Blogging has been bugging me

Been having a few problems with both my keyboard and blogger, so not been able to post on my blog, firstly my laptop has decided that some of the letters don't need to work, it's surprising how many letter "r" and " m" gets used in a sentence! and blogger seems to be highlighting random text and whiting it out! not funny when you hit the publish button and find your excellently written post is just coming through as some sort of gobbledy gook!

lets see if it's all resolved now Lol

since i last published successfully I have been quite busy but that's another post !!!

Thanks for Visiting enjoy your day
Love Crafteresa

I saw this today on Facebook and felt compelled to share it
its a video of a 12 year old girl speaking in class

A video about abortion

I am a Chistian, I have anti-abortion views because God does! but that doesnt stop me from caring and having compassion
just like God I do care but I don't condone this practice

Love Crafteresa

update

hello Everyone

Just a quick post to say hello and apologise for my shot absence! I have been visiting my son Matthew and family in Darlaston, West Midlands. I enjoyed my stay and got loved up a lot which was needed because I was quite unwell, a few days after returning home I ended up in hospital for a few days. I am now on a new medication regime which to be honest is making me feel quite sick! As a consequence I haven't eaten properly in over a week now. I'm feeling quite weak and tired all the time but I'm told that this will pass so must see it through!! Another shock was that my top dentures got broken while at Matthews and now when I smile I look like a witch lol with my middle tooth missing I look horrid, it's taken ages but I finally found an NHS dentist, I go to see him today for the first time. I hate that chair eeeeeekkk!!!
So no cards to show you today but I will get back to it as soon as I feel well enough!

Thanks for Visiting
enjoy your day

Love Crafteresa

I am a winner wahoo!

wahoo....
I won the Sketch Saturday challenge #300  here! with my lovely black, white and silver easel card

The sponsor of the challenge was "Simon Says Stamp" who generously gave $25 prize of goods from their

I chose this Penny Black cling stamp with my winnings (including $14.99 postage)

I just can't wait for this cute stamp to arrive all the way fom Ohio USA, I so love these Penny Black bears

A big Thank You to Simon Says Stamp and the Sketch Saturday challenge

Thanks for Visiting
enjoy your day
Love Crafteresa xx

Easel Card #2 Black, White and Silver.

I said in my last post that I wanted to make a similar card in different colours using the Umbria die set again. So here is another version in black, white and silver,
I have to say I LOVE IT!
This time I used my new Tattered Lace Dove die by Stephanie Weightman., the smaller one from this set....

I cut my dove using white card that has tiny silvery polka dots on it, and it sparkles nicely...

I had another play with my Serif Page Plus program and created a scripture for the centre of the card,

this time taken from Chronicles 15:7, I just realised maybe I forgot a comma!

I used papers from a massive pad of 12x12 black /white and gold/cream papers but I don't know the brand, sorry!

I cut the Umbria frame from silver card which contrasts nicely with the black and white papers

so here's the front of the card.....

As I wanted to enter a sketch challenge from Sketch Saturday the position of the dove and the patterned paper and ribbon worked out just right.

here's the inside of the easel card

I intend to add a small sentiment but this card is especially for someone and that's a personal encouragement!

To finish off my easel card I added a die cut butterfly (quickutz) and some AB clear crystal gems 

along with more of the sparkly silver ribbon

I am entering this card into the following challenges

Sketch Saturday
2 Sisters Challenge....Black,White + Another Colour

Cute Card Thursday....What a Gem

Word Art Wednesday....Anything goes

Sister Act Card Challenge.... Anything goes
Just For Fun....Anything goes

I am so enjoying crafting with my new dies but the best is yet to come! 
I was given a total of 6 Tattered Lace dies including the doves.they 
so much more playing to come, I am so loving this!

Thanks for Visiting,
Enjoy your day,
Love Crafteresa xx

NAVY BLUE EASEL CARD, when I pray!

I've been playing with some of my birthday pressies this weekend. I've created a card using my new 6x6 pad of papers,    I love the navy blue and creamy colours and the different pretty floral patterns in this pad.  It's the Papermania Capsule Collection The 6x6 size is scaled down so it's fabulous for card making.

So here's the easel card I made using these papers

Unfortunately my lovely navy blue card has photographed a lot darker than it actually is :o( 

on my monitor it looks black GASP! 

Anyhow, that's the front of my card, the scripture is a rubber stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs and the praying hands were cut from a Sizzix thinlet die, I have used this die so many times, it's become an old friend! I used Promakers to add some shading  and some faux pearls to accent the frame. 

