Poor funny Maggie

Just a quick story that made me laugh today, although Miss Maggie was not amused!!

We went to the park today and because no one else was in the little chinese garden I let Maggie off the lead, anyway I crossed the pond over the stepping stones and poor Maggie thought she'd walk across the grass. Only it wasn't grass, it was the pond algae!!!! poor Maggie came out green and grumpy and I'm terrible because I laughed so hard it hurt.

Unfortunately she didn't get her silver good citizen award, she did so well until the very last test were she had to stay in the car until told to get out, Maggie decided enough was enough and jumped out doing a merry naughty dance around the car park. Next time :-) She also went for her 1st run last week with my boyfriend.

Maggie has only ventured into water this last few weeks but only paw deep (hope the pond incident didn't put her off)

Action shot in the forest among the buttercups 

Tug o war with her pressie from Canada 

Tired from her 1st run x

Thanks for popping by, I'll have some crafting soon (she's too big a distraction)

Kathy and Maggie x

Thank You Teacher card

Thank You Teacher Card

I had so much fun making these cards last year for a friend in work, I was more than happy to make her another exactly (well almost) the same for her daughters teacher this year.

Its such a simple card to make and I took my original inspiration from a papercraft magazine last year, the stamp (Wee stamps) was a freebie which is so versatile I've used it alot. 

I coloured her with pro-markers and matched her hair to the little girl it is from. Unfortunately silly me I hadn't written down the colours i'd used so had to start from scratch again. 

The blackboard was simply black card matted onto brown wrapping paper (I didn't have any wood effect paper left but still think it worked) and the letters were cut out with my cuttlebug. I love my new cameo but seem to always use my cuttlebug when I can, its more 'what you see is what you get' and quieter for late night crafting. 

I just finished of with some ribbon and gems, oh and stickles of course, a card isnt a card without stickles :-)

Miss Maggie

We took Maggie to Stormont today for a walk, this her her practicing waiting 2 minutes for her silver award next week. Unfortunately 5 minutes before this she had a sock hanging out of her bottom!!! We dont leave socks lying around anymore so goodness knows where she gets them because this is number 8!!!! 

Looking at this picture I realised shes a dog now and not a puppy anymore. 

Challenges

I'd like to enter the following challenges 

http://stampedblessings.com/2013/06/amusing-challenge-ribbon-or-twine/

http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/june-challenge.html

http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/challenge-11.html

http://glitternsparklechallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/challenge-37.html

Thanks for popping by from Kathy and the sock thief  xox

Just a last minute quickie

I needed to make a quick card to say thankyou to a very kind couple who invited us to the theatre on sunday and as I was reminded, proper edicate is that a thankyou should be sent within 48 hours of the event, so I really didnt have alot of time to make something special, or so I thought.......

I just love how easy it is to make a quick but stylish card with my cameo, I downloaded the template from the store and hey presto my card was cut in about a minute, the hardest part was folding it in half.

I added some thick paper for the insert and placed a square of the gorgeous hey girl paper my friend Wendy sent me in the spring swap to add some interest. I even had time to make an envelope with my crafters companion I bought at christmas and hadn't had time to play with.

I'm so super happy that my spring swap card made top 3 in the digi galore challenge

The play we saw was 'Cant forget about you and it was hilarious, very Belfast and if you ever get a chance to see it you definitely should (prepare to cringe though) x

http://www.lyrictheatre.co.uk/whats-on/specific/whats-on/cant-forget-about-you

Thanks for popping by

Kathy x

Miss Maggies 1st Birthday in pictures x

Happy Birthday Miss Maggie 

Im a little late in posting as Maggie was a year old on the 15th May but I just wanted to share some of the fun photos I took.  (and poor Daddy was away on business and missed it all)

1st we went to the playing fields for a run around with the other dogs so she wasn't too hyper for when she saw Grandad who now isn't so great on his feet.

notice how photo bribery with choco buttons isn't working terribly well (dont worry its doggy choco)

And when it does she has her grumpy 'stop taking my photo' ears on (if only she knew what was to come hee hee)

We then collected Grandad and went for lunch at the beach (so lucky with the weather it was glorious)

'your not fooling me again - your too close to the sea and I'm NOT going near it!!'

Being good for Grandad

'You don't mind if I have a nap while you eat your lunch, do you?'

After collecting her birthday balloon from my auntie Janet (who owns a balloon printing company) and dropping Grandad home we visited Granny and her Budgie Smokie

'Im not sure what to make of this feathery critter but it sure looks tasty'

After all that fun it was time to have a birthday party, just mummy and me.

'Right if you must, hurry up and get the picture'

Birthday kibbles

'I thought you'd at least get me a cake, this is my normal kibbles with a candle in it!!'

