Hellllooo

Well what a mad 24 hrs it's been here, My eldest Chloe's Boyfriend has had a real bad cold for 2 days, his friends have had it longer. Chloe phoned me last night on her mobile asking what the symptoms of Swine Flu were. Straight away my tummy knotted but i told her and she said she'd phone me back. One of her friends had been quite poorly and they were getting a bit worried and wanted some advice, for some reason because i'm an ex nurse they all come to me. The day before another friend of hers had came round for advice on athlete's foot!!! Anyway she came home shortly after saying that her friend had been taken into hospital. And they confrmed it was in fact swine flu. Now we have a major major problem with this, Chloe (17) is very sick and always has been since birth. She was born with a very serious heart defect, at 3 1/2 she had her 1st open heart surgery, they truly didn't think she'd make it through the surgery but bieng the fighter she is she did. Sadly the op was unsuccesfull and the damage they had tried to repair became even worse. We kept her going on meds for as long as possible then at 13 she has whats called a Ross procedure which means they removed her Aorta and pulmonary valve, from the pulmonary they made her a new Aorta then replaced her Pulmonary with a Homo Graph (Donated valve) This op was a breakthrough for Chloe's case which is very rare. It should have given us 15-20 yrs untill th next op ...but it didn't work. Each 6-12 months we're told it will be a bit sooner and each yr it's worse. At the moment she has (in easy terms for you lol) a hole in her Aorta, Leaking from the Aorta , a Hole in her Pulmonary valve with (obviously)a leak, her heart rate is erratic, and the left side of her heart is twice it's normal size. She also has a narrowing in both valves making her heart work much much harder to pump blood through.So as you can imagine any illness can cause major problems if not be fatal. We have been so careful and extra vigilant regarding the Swine Flu. Her boyfriend called his GP this morning and they haven't confirmed if he has it yet trouble is there's another flu going around the Village and we've all been warned that as it's a particlarly nasty one it can be fatal to anyone with a serious health condition. At the moment we have 3 confirmed and 5 possible sufferers and Chloe is close to all of them. We called our GP immediatly, she contacted colleages and Chloe's specialist and they have quarantined her for 7 days, and surprisingly given her Tamiflu. Now i'm mixed on this as the medication has been withdrawn as a precaution here meaning if you have been in contact with someone who's contracted the virus they no longer get the meds as a precaution, which i think is terrible but it's my baby! So it could possibly save her life but i feel for all the people who won't get it. Anyway so far Chloe's ok she has a bit of a groggy throat but if she has it developing the drugs will (please god) nip it in the bud. In our families eyes this is the worst possible scenario of all the family Chloe is the sickest and whenever we've watched reports on the TV our first words are please not Chloe! So sorry this has been such a long drawn out post, and sorry there's no card hopefully i'll get an hr tomorrow but the phone's not stopped ringing lol People sending wishes even neighbours sending love, so it's been a wee bit stressful as you can imagine. Hopefully i'll have better news tomorrow. If praying is a habit your in then please say one for Chloe and every other vulnerable person out there, i'm away to get some rest now all the kids are sleeping! Nite nite all, hugs, Tash xxxx

Fruity

Hello my luvlies! Hope your all well, i'm just popping on for 5 mins to post this card, i've combined it for 3 challenges again figured at least that way i could enter the challenges i want or i'd never have time just making one for each challenge.

Anyway i'm getting glances from the DH as he's starving and i've gotta get dinner dished up *tut*

This card is for: Spoonful of sugar, the sketch was a lovely one to work with.

Simon says: who wanted summer fruits

and

Our Creative Corner: Who wanted 3 embellishments (easy lol)

The papers are digi and i luurve them lol, i couldn't decide on cherries, strawberries, melon mmmmm all lush lol You can use summer fruit colours but i wanted to use actual images etc.

The Tilda image is as usual watercolured (i will get all those pesky copics one day!) Some green pearls, brads, lush flowers, Lemon grosgrain ribbon to sit Tilda on. And a cute strawberry charm which i've fallen in love with and have just ordered more hee. Hope you all like it and don't forget to leave a comment you know i love em, Hugs, Tash xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Whiff of Joy/Elisabeth Bell Candy

Katharina is giving away the new Whiff of Joy/Elisabeth Bell Fall kit as candy, these stamps have not been revealed yet, there's a mixed bag of character, background and sentiment stamps. This is an amazing candy and you shouls all check it out, But for those who don't win the new kit or don't enter the new kit is available for pre order untill August 7th just click on the banner on my side bar to take you to the page,Wishing you all luck! You can find Katharina's blog Here

