Purple Princess Diaries

Morning and welcome to Sunday morning

2012-01-29T09:30:00.001Z

Hi there,

Over on Craft Mad and Loving It a themed challenge has been set by Rosie and it is ...... THINGS WITH BIG EARS and she's attached a photo for inspiration. Now, Lauren and I are wondering where on earth Rosie found the photo of the two of us, mucking about, in the Disney Store in Florida but hey ....... we are indeed "things with big ears"!!!!

Taking my inspiration from Mouse Ears here is my entry!

Materials used:

8" square 300 gsm white card and matching envelope
Red card
Yellow card
Rubber Stampede image inked in Ranger Archival jet black
Pro markers and marvy alcohol markers used to colour image
Red and white dotty satin ribbon
Inkadinkado sentiment inked in Memento tuxedo black, directly on to my base card
Martha Stewart corner punch from a PATP set
Faux crystal gemstones to embellish

Last night saw me out to dinner (wot! AGAIN?!!) This time with a cousin and a pal - the three of us chose a small restaurant not a million miles from home and met there. It's a 17th century barn and finds itself now slap bang in the middle of an urban rabbit warren of a housing estate! Good grub though and not expensive. I had the chilli and very tasty it was too. For dessert we took ourselves back to school with chocolate crunch! MMMM

Liz inspecting her handbag! and my cousin, Debra - at the Langley Arms

Got up this morning with an idea for the Simply Less Is More sketch this morning .....

Materials used:

300 gsm scallop edged white C6 card and matching envelope
Double sided (low tack) tape and scrap paper (to mask)
Post it cut in to shape of my image (to mask)
Blue chalk
Cats Pyjamas image inked in Memento tuxedo black and stamped twice (once on to my base card and once on to my post it mask)
Paper Mania sentiment inked in Memento tuxedo black, directly on to base card
Copic Atyou Spica glitter pens (in red and blue) to highlight thermometer and ice pack!
Scoreboard and tool to score lines either side of chalked panel

Hope like it - also hoping that you're all having a fabulous Sunday - ENJOY

2nd post of the day - please scroll down to read earlier post

2012-01-28T14:06:00.004Z

Afternoon,

Here I am, back from sunny Plymouth - though we didn't expect it to be anything but wet - if the journey was anything to go by! Chucked it down much of the journey south.

Hotel was "interesting", never stayed in a hotel where the bathroom floor flooded when you too a shower! Why WAS this I hear you ask ..... because the shower curtain was a good 6" short of meeting the shower tray! YIKES On the plus side, the hotel WAS right in the heart of Plymouth and it WAS cheap £29 for a double room. Wynneth and Tom picked me up around 6:30 and gave me a quick guided tour of Plymouth before parking up for dinner at the Wet Wok! (no, honestly, that's what its called) and very nice it was too.

And here we are - seen enjoying our evening

Over on Simply Less Is More there is a sketch this week and Chrissie and Mandi have added the following stipulation:

We would like the card to be

rectangular
in landscape orientation
with the band remaining in a vertical position

As it's a very simple sketch, we would like it to remain as is without any rotation of either the card or the vertical band.

Hope you are having a very pleasant Saturday

Morning and welcome to sketchie day!

2012-01-28T09:30:00.022Z

Morning,

The purple princess is away from her desk today .... well, if I'm honest I'm probably actually on my home at the moment. Hubby and I were in Plymouth last evening, he was out for a boys curry night out with some ex colleagues and I decided to go with him in order that I could meet up with Wynneth and Tom, our pals from Saltash. They were picking me up from our hotel at around 06:30 and we were planning a walk along the Ho followed by dinner at a restaurant they are familiar with. I'm absolutely sure it will have been a blast.

Anyway, over on craftbubble there will be a new sketchie challenge this morning, set by Rosie, and with the added theme of "STANDING UNDER" - another member of the Design Team has recently moved and is still unpacking boxes so I'm standing in for her for a second week - it's my privilege matey!

Here is the card I made from the sketch ....

