Yesterday, I came across some ATC cards in one of the drawers in my craft-room. They were part of swap that I had organised on a craft forum and so I thought I had better get around to sending them off to the participants.  After sorting them, I realised why they hadn’t been posted off, one of the swappers had not sent me her set, so I thought that it would be better for me to do another set, rather than either send them incomplete or not at all.

This is the set that I did this time, I based it around parchment as I am working on a lot of projects with parchment just now, as I would like to perfect the technique.  I printed the flowers from Christine Coulmans and Joanna Sheens CD rom - Parchment with Flowers and I now have pages of flowers on parchment with which to make cards and kits with now, I will publish here as soon as I can.

It took all evening to make these cards, from selecting the pictures to printing and then actually creating them. I will be able to prepare the sets for posting to the other swappers, now. I will take pictures of the other sets and publish here as soon as I can.

   I was sitting in my lounge doing some crafting when I heard a “plonk” onto a jiffy bag that just happened to be on the floor next to me because I had opened a package earlier. It gave me quite a jump and then when I looked, I was amazed to see a live frog! Wondering how I was going to catch it, I stood up gently and walked around the table where I was working and I spied a blanket on the back of Abbey’s chair, so I reached out and got it and then threw it over the frog. I was thinking how lucky I was that it had jumped onto the jiffy bag because it made it easier for me to pick the whole lot up and place it outside the front door.  As soon as I had put it out, I thought that I should have taken a photo and so I dashed inside quickly to grab my camera and when I  caught up with the frog again it was just hopping slowly away up the garden path. 

The cats often bring frogs and mice in but they usually take them out again if alive as I chase them outside.  If the “present” is dead, then I wrap it in newspaper and dispose of it in the bin. I had a mouse last week but it was dead and Jake was playing with it, and I couldn’t bear the thought of it being mauled about so tried to take it off Jake, but he took it outside rather promptly rather than let me have it.  Tiger is often bringing me bats, and I was told they were poisonous to touch (don’t know if true or not) so I throw a towel over them and put them out on the landing windowsill, where they fly off after recuperating from the shock of it all!

“I want you to know that I have added my name to the NHS Organ Donor Register so that I can help someone else to live after my death.

Every year hundreds of people die while waiting for a transplant. I want to help.

I registered my wishes to be a life-saver on the UK Transplant website. You can find out more about organ donation by visiting their site: www.uktransplant.org.uk”

I have always carried a donor card but I thought I would register online, it is easy and the information is there should you not have your card on you when you die.

This is a campaign that is running at the moment, I copied the info from the organ transplant website:

My life, My gift

Up to 90% of the UK population support organ donation but only 24% have joined the NHS Organ Donor Register. Many people tell us it is simply just something they have not got round to doing.

Our latest major campaign aims to make it even easier for people to give the gift of life. Over 11.6 million households are to receive an organ donation leaflet and registration form direct through their letterbox from Autumn 2007 to Spring 2008.

The mass mail drop is focusing on urban areas across the UK that currently have the lowest sign-up rate to the NHS Organ Donor Register.

The My life, My gift campaign began in London in October and moved to Northern Ireland in November. In January it heads to the north-west and north-east of England and hits the Midlands in February.

It is anticipated the information will reach 29.2 million people – 49.6% of the UK population.

Local radio and cinema advertising will support the campaign and we’ll be making sure local libraries and GP surgeries are well stocked with organ donation leaflets. We also hope a number of local commercial, public sector and sports clubs will pledge their support for My life, My gift to further raise awareness of the need for more organ donors.

Did you know…?

You are more likely to need a transplant than to become a donor

The generosity of donors and their families enables nearly 3,000 people in the UK every year to take on a new lease of life

Every year hundreds of people die while waiting for a transplant and many others lose their lives before they even get on to the transplant list

There is a serious shortage of organs and the gap between the number of organs donated and the number of people waiting for a transplant is increasing

Scientifc advances mean that more people are able to benefit from a transplant than ever before

Because organs have to be transplanted very soon after someone has died they can only be donated by someone who has died in hospital

While only a very few people die in circumstances which would enable their organs to be donated, virtually everyone can donate their corneas or give bone, skin or other tissue after their death

Many people have not thought about donation or discussed it with their families

Putting your name on the NHS Organ Donor Register makes it easy for the NHS to establish your wishes

The first cornea transplant took place one 100 years ago, in 1905

The first kidney transplant took place 50 years ago, in 1954

Organs that can be donated include the heart, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, liver and small bowel

Tissue that can be donated includes corneas, skin, bone and heart valves

Bone and tendons are used for reconstruction after an injury or during joint replacement surgery

A bone transplant can prevent limb amputation in patients suffering from bone cancer

Heart valves are used to help children born with heart defects and adults with diseased or damaged valves

Skin grafts are used as protective dressings to help save the lives of people with severe burns

Most people can donate tissue. Unlike organs, tissue can be donated up to 24 hours after a person has died and can be stored for longer periods

I have been practising pergamano over the Easter break, The embossing is improving but not the cutting and grid work. Practice makes perfect so I will keep on doing them, it is so much fun. I have been collecting my pergamano tools for a few years now but have only done a few cards up to now. Here is one of them but more can be found here

Abbey had an Easter Egg Hunt with a difference at Church this morning. We had a family service especially for guests and the children had their Egg Hunt while we enjoyed Hot Cross Buns with our tea and coffee at the end of the service.