Tirple Whammy

Hiya everyone, thanks to the couple that left me comments it was very much appreciated. Not much happening today i've just done housework all day it amazes me how untidy teens actually are, i'm sure i'd have got a clip around the ear off my mum if i'd have left so much junk lying around.But thats teens for you or rather a soft mum who puts up with it! Hope you are all well though and a good day!
Todays card is for 3 challenges the first challenge is for Stampavie DT They had a lovely theme of "In the garden" so i thought this lil' image was perfect, i Love Lily!!!The second challenge it's going in for is Papertake weekly, i enjoyed this sketch very simple and clean, and lastly Stamp with Stampavie who wanted the colour theme Red and Blue. As usual she's watercoloured, i've used a digi paper for the main background and a dovecraft to accent. I've used a sponge and ink to make her seem as if she's outside, used my ever faithful MS punch lol, some dew drops, Flowers with a brad. And cute clover charm to match the one she's holding. Hope you like it more than i do once again i'm bieng my own worst critic!
Loads of Hugs Tash
PS leave a comment pleeeaaassseee
xxxxxxxxx

House Mouse No Colour

Ok this one i like it's for the House Mouse Challenge.
They wanted no colouring so i went the whole hog anyone who knows me knows i love monochrome cards, i've used Dovecraft paper, my MS punch, a love sentiment and black and white gingham ribbon, for once i'm claiming this one lol. Please don't forget to leave a comment good or bad i love reading them, fingers crossed i get my camera sorted. Right i'm off back to my corner to sulk some more!

Hugs, Tash xxxx

New Camera Woes

*Sniff* i'm just having no luck! My lovely new camera arrived yesterday and i was so pleased. I took pics of my new cards, ran the software and all seemed fine, untill i tried to upload the flippin pics!!! For some reason the minute i hit ok on the camera to upload my whole PC crashes and restarts. I've googled and googled and it seems to be a common problem but i can't find a solution anywhere. The only advice i found was buy a card reader ok i thought thats not a problem.....................yeah right!!! Apparently you HAVE to have a sound card fitted!! Guess what........i don't so i'm stuck i've posted n a pc help forum hoping someone can help but no luck yet. Worst of all the camera takes a brilliant pic the papers, embellies, images all show up beautifully. So the new cards i've done have been snapped on my ever faithful Moblie, so the pic isn't great.
This first card is for 3 challenges,Penny Black,They asked for swirls on your cards this week. Friday Sketchers And Creative Inspirations who wanted stitching (Faux or Real).I'm not happy with this card but that creative liscense lol. I don't know why but it's just not rocking my boat, does that make me fussy? Thankfully my girls and DH loved it and it's already been claimed. Anyway The image is from Penny Black's Rambling Ted range which i love, it's been watercoloured. i'e used digi papers again. Added some die cut swirls, then put some gems on it as i was convinced it was missing something. Some pretty pink ribbon, a K&Co flower and some Faux stitching. Please give me your HONEST opnions lol.

Tash xxxxx

2Challenges in one!

Yay i'm back, managed to get another one done, phew! I'm entering this one into 2 challenges.

The first is the Stamp for fun challenge, their sketch was a nice one to work with, i combined it with Forever Friends, they asked for Pink, Brown and flowers, which is a colour combo i love!. I've used Digi papers, K & Co corner embellies and word, Some pink brads, flowers and brown grosgrain ribbon, Sorry the pics so bad my mobile don't like night time lol not long till i get my new camera!!!! Hope you like it, Please don't forget to leave a comment, Hugs, Tash xxxx

Distressed Tilda

Evening everyone hope your all well, this weekend has been crazy! We've had the annual village fair called The Boley Fair (pronounced Booley) People come from all over Ireland to it and this isn't a big village so it gets packed then people are drinking way too much and then of course there's trouble! It's a good fair but a counrty one meaning they do sheep shearing contests and pig racing lol, lot's of Irish folk music, Car and tractor rallies etc the kids love it as there is a fair so they get to go on rides which always keeps them occupied. The traffic is horrendous and while i'm sitting typing i can hear the cars beeping i think they're decorating trailers and driving in convoy lol. It' a big weekend but exhausting as you can gaurantee there'll be a fight outside your house at ridiculous hours of the night/morning. On the 1st night we were knocked out of bed at 4.30 am by our daughters friends boyfriend as he was looking for her and thought we were hiding her? But all in all it's a good giggle and gives the village something to look forward to aand enjoy, things have been very gloomy for about 8 months we've lost a child, a young teen and quite a few adults. It's such a shame but the younger ones have really hit people hard including us, so anything that brings a smile is welcome i suppose.
Anyway enough chattering about nonsense i've made a card for the Just Magnolia Tutorial Challenge it's their first one and the theme was distressing, Kim gave us an awesome tutorial (thanks hunni) and hopefully mine's ok. I love the distressed look so couldn't wait to have a go sadly though i'm later than i hoped due to the weekend, but finally got it done!. I've used a gorgeous image which was watercoloured, some K & Co papers, one is digi though (surprise surprise) I've distressed the edges with some scissors and applied some ink, used this lovely antique gold ribbon, some prima blooms and pearl brads.
As usual please leave a comment i love reading your feedback, it's also lovely to see who's popped by. Fingers crossed i'll have another later if not in the morning, Lots of hugs, Tash xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Charmed i'm Sure!

