Yay! I've got the cricut again

I'm so obsessed with cricut's now - not far enough having saved enough money now to buy my own but luckily I have a good friend who was willing to let me look after hers whilst she is on holiday.  I really wanted to borrow it for cutting out the numbers and letters for the cards below - it's so time consuming to cut them out by hand.
One of my best friends asked me to make these months ago but I've run pretty close to the wire - they're for her Grandad's 90th birthday next week - one from her and one from her Mum.  The brief was simple - hers had to have 90 and Grandad on.  The other should have 90 on it too, preferably with Dad and maybe with some kind of musical theme.

So here they are

Background paper  Bella Boulevard - Sweet Celebration

Shapes cut from 'Sweet Treats' Cricut cartridge (5 inch) using coredinations cardstock.

Alphas by Pink Paislee

Card Candy

Letters and numbers cut from stash leftover paper using cricut 'Winter Woodland) 3 inch numbers and 2.5 inch letters.

Front background coredinations embossed with Cuttlebug 'happy birthday'

Manuscript paper - from stash - left over from my GCSE music (circa 1990)

The music is 'happy birthday - badly done by hand

Balloons by Jolees

And the winner is.....(Drumroll please)

I'm delighted to confirm that "&son" and I completed our sport relief mile in a respectable time and with relatively respectable levels of gasping for air from me as I crossed the finish line.

Before.........

And After .........

In total we raised over £425 and this blog candy alone brought in £30+ so a huge thanks to all of you who took part whether by donating or spreading the word (or both)
I collated the donations and comments as follows
1. Donor1
2. Tiny Pablo
3. Donor 2
4. Donor 3
5. Happy Days
6. Donor 4
7. Marg
8. Rainmac
9. Ucca
10. Ali
11. Aneha
12. Winged
13. Dragonllew
14. Donor 5
15. Rusty
16. Sarah
17. Rosa
18. Fata
19. Artydoll
20. Glittermum

And then left it up to random.org

True Random Number Generator

Min: 1

Max: 20

Result: 5

Powered by RANDOM.ORG

So the lucky winner is Happy Days!
 
Drop me an email to louisadawn at googlemail.com and let me know your address.  I'll post as soon as I can.
 
Thanks everyone for taking part.
Louisa

REMINDER - My Blog Candy Closes tomorrow!

Hello all - its the big race tomorrow.  YIKES!

And my blog candy will close tomorrow evening too.

I've done my last training session and finally managed to do 1 mile in training on a treadmill - 10 mins 38 secs and to give you an idea of just how hard I found it, after finishing and walking slowly for 1 minute to 'cool down' my heart rate was still 166 bpm!

Please remember - you'll be entered into the draw whether you sponsor us or not - I know a lot of you will probably be supporting other people too so don't be shy.
If you donate online I receive an email advising me so you don't have to mention it if you'd rather not in your comment.

And a huge thanks to everyone who has supported us so far 'Team Dawn' currently has £366 of pledges/donations.

100th Post! Anyone for candy?

I'm not the worlds most prolific blogger so this is something of a milestone for me.

To celebrate I have some blog candy on offer - tell all your friends - the more the merrier

There are 6 sheets of MME papers - 3 from bloom & grow and 3 from wild asparagus

3 sheets of wild asapargus die-cuts

7 co-ordinating flowers

Some glue dots

A sheet of DCWV sentiments

A pack of coordinating snaps

Ooh yes - and the most important thing - a pair of Sports Relief socks!

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is create a link from your blog to mine to tell all your friends about it and leave a comment below this post.

My son and I are running the sports relief mile next Sunday.  I'm fairly confident this will be the first time I've run a mile since Primary School (if I've ever done it before at all). 

We would really appreciate it if you would consider sponsoring us via our 'just giving' page here.  Anyone who is kind enought to sponsor us will be entered into the draw twice (including you kind ladies who have already done so)

I'll do the draw next Sunday evening after the race

Button Necklaces

 I've finally knuckled down and got those button necklaces completed - one for my cousins 18th which wa sSaturday and one for my Mum for Mothers Day

Aimee's card and necklace

Background Paper - Basic Grey Blush
Numbers cut from coredinations gemstones
Ribbon and charm from stash

I made the gift box as well using my costco paper

Mum's necklace was made more for the colours she already has in her wardrobe

Again the paper for the box was from Costco

And her Mothers day card -

background paper Crate Paper Blue Sky

Letters cut from coredinations gemstones and embossed with daisies on the cuttlebug.

Ribbon and card candy flower from stash

WOYWW - Buttons!

Not much room for anything else apart from buttons at the moment! 
I'm waiting for some jewellery wire for necklaces to arrive - it should be here tomorrow - but in the meantime I thought I'd try and choose the buttons.  There's just too many to choose and there are some more somewhere - I have a box with my "bestest" ones in but I can't find it at the mo.  Harumph!

I was trying a bt of distraction therapy really - I should have been writing a letter for the sympathy card on my desk but couldn't face it.  I just don't know what to write - in fact I don't even know if I should write.  I stopped to help at an RTA on Saturday evening and there was a fatality.  I'm a bit of a mess about it all - there wasn't much I could do more than hold their hand and comfort them whilst the emergency services arrived but should I write to the family to let them know that someone was there? - put their minds at rest.  But would that really help?  Am I doing it more for me than them?  I'm wondering whether writing stuff down would be cathartic.  I think I have to do it now or I'll possibly regret it but I don't even know where to send the letter to.  Making the card was a bit of therapy in itself. 

Sorry to end on a bit of a downer - lets hope I'll have some nice button jewellery and a sunnier outlook to share with you tomorrow.

Mothers Day & Mum's Birthday

Mum's birthday always falls close to Mothers Day - there was one year I remember it being on the same day!  As someone who finds it difficult to think of one present to buy her I really struggle to find two! 
I thought things were going well this year because she dropped some "hints" - well when I say hints - she sent loads of links to ebay items as she wanted to increase her "Old Country Roses" china collection.  The more I spoke to her though, the more fearful I became of buying the wrong thing - there's so much to bear in mind - whether its a first or second, whether its vintage or the new stuff.  In the end, I couldn't take the stress o have said I'll give her some cash to buy what she really wants.
I had to give her something to open on her birthday though so I made this......I was supposed to be making something else to go in that box but realised too late that an essential component was missing.  It's on order now so I'm hoping it will arrive in time for mothers day now.

Thanks to Debbie for the tutorial on this card and box in one

Mum made me laugh - she carefully pinned her ribbon brooch on to her jumper but soon realised she had placed it somewhere inappropriate.  I said I'd have to make her another for the other one.

Papers are coredinations jewel and crate paper blue sky collection.  Cutesy owl from Craftwork cards coloured in with my trusty promarkers.

I can't post her mothers day card yet as she sometimes checks my blog but Mum did ask me to make a card for her to send to my Granny.  So here it is.........

 

You'll see a lot of those card candy flowers over the next few days - they're on all the cards I've made today and another I have in mind.  They're so simple to make - 5 candies right way up with one upside down in the middle.  I've placed a 'jewel' in the middle of this one but I think it looks better with a pearl - you;ll see once I can post the other cards!

The butterfly was my bragain of the day - from home bargains - where else?.  It cam in a box of 6 - wired, probably for easter bonnets I'd guess.  All 6 for 69p!