Second post this morning!

Very rare I post two days running, let alone two in one morning and now I am doing both LOL.

I took these photographs in my garden last Thursday. Couldn't believe my eyes when I counted more than 50 peacock flutterbies on one buddliea bush at the same time, and just the one comma flutterby. There were also lots of the usual large white an even some small whitetoo, and my white buddliea wash covered in them too. It was a wonderful sight to behold :o)

Without more ado, here they are.

Surprisingly there were nearly as many the next day :o)

Jackie xx

Birthday parcels

Good morning everyone, I hope all is well in your world, and if not then here's some hugs {{{{{hugs}}}}}.

I promised I'd tell you about our crafting day on Sunday and WOW what a day it was. There were 7 of us and we started off with bacon and cheese paninis and a cuppa and lots of hugging and chinwagging. Then off we all went to Byrkley Park for some craft retail therapy. Back we all came after spending the obligatory fortune, and had wonderful home made quiche followed by home made scones with strawberries and clotted cream. We thought we'd died and gone to heaven LOL. We spent the afternoon crafting during which I made 8 very simple Christmas cards and then we piled into two cars and off we went into Derby to the new Cosmo's for dinner. OMG what a wonderful place that was, for the second time in one day we had died and gone to heaven. Methinks I put at least half a stone on that day LOL. Anyhow, before you all nod off I will share a card with you :o)

Very simple card. Embossed parcels are chalked then layered onto a scrap piece of mirri card, then layered onto the basecard which is plain what folded and cut to 7x5. Sentiment is SU stamp and the ribbon is from stash. Embossing folder is from Crafts Too :o)

Jackie xx

Trying my new cameras B&W function

Good morning Bloggers, it's a very soggy morning but temperature wise it's perfect for me at last! I hope all is well in your world, and if it's not I hope it soon will be...hugs.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Osborne Pond at Shipley Park and decided I wanted to try taking B&W photographs with my new little camera. Normally if I want B&W pics I take them in colour and then convert to greyscale in PSP, but this time I  took the same ones in colour and in B&W. I must say that I am chuffed with the results and the reflections are great, even if I do say so myself LOL. I think they are much more striking that the greyscale conversions!

We all had a wonderful day yesterday, but I will tell you about that next time :o)

Jackie xx

Last flower cards for at least a little while LOL

Good morning Bloggers, I hope you are all comfortable in this horrible weather. Yes I did say horrible, I am on my knees begging for some COOL weather!

Finally, 8 months after being made redundant, my son starts a new job on Monday morning. At 51 years old he has had great difficulty getting a job so I hope this one goes well for him, I have everything crossed that can be crossed!

I am sharing these cards today instead of tomorrow, because I will be at our get together all day Sunday Yippeeeeee. There will be 7 of us gathering at the lovely Pauline's house for bacon butties, then off to the new Hobbycraft in Derby to have a browse. Back to Pauline's for a light lunch then it's crafting all afternoon before we clear up and off we all go out for dinner before taking our weary but very happy selves off home, what a fabutastic day it is going to be :o)

Anyhow, onto my cards before you all nod off!

I took this photograph at Trent Lock recently, in fact this beautiful Canterbury Bell was in a pot next to the lilies on my little mini cards. The pots were all sitting in front of the Lock House Tearooms.

Of course I used my favourite Papermania textured card to print them onto, and the mat on the first card is from a scrap of Bazzill.

I hope you like them :o)

Jackie xx

One lily, two notecards

Good morning everyone, I hope all is well in your world...hugs

Oh dear, here was I just settling down to a more comfortable temperature and wham! It's going to be too hot again today. I know a lot of you will love it but it just wipes me out completely :o(

I've got an exciting morning ahead, going to get rid of some clutter at the tip LOL. The evening will be better though when I visit my daughter :o)

Anyhow, on to my cards for today. I hope I'm not boring you with my photographs!

This is a photograph that I took at Trent Lock a couple of weeks ago, the same day that I lost my little camera! This pot of beautiful lilies sits outside the Lock House Tea rooms.

 Photograph feathered in PSP as usual then printed onto Papermania textured card. I took the background colour for the second card from the lilies. This is something I always do when I want a coordinating background. For the sentiments I used Viner Hand and Dauphin fonts.

Once printed (both on the same A4 sheet) I folded and cut them to 4x4 :o)

Jackie xx

One foxglove photograph, four cards

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all as well as you can be...

A very warm welcome to new follower Sallysbitz2

Methinks I will just skip over the changeable weather today except to say that I can at least function more comfortably now the intense heat has gone for the time being :o)

My cards for today all use the same image, but in different ways.

The first two are A5 and the other two are DL, a size that I have not made for several years, but of course the flower spike lends itself very well to this shape of card.

I took the photograph at Elvaston Castle a couple of weeks ago. 

I feathered it in PSP and printed it onto my favourite Papermania textured card. I love the canvas effect that it creates. For the first two I made them into toppers, and then straight onto the card for the other two.

The words are my own, created in Word using Papyrus font for the top two and Vinerhand font for the others. The leaf vine is a Memory Box die cut.

Jackie xx

Pages for a change

Good morning everyone, I hope all is well in your world, and if not then I hope it soon will be...hugs

Oh wow, what  storm last night just as I was coming out of work. Thunder, lightening, the rain coming down like stair rods, I got drenched getting the 50 yards to the car, then again in the 5 yards from car into house, but it felt wonderful!

On to my offering for today, a DLO from my trip to Trent Lock a couple of weeks ago :o)

Not much to say about them really, you've seen the photographs, now here are the pages.

I used white DCWV 12x12 card for the background.

Printed the photographs on my favourite Papermania textured card and cut with Nesties and Grand Nesties.

I cut the title with the Cricut but sorry, I can't remember which font I used :o)

Jackie xx

Just a simple card

Good morning bloggers, I hope all is well in your world.

Just a quickie this morning, I am off to spend the day with my cousin, including a pub lunch of course, then the evening with my daughter :o)

My card for today is very simple so without more ado, here it is!

My own photograph of course, taken  a few years ago. Printed onto Papermania textured card, sentiment added using Vivaldi font, then cut out with Nesties as is the mat. Both layered onto more PM card folded and cut to 5x7. Pearls from stash :o)

Jackie xx

Chalked card

Good morning everyone, what spectacular storms we've had since last night and still here! Thank goodness for the much needed rain and at least it's a tad cooler!

I hope all is well in your world and if not, I hope it soon will be...hugs

May card for today is another simple one.

I folded and cut plain white card to 6x6.

Paper and brown mat from stash.

Stampendous agapanthus stamped with Versamark then chalked, then cut with nesties then a smidgin of gold Glamour Dust added. 

Ribbon from stash, in fact everything is from stash :o)

Jackie xx

Vive la Froome

Victory in France for Chris 

and the boys from Team Sky

What a magnificent win. Who will it be next year, maybe Richie Porte :o)