Here's the inside of the card.....

I also played with my Serif Page Plus program on my laptop and produced a cicular sentiment for the inside of my card using part of a scripture from Micah 7;7

I am so pleased with this card I am gonna make some similar cards using the same dies but different papers and colour themes just for fun and to see how differently they look!

I'm entering a few challenges

click on the name below!

Word At Wednesday

Crazy 4 Challenges

The Stamping Boutique

Just For Fun

Picture and Scrap

Country View Challenges

Sister Act Card Challenge

Talking of Healing..

I have been challenged lately as to what I really believe about healing! I find it's so easy to believe God will heal the friends I pray for and even folk I don't know, I have seen it happen! 

But when it comes to myself and my personal need for healing I am not so sure, maybe it's the pain that overtakes my thoughts, or just simply doubt that diminishes my faith? I don't know ?

But what I do know is that God is true to His word and I have to hold on to that in the battle I am in! 

Back To My Card...

For this card I have used 2 new dies from 2 new sets I had for my birthday.

Here's the fabulous Umbria set from the Italian collection, Creative Expressions by Sue Wilson.

I fell in love with this as soon as I saw it, think I will be using this beautiful die set a lot! Creative Expressions by Sue Wilson is a new company to me I love the size of the dies.

I also bought the Creative Expressions filigree bow die set also by Sue Wilson 

but only used the lacy strip die from this set on my card. 

Tonic Studio 

Then I used dies from a very practical set of circle dies,.. The scalloped circle layering dies from Tonic Studios. The set has 14 dies in it so it was a no brainer to get this set with my birthday money! 

I had some beautiful tattered lace dies fo my birthday too but that's another post!!!

Thanks for Visiting today,
have a great week
Love Crafteresa xx

50+1 today! it's MY day!

Today it's my day. I'm gonna eat cake...lots of it, I am gonna play with my new dies and make a mess being creative. Gonna enjoy my cell group getting into the word of God this morning, and have lots of fun at the church craft group this afternoon. Gonna chat and share family love with my son Matthew, daughter in law Micheala, and grandson  Ethan on the phone. Gonna be blessed today and let that blessing permeate every part, every fibre of my being.

My heart will sing  "it is well with my soul"

Gonna bless others today too. it's not a selfish day....

it's my birthday! 

gonna spend some quality time with my Kev today. When I finally get to bed and feel myself falling asleep I am gonna still be smiling a cheesy grin from ear to ear, thanking my God for all He is to me and for the many blessing He showers upon me. Then I will blow a raspberry at the devil for all he is NOT. 

oh yes, today is my day, 

my 50+1 day 

and I am gonna enjoy it, 

Thank You Lord

Thanks for Visiting
enjoy your day too!
Love Crafteresa

Sweet Blossom Whimsy Centre Step Card spring is here!

Hello everyone, it's a beautiful day here in Lancashire, the sun is shining and it feels like spring is finally here.
I have a busy week ahead and its my birthday tomorrow so I am just trying to relax today and enjoy being creative while I have the opportunity!
I have made another centre step card. I really love this card shape, it adds a lovely 3D dimension to cards without taking forever to create, and most people who don't make cards think it's so special!

Today I used one of my favourite Whimsy stamps "Sweet Blossom" by Sylvia Zet. This sweet girl image with her pretty flowers really reminds me of the joys of spring when the flowers are blooming and the sun is shining, everyone seems to feel better in spring. Isn't she just so super cute with her little teddy bear!.

Iused my Promarkers to colour the image and then I raided my stash of patterned papers to cover the front of the card. I then added some punched flowers and some pretty gem centres. I wanted to create a card where the image speaks for itself... I didnt want to over do it with embellishments as this card is for a lovely young girl who celebrates her 7th birthday next week, I think she will like it!

I was blog hopping this morning and found a lovely card which had been entered into more than 25 challenges! The card was really gorgeous but I don't want to go that far! I have found quite a few challenges today though that I had not heard of before. therefore I am entering this into a few more challenges than usual, but only 9! I wanna stay within the rules LOL
Here are the links to the challenge blogs I have entered this card into....
(click on challenge name)

Penny Black and More  (So Sweet)
Crafty Hazelnuts   (Anything goes +patterned paper covered card)
V'S Sweet ideas  (Kids theme)
Natalie and Amy  (Flowers)
Sister Act   (Any)
Ribbon Girl   (Birthday)
Sweet Stampin   (Cute)
Crafty Catz   (Anything Goes)
Deep Ocean  (Just for a Girl)







Thanks for Visiting enjoy your day
Love Crafteresa

I'm a Winner!