Thats what I think of your stupid hat

First birthdays are exhausting work

Using her bone as a pillow

Hope you enjoyed looking at her photos, we had so much fun and I just cant believe shes a year already. I never thought I'd love her so much but she has enriched our lives so much and now I cant imagine her not being in our lives 

Love Kathy and Maggie x

My Spring swap card for Wendy

This is the card I made for Wendy, I love this image that Betty gave us for the swap. 

I accidently bought the wrong card to use with my promarkers and ended up with a mottled effect, although I liked it on the dress as it added texture. 

I used the trace function on my cameo to print and cut the digi which took some time to work out but I love that I don't have to hand-cut the images because I'm rubbish at cutting around images and have ruined so many after colouring them. I also cut the card out with the cameo, its so nice have so many different options for card bases now at the touch of a button (even if it drives me nuts sometimes and I end up wasting paper because I'm still learning). I can't believe Wendy and I made the same card base, especially as I'd never made one like this before, great minds hee hee. 

I added some punched flowers to her basket with liquid pearl centres and the paper roses were a gift from a friend who had them left over from her wedding stationary. I kept it quite simple as I wanted the image to stand out, I'm really happy with how she turned out in the end. 

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges 

http://craftyourpassionchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/challenge-161-floral-delights.html

http://www.craftdoormagazine.com/2013/05/ttcrd-may-7-13th.html

http://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/new-challenge-feminine-and-fancy.html

http://anythingchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/challenge-92-shaped-but-not-square.html

http://notrealstamps.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/spring.html

The digi reminded me of a lovely day we went cycling in March last year, it was such a difference from this year when it snowed!!

Simply Betty Spring Swap hop

Simply Betty Spring Swap

It seems like such a long time ago that I took part in the Simply Betty Spring Swap, it was organised via facebook where everyone who wished to take part was paired up and you had to send a 'spring basket' filled with approx $25 of crafting goodies, sweeties etc to your buddy.

My spring fling buddy was Wendy from Colorado. We had the option of someone from the UK or further afield and I thought it would be fun to swap with someone in America, its so nice to send and receive crafty bits (and candy) not available at home. I had so much fun choosing things for Wendy, adding little touches from home like a magnet with an irish blessing and my favourite chocolates. If you pop over to her blog you'll see what I sent  http://Jazzydoodledesigns.com, I hope she loved hers as much as I loved mine.

Here are all the gorgeous goodies I got from Wendy, I cant believe she sent sooooo much and all in my favourite colours, and we both made the same style of card.

The gorgeous card made with Bettys spring swap image (cant wait to blog hop to see how everyone used her), gems, ribbons, buttons all in my favourite colours, and the gorgeous cross is going to be used on a scrapbook page of my beautiful goddaughters scapbook (which I'll give to her when she's 21-shes 3 on monday)

Excuse the carpet :-)

Washi tape, beautiful easter stamps, prima flowers, lots of yummy 'candy' (as the Americans say) and my uber stylish new peg bag  (lets just hope the weather cheers up so I can use it more). 

I love paper and look how much Wendy sent me, they're just gorgeous and cant wait to use them

A pressie for Miss Maggie from Jazz

Isn't it all gorgeous  (sorry over using the word gorgeous but its all just GORGEOUS), I havent used any yet because I'm just back from my holiday but Maggie managed to demolish her bone in about 3 minutes.



Thankyou wendy for being such a generous and sweet swap buddy and I know we've started a lovely and long friendship, and thankyou Corinne for organising this fun swap xox

Here is the blog list for everyone who took part

SBS http://simplybettystamps.blogspot.com/

Jennifer Raffenaud

Barb Ettinger

Nicki Ringleman

Corinne Jones

http://wishuponascrap.blogspot.com/

Trish Sakulich

http://www.scrappintillthecowscomehome.blogspot.ca/

Robin Bogle

http://www.rcz28.blogspot.com

Maria Williams

http://pinxinx.blogspot.com

Trudie Howard

http://trudiescakesandcards.blogspot.co.uk/

Wendy Billings

http://www.jazzydoodledesigns.com

Roz Wolfe

http://www.wolfepak5.blogspot.com

Sheri Loatwall

http://www.mammasscrappin.blogspot.com/

Stacey Stratis

http://anastasiasarts.blogspot.com/

Lucy Gregg

http://loopylass2010.blogspot.co.uk/

Louise Mann

http://louisescraftycards.blogspot.co.uk/

Jo Walker

http://joscardsandstuff.blogspot.co.uk/

Lisa Nelson

http://www.distinctiveLMNts.blogspot.com

 Michelle Klaebe

http://www.inkandsew.blogspot.com.au/

 Dawn Brown

http://stampersgonewild.blogspot.com

Elizabeth Melih (Emily Shroom here)

