back on Friday with a Forgotten Friday post, poorly shoulder permitting. It may be something simple if I'm not up to much, so please bear with me if that is the case. Thanks for stopping by, xx