Materials used:

8" square 300 gsm white card and matching envelope
DCWV patterned card stack, cut slightly smaller than the base card and corners rounded
DCWV bronze metallic panel run through my big shot inside a cuttlebug embossing folder and then sanded lightly to reveal the inner core.
A4 piece of a buttery cream card used to layer the embossed bronze panel, the sentiment and (die cut in to a fancy rectangle) to layer my image on.
Stampers Anonymous check image inked in Versacolour umber on to the buttery cream fancy rectangle
Sparkle 'n Sprinkle sentiment inked in Memento tuxedo black - opposing corners rounded
Paper Mania orange ribbon adhered with Stix2 double sided tape
Sugar Nellie image inked on to a white panel using Memento tuxedo black, coloured with pro markers and then die cut in to a fancy rectangle using a Go Kreate die.
Glossy Accents to simulate the water droplets
Three white silk flowers coloured using pro markers and one punched with a Martha Stewart punch, attached to the base card using a pokey tool and three brads.

And Rosie's lovely sketch:

Have a fab Saturday - I may be back later, possibly with photos!!

Morning and TGIF!

2012-01-27T11:00:00.001Z

Morning all,

Friday again, another weekend - yippee! Got plans? Me? I'm in Plymouth, meeting up with a fellow crafter today - it'll be a lot of fun. I'm hoping I'll have remembered to take my camera - in which case there are BOUND to be photos! If not, then that'll be a nooooooooooooooooooooo!

Yesterday we had rain, torrential rain, more rain and ..... just for a change - SLEET and HAIL! Fantastic - perfect excuse to stay in and craft so, once my daily constitutional was out of the way I set down to sort out an ATC with duplicate materials to mail to my Isle of Skye trading card buddy. So, here's what I'm sending her ...

Materials:

One ATC blank
Paper Artsy hedgerow inked in Memento tuxedo black
Tim Holtz birds and sentiment inked in Memento tuxedo black
Hero Arts bird inked in Versamark and then heat embossed using the wonderful AGATHA by Sparkle 'n Sprinkle

And here's what I made with the same materials (list of additional items below)

Additionally:

Neocolour II water soluble wax crayons and a baby wipe

And now for the Friday Funny, t his week provided by our pals in Gloucester, Sandra and Brian - thank YOU! - ENJOY! It's entitled Baptising and Irishman! - I hope that no-one will be offended

An Irishman is stumbling through the woods, totally drunk, when he comes upon a preacher baptising people in the river.
He proceeds into the water, subsequently bumping into the preacher.
The preacher turns around and is almost overcome by the smell of alcohol, hereupon, he asks the drunk, "Are you ready to find Jesus?"
The drunk shouts, "Yes, oi am."

So the preacher grabs him and dunks him in the water.
He pulls him back and asks, "Brother, have you found Jesus?" The drunk replies, "No, oi haven't found Jesus!"
The preacher, shocked at the answer, dunks him again but for a little longer.
He again pulls him out of the water and asks, "Have you found Jesus, me brother?"
The drunk answers, "No, oi haven't found Jesus!" By this time, the preacher is at his wits end and dunks the drunk again -- but this time holds him down for about 30 seconds, and when he begins kicking his arms and legs about, he pulls him up. The preacher again asks the drunk, "For the love of God, have you found Jesus?"
(get ready for this.....)

The drunk staggers upright, wipes his eyes, coughs up a bit of water, catches his breath, and says to the preacher,

"Are you sure this is where he fell in?"

Have a great Friday and a splendid weekend

Hi there and welcome to a soggy Thursday!

2012-01-26T11:54:00.000Z

Hi folks,

Thursday again - soon be the weekend! No idea what your weather is like today but we've had rain, rain and (for a change) sleet!!! FAN blooming TASTIC!

One good thing about this weather though, is that it's the perfect justification for staying in to craft!! Yee Haa indeed.

I've had several letters arrive this week, from ATC swap buddies and this (of course) means I need ATC's to swap!!! Looked in my ATC box only to discover ....... TWO!!! TWO? Not enough to go round four letters anyway never mind the fact that some swap more than one at a time! You've already seen the swap materials and what I made those in to, I also have to make an ATC challenge to return, and send the duplicate materials back to her ..... reckon I need a dozen or so.

This morning I set myself the challenge to crack on and make some, I thought I would make a couple of simple ones, which I could then make two or three in similar fashion - which would batch make quite a few as I've four people to send to and I don't believe they all know one another (though two coincidentally, are Sisters in law!!! - go figure!).