http://emilyshroom.blogspot.com.au/

Jackie Rakoski

http://stampingsister.blogspot.com

Kathy Smyth

http://kathyjsmyth.blogspot.co.uk

Carrie Robinson
http://carriescreativecards.blogspot.co.uk/

Marie Franklin

http://marie97-lotlot.blogspot.com/

Erin Fairclough

http://elfiessparkleanddust.blogspot.co.uk/

Melissa Varga

http://cheesestampersinparadise.blogspot.com/

Katya Bess

http://www.kattyxotica.blogspot.com/

Tanja Charles

http://craft-teeinthecity.blogspot.com

Jennifer Anderson

http://Creativearmywife.blogspot.com

Summer Hills-Painter

http://1craftypainter.blogspot.com/

Darcy Schroeder

http://craftingwithdarcy.blogspot.com

Veronica Chasteen Rosenshein
http://www.artbyveronica.blogspot.com

Julie Hasel

http://tigerlily2g1b.blogspot.co.uk/

Tanya Johnson

http://little-scrapper.blogspot.com 

Dianna Cinko Sowerbrower

http://diannas-craftyplace.blogspot.com



I'll blog my card another day as I know I'm very naughty and posting a little late for the hop (always late no matter how hard I try), thanks for popping by xox

LOTV wedding card and a very mischievous Maggie

A friend in work asked me to make a card for a wedding she was going to and ta da here is my card.

I bought this LOTV stamp a while ago pre-loved from a group on FB and never seemed to get the opportunity to use it, so I was keen to use it for my friends card. I just love this image and bought the sentiment recently to match it. I don't seem to stamp very often as I find digi stamps so much easier, but its definately a good way to use up the pieces of card that doesn't fit in the printer. It didn't stamp perfectly so I used the fine end of my distress marker to fill in the missed bits which worked really well.

I was at a bit of a loss how to start this card so after a google search I found a wonderful artist who had used the same image, Barbara @ hunny bunny cards, usually when I take inspiration from a card and mine looks nothing like the original but this one is quite similar so I hope its ok. 

I very rarely use my embossing folders so when I saw how Barbara had used them to add a wedding feel I thought I'd give it go, I used swiss dots and a freebie I got with a magazine a few months ago. For the pink layers I used the brush end of my spun sugar distress marker (I hadn't used it before either). 

To colour the image I used promarkers and added some liquid pearls to the bouquet, the punched flowers/leaves were also coloured with promarkers and attached with glossy accentsand a pearl in the centre, it takes such a small amount of glossy accents that I was able to add some dimension by gently lifting back the petals . The large flower was attached to the card with a pearl brad and the butterfly was covered in stickles after it was attached to the card. 

I didn't have a circle the right size for the sentiment so I cut one out on my fabulous new silhouette and also the scalloped border (more stickles added), I have to say though as much as I love it I would still use my punches and cuttlebug first if I had the right size. 

The last thing I did was add a border of stickles around the edge (I do love stickles)

Then disaster struck, at the last minute (it was late and I needed to take it into work tomorrow) I had put some liquid pearls on the image and changed my mind so rubbed them of which left a lovely sheen, soooooo I thought I'd add a thin layer to her dress but it was terrible, thankfully I had a second stamped image which I coloured again and slide in below the flowers phew. 

I just hope my friend likes it. If she does all she needs to do is fill in the date. 

Id like to enter this card into the following challenges

crafty creations challenges -no patterned paper

Belli challenge-pastels

I love promarkers-pastel colours

Whimsical designs - smell flowers

milkcoffeechallenge-welcome spring challenge

Miss Maggie

SO Miss Maggie has been up to no good, I came home yesterday to her being told off by my boyfriend. He had gotten a phone call from doggy day care to say that she had been ripping the coats of the other dogs, completely destroying 2 of them (coats not dogs thankfully) at a cost of £55!!! She was sitting looking at my boyfriend as if she was paying attention to this one sided conversation when she decided to lie down, well my bf said 'I told you to sit when I'm talking to you" and she jumped back up into the sitting position looking intently at him until he'd finished talking. I got told off to for laughing too hard. She was put on timeout at daycare for 40 minutes and then took the hump with the girl who looks after her, honestly its like having a child I'm sure. 

She's still eating things she shouldn't and pooped yet another sock (thats 4 in total) and one of those innocent smoothie knitted hats!! We're very lucky she hasn't made herself ill. 

Yet for all her devilment shes such a joy, she's so tall now she tries to rest her head on the dining room table and licks her lips when we're having dinner. She also tries to sit on me and its not working anymore because she keeps falling off my knee, but if the heater is on she doesn't care she's sharing that heat if  I like it or not.

We took her to the Belfast Hound Around, an event organised for charity that allows off lead play in Stomont park, she had a great time, especially as most of the dogs were bigger breeds like greyhounds and huskies  although it was a tiny little Beagle that gave them all a run for their money!!! Fantastic idea and a fantastic day were we met lots of great people (and so glad we didn't get a boy dog, they lifted their legs everywhere). 

Kissy kissy

Our puppy isn't so much of a puppy anymore

I'm not sure if shes protecting her bone or using it as a pillow, either way shes out for the count.

Thanks for dropping by xox