Wahooooooooo! I just heard that I am one of the February winners at the Penny Black and More challenge blog, here is the card that won? I feel so encouraged and blessed to have been chosen even though its by a random thingy its still nice to win a pressie for my birthday!

 I have a £10 voucher to spend at Classy Crafts who were one of the challenge sponsors. I have been to their online shop and think I will choose a Leabilities die, they have at least three that I really like so I just need to decide now.   Thank You Classy Crafts and the Penny Black and More challenge blog 

Thanks for visiting enjoy your day, Love Crafteresa

I'm Gonna Scream With Delight!!!

I am sooooooo excited I can hardly contain myself
next week I will celebrate my 51st Birthday! but we can't do anything as we have absolutely no money ;o(  However, 2 friends have both asked what I would really really like for my birthday? I knew exactly what I wanted....in moving house somehow I have lost all my dies except just a few that were being used by my friend George. Why is it that life is all about loss??? That's all my birthday and Christmas gifts gone! I am very emotional and upset about this loss ;o(  To replace them all would cost hundreds of pounds that's money which I just don't have. So the offer to choose what I wanted was a no-brainer......    
 I WANT SOME DIES PLEASE my heart shouted.
Since I have been away from paper crafting Stephanie Weightman has designed and produced some amazing dies, they are the Tattered Lace collection, these dies are so different I am gobsmacked by them. It would be so easy to spend my friends money on replacing my original dies but I am believing that somehow they may be found (who knows maybe that's me just not wanting to let go?) So I decided to ask for some of these new Tattered Lace dies. Well it took a long time to choose which ones I wanted there were so many beautiful designs to choose from,  but I knew I needed some frames now that mine are all gone. along with the die my Kev is buying for me I have 6 dies on order, mostly frames except this one

I absolutely love these doves and can't wait to see the true size of them. I will show you all my birthday goodies when they arrive.,... I am soooooooo blessed....

But for now I will just have to contain my excitement I am definitely gonna scream with delight when my birthday arrives, (hope the neighbours are out!)

What a difference a year makes, I was 50 last year but spent my birthday and 5 and a half months in hospital, missing my party and most of the summer,, I would rather die than go back to that hospital ward again. I am so grateful that I can enjoy paper crafting again....Thank You LORD

thanks for looking

Crafteresa xx

Guard Your Heart

I've been thinking....

It's not what we say that really makes a difference

.....talk is cheap and no-one listens anyway

Its not even what we shout from the rooftops.....

 loud mouthed idiots are plentiful and people are still deaf!

Life is more about what we DO! 

Actions speak louder than words they say...

BUT

the real power, the source of real life, 

really begins with what lays secretly deep within our heart 

before anyone has heard it or seen its actions

our heart really does rule our head!

Both Hitler and Mother Teresa had a heart

ones source was the devil the other ones source was God

one was full of hatred but the other full of love,

one was full of death but the other full of life

we all know what followed in their lives

the fruit of their heart,

their actions are known all over the world

Guard Your heart above all else, 

for it determines the course of your life

proverbs 4:23

who or what is the source of your heart?

and as a result what is it full of?

Thanks for Visiting enjoy your day Love Crafteresa

Team Teddy centre step card

Today I want to show you a centre step card! Thanks to Brenda I have been thinking for nearly a week about what my "favourites" are in card making.

I wanted to enter her blog candy challenge, it's her 5th bloggerversary celebration (congratulations Brenda! what an achievement!) so this talented and generous papercrafter has put some Spellbinders dies up for prizes on her  Floral Fantasies blog,  here's the link To enter Brenda's Spellbinders candy challenge we are asked to use our all time crafting favourite item to create something new for the challenge.
My problem is that I have a lot of favourites! LOL

Here on this card is one of my all time favourite range of teddy bear stamps.  Anyone could tell you that I love my teddy bear stamps. I have a number of rubber stamps from different collections, I love the Forever Friends range,  I have a few PSX teddy stamps and some Funstamps teds too, I just love teddies! But my all time favourite has to be Rambling Ted and the more recent similar Team Teddy range by Penny Black
this stamped image is part of the Team Teddy bear stamp 398K
I have also used my very favourite papers which are from an A4 pad (front page missing so dont know the name of it) there are many different scaled rose patterned prints in either blue or pink and some checked papers too its so pretty.