Evening people, Hope your all well. Well i've had a right to do with my camera Mick bought me one for mothers day and i've only just got it sorted out, so put the memory card in and off i went to take a pic of my new card, and low and behold the bloody thing was awful! the picture quality was terrible, i was gobsmacked, i'm not gonna name the maker just in case lol but it wasn't a cheap one! Mick's furious and i'm gutted so we played and altered the settings but no luck. I then took one with my faithful mobile and despite that bieng blurred it was nothing like the camera. So my wonderful DH has just been on that well known shopping site and bought me a new Hitachi HDC-886e it's got a whopping 8mp so should do the job. I'm no David Bailey nor do i aspire to be but i want to be able to see the flippin glitter on my cards for god sake.

Anyhoo enough moaning lol This is a card i made last night, haven't had chance to do one today since having loads of housework (thanks to visiting grandkids!) and then the camera saga. I'm putting this in for two challenges firstly the stamping for the weekend challenge, we had a choice of 2 sketches this week and i went along with Donna's it looked great and i have to say well done for that one it was a wicked design.

The second challenge is Just Magnolia who wanted Charms so i've added a wee one here fingers crossed it shows up ok.

The papers are Digi once again, i love this image with a passion a friend sent me a few stamped as i don't have this stamp.....................yet! But i'm nearly out so must buy one lol, it's been watercoloured as i'm still building my copics and pro markers hee hee, Used my nestie's to sit her on, my Martha punch, some pink satin ribbon,pink satin bows, gems, a sentiment stamp, some lovely prima and other mixed flowers with some cute lil leaves and of course the charm. I'm really pleased with this i know the pic is crappy but IRL it's lovely, and when you look at it imagine it the foccus bieng 3 times worse, i dunno who woulda Kodak'ed it....oops i meant imagined lol.

Hamish

Evening My lovely friends, it's poured down with rain today! But we did gey a wee bit of thunder so i was thrilled even if it did only last a couple of minutes, i love storms. Anyway i did however make a wee card, and i'm really happy with it. Now let me aplogise for the quality of the pic, i have finally got a memory card sorted just got to wait for it to be delivered, this pic does not do the papers justice they are gorgeous. I've made it to enter Stamps and smiles Fresh batch challenge, i loved this wee sketch such a pleasure to use. Love this lil image too such a cute one of Hamish, The papers are all Digi not sure where from now, i've had them that long. I used my doily punch & some white organza ribbon.

I hope you like it and please leave a comment i love to read your feedback it makes my day.

Hugs Tash xxxx

Triple Whammy

Hello my lovelies, hope you've all had a good day! I've had tummy cramps all day not sure why, i'm a mystery lol. Feeling ok apart from that. Weathers been odd not really known what it wants to do.

Well been busy spring cleaning my sons bedroom as aparently 13 year old buys are incapable of cleaning!!! My god i've no idea where it all came from but he has tons of stuuf, so it needed doing, so only one card for today. But that one card is going to go in for three challenges so not too bad.

I'm entering it for Whiff of Joy who wanted 3 papers, 3 flowers and 1 ribbon, the sketch is this weeks sketch saturday which was a lovely one to work with, and finally Charisma wanted buttons so there's a few of those added! I used some gorgeous digi papers, one of my favourite WOJ images which has been watercoloured, some really bright blue satin ribbon ,a K&CO sentiment, 3 flowres and buttons.

Hugs and Love, Tash xx

Two birds with one stone

Ok so this next one is a combined for two challenges, the first is Stampavie who asked for birds to be put on your creations, so i thought this lil Sarah Kay image was perfect not to mention totally cute! The LO is from this weeks Paper Take Weekly sketch, i really enjoyed using this one and will definatley be using it again.

Hope you all like them xxx

Marriage

Good evening my blogging babes, todays been a right scorcher! But there was a lovely breeze so not too muggy and humid, just nice. I've been a busy bee today, done lots of housework. And managed to knock out two cards lol.

This first one is for the creative card crew challenge, the theme was weddings, i decided to do something minimal but elegant as i love this kinda look for wedding cards/invites.

It was of course very easy to make just used my D'vine swirls CB floder, Black satin ribbon, a sentiment stamp and a lovely wee charm.

Tash xx

Teddies Travels

Hi everyone, hope your all well and getting plenty of sunshine, we had a torrential downpour early hours, and a wee bit of thunder and lightening but not much........shame as we love it! It's very sticky and humid today, not much of a breeze and hazy rain more or less constant. Wishing other parts of Ireland luck as some parts are on flood alert, hope it doesn't happen people.

Now then onto cards, here's a card for the Penny Black challenge, the sketch was a nice one to do i throughly enjoyed it, I've used an image from Rambling Ted Range which i love!, some paper from K&CO Hopscotch pad and digi ones, burgandy ribbon, buttons, CB frame die and sentiment stamp, sorry for the crappy picture again.... i know i know i must sort my camera out lol. Hope you all like it.

Tash