Birthdays and Memories

This week was a rough one, a family friend who passed away in the summer it was her birthday on the 11th Nov and it was obviously our first without her here, Mum and her have been best friends for 25+yrs so it has been difficult. Then the day after was my niece Mirin's 15th Birthday

Mirin is honestly one of the most beautiful souls you could wish to meet, she sees the good in everyone even when there is very little good to see, she is a big girl for her age, towers over all of us lol but that makes her a target for bullying and for many years it really did play on her but she has finally managed to rise above them and ignore their dribble and has a lovely bunch of friends who she spends a lot of time with, it is just amazing how quickly the years pass x 

Mirin was weeks old here with me, I used to work in a chip shop and we all wore santa hats in December so snapped one with this wee cutie x

wee smiler was about 6months old

she was about 18months here 

about 3yrs old with Lauren (my sis in law Carol's younger sister)

On Blackpool beach about 6yrs old thats Mirin to a tee, honestly I took her and the boys down to a small bay we visit that is almost secluded only the occasional dog walker and the boys always paddle and play in the sand, not mirin, she was waist deep, with her trainers on then running about the sand OMG the colour of her and trying to clean her up to come home she had sand EVERYWHERE lol, the trainers went in the bin they were beyond fixing haha x but she had the best fun ever.

Mirin was 6 here, at Jordan's confirmation,

Mirin is holding my nephew Jack and Jordan has Jayden-Jack

Mirin's 7th Birthday

Her holy communion, with the kids and wee Mary, who was a family friend my Jayden absolutely doted on this lady, and was devastated when she passed away x she is very sadly missed.

Mirin at her primary school prom (aged 11)

Her 13th Birthday (honestly she is a BIG GIRL)

And with Jayden, this was took Summer 2014 

the bond these two have is brilliant they are so similar nature wise it is uncanny,

both of them are chatterboxes and always looking for fun.

She is just a beautiful young lady who has a bright future x 

Craft wise I have done a fair bit this week I have made a notebook charm as part of a swap on Scrimpys Swap Group (on Facebook)

I have made an altered box for a giveaway I done on Scrimpys I offered a lace kit and altered box which was won by Lin Tresdern, Amanda added £10 to the lace kit also so bump it up so it was a nice wee give away x 

My Altered Notebook, Adore this I used the floral muse papers and a fabric image to soften the look gorgeous x this wee notebook is too keep track of the swaps on scrimpys and make sure I know what is happening and when x 

The selection of cards from this week

Made using Peel off stickers sent to me from Rozalyn Parry as part of my swap, absolutely cute as can be so simple fab for kids class mates x

This one was a technique trial that failed lol x I stamped and clear embossed on blue paper the trees and then darkened the background with blue ink and then covered with vellum and added a moon of glitter card and a sentiment, its pretty but certainly not how I was picturing it in my head.

Loved this one using masking and blending ink for the background so pretty this is a future card tutorial.

This is a nitwit collections card from Christmas Romance 

I was on the Design Team for Nitwits last year and absolutely loved it, I adore their products and will always give them recognition for the most stunning digitals to work with.

These two are using papers from Stampin Up, and the sentiment is a dovecraft clear stamp, what actually pulled these together was the little dragonflies

I found them in one of my boxes of embellishments and thought "oh they are so cute" so started hunting through my papers for colours that matched I just adore how they worked out, the top one was doctored slightly as originally I stamped directly to the paper like the bottom one but the words were lost on the busy paper so stamped it on white cardstock, mounted it on a little bit of glitter card and stuck it over the top card saved ;) x

I also made this set of christmas tree ornaments (so far have made 6 but want nearer 20/25) and filmed a tutorial on them they are so pretty and cannot wait to put them on my tree this year.

Anyway thats it for now, I have got a special announcement coming soon so keep tuned ;) x 

Lots of love and hugs Always Karen x Happy Crafting