Feeling Blue

After overdosing on red cards, I made a few blue ones. Here they are:

I'm entering this Birthday card in the Color Throwdown challenge:

I'm entering the Get Well Soon card in the Allsorts challenge: True Blue

I'm entering this last one in the following challenges:

Crafty Creations : KISS

Crafty Sentiments: Add a Charm 

CASology: Bloom

Happy Birthdays in Red

I'm terrible for hoarding papers and not wanting to use them. I decided to break into my stash and use one of my favourites. These are the 3 cards I made:

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
4 Crafty Chicks: Birthday
The Paper Shelter: Anything Goes

I'm entering this one in these two challenges:
Cupcake Craft Challenges: Lots of Layers
By the Cute & Girly Challenges: Flowers

I'm entering this last one in the challenge:
Crafts & Me Challenges: Use a Digi

Darwin, Hobbes & Emily

A few weeks ago, we acquired three new family members. We miss Frank & Bob so much, but these three mad creatures have made our house feel like a home again. Here are our fluffy eejits, Darwin, Hobbes and Emily:

Darwin

 Hobbes

 Emily 

Hobbes & Darwin are brother & sister, born on 31st December 2012. Emily is their cousin, born 14 January 2013. They are crazy, playful and affectionate, and although three mad kittens is certainly a handful, we are so happy that we adopted them :)

Glass Fusing

A couple of weeks ago, a group of us took a glass fusing course, taught by Stevie Davies. We made coasters / hangings and pendants. Here are a few pics of my efforts, before and after the firing  :)

  

  

Goodbye, beautiful Bob xxx

Our beautiful cat Bob passed away a few days ago, and we miss him so much. He was such a gentle little chap, with so much personality. He was part of our family for over 12 years, and very loved.

He was very fluffy, and loved cuddles. He was happiest when he was curled up on Mark's knee. He really adored Mark.

When Mark wasn't around, he made do with me, but he'd drop me as soon as Mark turned up :)

We often heard him making chirpy sounds as he came through the cat flap, up the stairs, and into the bedroom. Then there'd be a little face at the side of the bed before he jumped up for a cuddle.

When it was cold, he loved to be covered by a dressing gown or the duvet while he was curled up on one of us.

He also loved sleeping in boxes, even when they were too small to fit all of him inside.

Cupboards would do, too

Or a curtain to cuddle up in.

He loved playing in the garden, and sitting by the spider tree (a horrible old tree covered in spider webs) or under the pussy willow tree, watching the birds.

Bob was a very vocal cat, and was very good at making himself understood, at least by Mark. He had a different shout for when he wanted cat milk or ham, and he had a particular expression when he wanted cheese, which Mark called his Cheese Face. When we're in the kitchen now, we really miss the little shouty cat who would be tripping us up in the hope of some food. 

Here is a photo of Frank, happily snuggled on my dressing gown, and Bob, happily snuggled on Mark. I love this photo of my three boys.

Our house is too quiet now. We lost Frank, Bob's brother, just before Christmas. To lose them both in such a short time has been a real blow to us. We were so lucky to have had them as part of our family, though, and they will always be in our hearts and memories. Love you so much, beautiful boys xxx

Wet Felting (or Mashing Fluff)

Yesterday a group of us went on a course by All Things Crafty, to have a go at wet felting. It was so much fun, and now I need to get myself a rolling mat / blind so I can do some more!

Here are some photos from the course:

 Layed out fluff, ready to be felted

Slightly felted fluff 

Finished felt, with needle felt on petals and leaves

Something New

I needed to make a birthday card for my friend, which is always problematic because she is very creative and makes beautiful cards! No pressure, then. 

We both sell cards at work, and last week she joked that I'd give her one of her own cards for her birthday, or maybe give her one of my old cards that has been at the back of the display for ages because nobody wants to buy it...

Anyway, we were due to go on a wet felting course the day after her birthday, and had been talking about trying out felting for a while, so I thought I'd have a go at a small piece of felting for a card. I tried to follow an online tutorial, but I had to try to roll up the felt in bits of cardboard because I didn't have anything to use as a rolling mat. It sort of worked, but probably only because it was such a small piece of felt!

I added beads and some metallic embroidery thread on the flowers, and used green eyelash yarn for the stems. Here's what I came up with:

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Cupcake Craft Challenges - Make a Scene

Paper Pretties - Try a New Technique

The Paper Shelter - Anything Goes