Shield and more - Update we won .....

Update on my post below - we won first prize, I am so darned chuffed, never won anything before. Thankfully the prize is a very rare Bad Taste Bear which the kids will be adding to their display cabinets - phew thought for a minute they might make me display it here. Picture of the prize is shown on my post of the 29th July. There are only 24 of these worldwide.

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Crafters get lots of 'strange' requests and when my grown up kids decided to enter a Bad Taste Bear competition they asked me to make them a blank shield they could decorate. Well stupid here made a good job of it and out of the kindness of their hearts they decided I could do the complete thing (or was it that they thought good old mum, she'll do it?). Anyhow here it is in all it's 'glory' - the latin motto round the outside has it's English translation round the bottom and reads 'United we stand. United we eat.....one another' hence the crossed knife and fork. The bears were drawn freehand from actual models and then 'adjusted' to suit my needs. The finished shield stands 3feet tall and is 2 feet wide. If they win do I get the prize?? - definately not, I wouldn't have one of those revolting ornaments in my house.

Daisy ribbon challenge

I was selected by Crafty Ribbons to participate in another of their ribbon challenges. A beautiful bundle of daisy ribbons duly arrived and the challenge was to make 2 things using the ribbons. So I set about making a couple of cards and then a nest of little boxes. I didn't photograph the inside of the boxes (oops forgot) but inside each I had made a glazed base using chips of coloured glass and beadlings and set a silver charm into the glaze. The tiniest box also had a little scroll with a quote on it. I think the boxes took longer than the cards to make, but each piece was a joy to put together so a big thank you to Ali and all the crew for another lovely challenge, just hope you like my entries.

my girls ......

are growing up and changing. Mya loves to play with my jewellery and doesn't seem to get the 'less is more' theory.

she looks so much older than 2 1/2 in these photos.

and our little Grace is developing into a giggler, she is such a contented and placid baby.

she smiles at everyone and everything.

For friend's birthdays..

June 13th is the birthday of two of my crafty friends and here are the tags and cards I made for them. As their birthdays are now passed I guess it is safe to post them to my blog. The first was for Hels.....

and the second was for Joana.

Grace Ava's baby blessing

Our precious little Grace Ava was given her Hebrew name yesterday, Leah Dorit, and we all had a wonderful day celebrating with her.

Here is our beautiful angel and she spent most of the day sleeping, she is so good.

Big sister Mya looked so pretty and had such fun.

Mummy and Daddy with their girls.

Arn and I with our little princesses.

Some of my family were there to enjoy the day with us.

Mya's been busy again

she is so enjoying her first attempts at crafting, although this week hardly any stamping actually landed on the cards - most of it ended up on the backs of my hands which she found hillarious. Ok the first card is for her mummy and daddy's 4th wedding anniversary.

the second card is for an elderly friend of mine who made Mya a blanket and pillow for her doll's cot.

next week we are going to make cards for her mummy and her daddy's birthdays.

Summer Fizz

Another beautiful set of ribbons from Crafty Ribbons have arrived and I need to complete 2 projects with them for the challenge. My first card features the new stamps from Whiff of Joy and as the theme for these is summer they were perfect to use with the ribbons.

For my second card I used a cute little download from Cuddly Buddlys - the Bonjour stamp is actually from one of the Lofty stamp sets from Joanna Sheen. For this card I cut some butterflies from one of the ribbons and used a second ribbon down one side. A couple of the butterflies were mounted onto wires to add a fun element to the card.

My final project was a mask - I LOVE masks so this was great fun. I gave the mask 3 coats of gesso to get a good base and then using different shades of pink and mauve ink pads I lightly coloured the mask. A touch of dark blue ink highlighted the tops of the eyes. I then embossed the whole thing using clear embossing powder. I stamped scrolls onto the mask using a versamark ink pad and silver/white embossing powder. Pink flowers were added above each eye and the bottom of the mask was embellished using large crystal stones and four lengths of Summer Fizz ribbon were added to both sides. A plume of mauve, pink and white feathers with a couple of pearl flower sprays finished off the right hand side and I then made a dangle of silver charms and pink pearls for the left hand side. My mask was complete.