I used my favourite flower stamp too it's a rose by Penny Black which is very well used and has been since I started card making,. This stamp was one of the very first rubber stamps I bought. back in 1990's

As I got into the flow of thinking "favourites" I used my present favourite card shape  too which is a centre step card. I think I have hit the favourite spot with every element!  so here's hoping for a prize!!! it would make a great pressie for my birthday next week!

As this is another Penny Black stamped image I am entering this card to the Penny Black and More Challenge HERE as a 2nd entry. They they ask us to add some sparkle! so I blinged it up with lovely AB clear gems, I love the way they sparkle with hints of rainbow colours.
I have so enjoyed myself today, my teds always make me smile!


Thanks for Looking
please leave a comment

Love Cafteresa xx

Mobile Again YAY \0/

Today was a much better and brighter day for me, I have been struggling a lot since the mobility scooter which friends had loaned me ceased to work. it was just dead!!! I didn't have the money to fix it and believed I had broken it so I should pay for it, therefore, I have been without wheels for a few weeks.

Even though it was bit chilly at Fairhaven Lake in St Annes due to a brisk breeze coming off the sea

I couldn't wait to get out in the fresh air, and Lulu my Westie was well pleased too.

 having that little bit of independence again sure put a smile on my face...

looking back over the last few weeks, it felt like 'd had my wings clipped!

well the battery has been replaced and I am now able to enjoy a measure of freedom again.

Rambling Ted again and again!

Getting back into card making after all this time hasn't been as easy as I expected, The biggest problem is that I have become quite indecisive...I found it hard to decide what to do once an image had been coloured (I use Promarkers mostly). So I had the brain-wave to look at some of the cards which I made back in 2011-12, and use them as layout inspiration until I get back into the flow!

so here's the card I shared back in august 2012...

I have always loved my Rambling Ted rubber stamps by Penny Black, 343J "Bunches of Wishes"

is the one used for these cards. I love the feel of this card with its pretty pink and brown colour combo, so I copied it! I didnt have the same papers and used a different die to create this card...

I am not very pleased with the sentiment. the banner backgound should have been a bit lighter

but I am quite pleased to actually create a cards!!!

I had stamped and coloured this image four times so now I felt ready to attempt something a little different but loosely based on the same layout. I wanted to enter a challenge, after all my confidence was growing and I needed the practice! I found the Penny Black and More Challenge" Blog   their February challenge is "Make it Sparkle" which was just right for my card

The sparkle was added to my card by using stick on gems to the image flower centres, the prima flower centres and the little banner which was cut using a Sizzix die, I finished the card off by using guipure lace at the top. here's a close up...

 I like the gentle feminine feel of this card, but anyone who knows me will know I love pretty and cute!  I have enjoyed myself and feel eager to create some more cards.

thanks for visiting, please leave a comment ;o)

I AM BACK!

Sorry I haven't blogged for over a year  

I have missed the fun of blogging and sharing my thoughts and creations. I have been absent because I have been seriously ill, I am now disabled and still coming to terms with my physical disability and the mental illness which caused me to be sectioned on a psychiatric ward for my 50th birthday and 5 and a half months of 2013 I missed the whole summer!. It's the biggest struggle I have ever had. I am now a shadow of the woman I once was. I am unable to work, so I have to depend on benefits now to exist, life is hard as we scrape through financially not even managing to pay all our bills but I am alive and desperate to get back to whatever normal is!

Lost But Loved

During this time of struggle, I found it hard to pray, to exercise my faith, and believe God cared about me or still had a plan for my life. I was upheld in prayer and loved by my friends and church family, I didn't appreciate it back then, I felt absolutely lost and very angry, but God is faithful even when I am not! I had a group of very close friends who loved me through and as I still struggle with depression and mood swings and try to find myself again, these friends are still there. my awesome family and friends are my greatest treasure in this life

Starting to Make Cards Again

I plan to start cardmaking again, and to blog regularly. I want to get back into challenges etc as I rediscover my crafting skills but I cannot buy any new dies or stamps or any of the other goodies which I loved shopping for previously, therefore I will be using what I've got ( I gotta lotta stash to get through!!!)! this in itself is a challenge a frustrating one but I will rise to it and enjoy myself too!

so I guess I better announce......

              ........I AM BACK!!!