The Children had a sheet of paper with different pictures of decorated eggs and a space by the side for them to write the words they found.  Around the Community Hall where the children go for their Sunday Club where the same pictures as depicted on their sheets. Beneath each picture was a letter that they had to fill in on their sheet.  When they had discovered all the Eggs then they would have a completed Easter message.  I thought it was a very good idea. All paticipants were given a large Easter Egg at the end. There was also lots of other activites and Abbey thoroughly enjoyed herself.

I have taken pictures of Abbey throughout the day and will scrap a page to put in my Faithscrapping Album. I will post it when completed.

I have been promising to create a few Christening and baptism cards but fail to find the time, at last I have made a Christening one, it has a permagano topper on and took quite a while but I have printed out stuff to create a few more now.

This is it, I am putting it in my shop where it can be viewed in more detail. If you type blog! in the discount box at checkout, then you will get 10% discount on an already discounted card.

It is my daughters birthday today and we celebrated by going out for a meal with her partner and inlaws. I made her a card but did not find the time to create some Christening Cards for my shop as planned.

The card on the left is the first one I made (spot the deliberate mistake?) and the one on the right is the revised version.

I was rushing it, as making it on the morning of her birthday, interrupted by phone calls  far too many times, and so I had printed all the zodiac profiles out and somehow, I managed to put the wrong one on. If you got the deliberate mistake, it was the fact that her birthday is Pisces not Aquarious.

This is the inside

I always make something different for her as she is a Goth. She hates pretty pink and all her other cards were pink.

This is her at the evening meal we had in celebration.

I am just going to Church in a while and I thought I would give an insight into the range of cards I am doing for Easter. They are all on a Victorian theme, some crowded and fussy and some simple and elegant.

This is just 2 of them

I have an offer in my shop on all Easter cards with a 15% reduction so if you would like to mosey on a take a look, you can find them here. I will be still adding more designs as I make them.

I had better leave now if I want to get to Church on time but I come back later and tell you what I received from God this week. I am going to make a batch of Christening and Baptism cards this afternoon as I am a little low on stock due to selling out of all my favourite one.  See you later!

I cannot believe how long it is since I last posted. Been so busy the time has just flown by.  The title “My last Faithscrapping Page” infers that this is going to be the last one that I do, it just simply means it was the last one that I did. A few Sundays ago, when I attended Wildwood Christian Fellowship we were asked to pray to God for insight into what He wanted us to do. Pictures ran through my head of ghoulish faces that changed to normal looking ones, a bonfire, reaching hands, a shower head spraying water and a drop of water falling in a pool and the rings spreading out. I took this to mean that God was telling me to continue seeking out people to show them God’s burning desire to give everyone the chance to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. He was instructing me to reach out to Him for help and He would shower me with answers of how to spread His Word. The Bible passage that came to mind was 2Corinthians 1 3:4 Praise be to the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. Who comforts us in our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God

I have had a difficult life and He helped me through it and I believe He wants me to help others who are going through difficult times themselves. I have surrendered my life to Him and thankful for saving me, the least I can do is help Him find others to save. We sung one of my favourite songs titled Jesus, All for Jesus and so when I scrap-booked a page of that Sunday morning I included that as well.

Here is the page I created for my 12 x 12 album.

I used 2 different styles of lilac coloured, background papers and tore one of them diagonally as my basis to add my pictures. I searched the web for pictures that were similar to the ones that went through my head and I printed them out after resizing. I double layered them all on one of the background papers and also a deep blue to make them stand out. I printed the song and the Bible verse on vellum and added handwritten journaling to finish.

I have been very busy setting up a wealth of accounts and links on the web to gain a prescense, but the downside to this, is that I have been too busy to post.  Not for long, though, I will start my daily posts soon giving a wealth of information about my subjects.

Here is my technorati link to add me to your favourites
Add to Technorati Favorites 

This is a wonderful site if you are looking for blogs.

With modern technology it is even easier to create Scrapbook pages with a photo editor such as Photo Shop or Serif PhotoPlus or a special program such as tLc LifeTimez. Digital pages can be sent in emails to family and friends and so making it easier to share. You can create single pages from scratch or use quick page templates and just add your photo at a click of a mouse. It is so easy to create whole albums that can be saved to your hard drive or dvd discs to give to family who do not have email accounts,  (yes, there are some people who do not like to use computers!) Some people do not like the physical gluing and sticking of the traditional 12 x 12 scrapbook and the digital version is so much easier in the age of digital cameras.

This digital page,above, has been created with tlc LifeTimez and can be purchased on my tLc Website here. You can purchase and download straight away, and then you can add pages and elements a few at a time as you can afford and so build up a fantastic digital library over a period of time. It is possible to make pages from scratch with LifeTimez and also import other makes of quick pages from various digital sites on the web.

This page was made from various elements I downloaded from the web:

I created this one for my friend Anita to give to her daughter for Mothers Day. It is of herself, her daughter and grand daughter at similar ages, she was absolutely thrilled with it.

You can create digital pages in an 8 x 8 format and print it out and then use it on a traditional 12 x 12 scrapbook page and embellish with other elements to make it part of your photo album, an example of which is below.