Anyway, here are the first two of the batch make ......

Materials used:

ATC blank coloured using Versacolour marigold all over
Stampers Anonymous sun ray image inked in Versacolour gold
Stampers Anonymous check image inked in Colour Box heliotrope
Lost Coast Designs image inked in Memento tuxedo black

Materials used:

ATC blank coloured with Versacolour split pea all over
Stampers Anonymous check image inked in Colour Box heliotrope across the top
Paper Artsy line image inked in Versacolour gold across the bottom
Lost Coast Designs music image inked in Memento tuxedo black

Whaddya think peeps? Anyway, best get off and have some lunch and then crack on and make some more!

hi there and welcome to another Wednesday

2012-01-25T10:54:00.003Z

Hello there folks,

Busy old day for me today - it's What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday and I have materials to play with. Some of you will probably recall my ATC materials swap with a crafting pal based on the Isle of Skye ..... well a letter from her arrived yesterday and contained her make from the materials I sent her last letter along with her own challenge materials for me - hmmmmm, check below and see what I came up with!

Right then, what would you lot make with these two items?????

PLUS, this afternoon my pal, Sue, and I are heading to the Bristol home of a Design Objectives (DOcrafts) demonstrator who is also a Craft Superstore at home demonstrator. Michelle is hosting a workshop this afternoon and we're heading along to hers for 14:00 - NO IDEA what this involves but .... I should be able to let you know but only once I've been. I shall be taking my camera but we'll have to see whether a photo opportunity presents itself!

I've also been working on a little project but can't post it on my bloggy till Saturday - otherwise it will spoil the surprise ..... and we wouldn't want that now, would we?

I've started working on my ATC challenge materials .... perhaps you can see the clues on my work desk ...

And here's how it came out ...

Materials added:

ATC blank coloured with Versacolour hyacinth
Piece of white card coloured with marvy alcohol marker YG645
Dimension Fourth foliage inked in Colour Box heliotrope
Quickie glue applied (in stages) to the butterfly and gold foil sheet added to the body, silver gilding flakes, lilac translucent glitter and then lime glitter applied

Hope you approve of the changes ... hope Pam will too. The photo, sadly, doesn't do it full justice as the silver gilding flakes have been burnished and are quite shiny and bright, as are the glitters but it's such a dull grey day ..... sorry!

Due to lots of problems with commenting on the blogs of others (particularly when trying to zoom around the fabulous entries over on Simply Less Is More) I've downloaded (when I say "I" what I actually mean is my I.T. department, aka HUBBY) did it for me) Google Chrome. Anyone else use it? Whilst I find I can once again use my smileys on craftbubble (absent since the advent of IE VIII) I don't find it as user friendly as I.E. - or is that just me? I've lost the cut and paste from my blog in to the CB forum (I know, totally irrelevant for those non CB folks out there!) which was sooooooooooooo handy so, at the moment, I'm still using I.E. VIII for most things and Google Chrome just for blog hopping!

Have a fabulous Wednesday - catch you all again soon!

Hi there and welcome to the start of another week

2012-01-23T13:36:00.001Z

Hi there,

This morning saw me dashing off to meet up with a pal, Andrea (with whom I've been friends since primary school!!!! and THAT'S a long time!). We normally meet at a local retail park and we chat over coffee before a little light retail therapy - today, she headed off to grocery shop but I came home with a black and white top!! Hmm - not sure I NEEDED a new top but hey - I'M WORTH IT!

I got a text from a pal to say she's full of cold today - better this week than next matey as it IS craftathon and you DON'T want to be missing that! It's not long now! Must remember to ring the lady who keeps the diary for our venue and just confirm the arrangements and I need to book tables for dinner too.

So, with that and overnight guests on Saturday and the resulting fall out (washing up and laundry) I didn't get to do much crafting yesterday at all. Just this one, solitary, ATC ..... hope you like it.

Materials used:

ATC blank coloured using Versacolour Topaz
Inkadinkado blot image inked several times in Versacolour Topaz
Stampers Anonymous diamond design inked several times in Versacolour Cinnamon
Magenta 23640-H (dot flora) inked several times in Versacolour Ash Rose
Paper Artsy line image inked in Versacolour silver
Stampscapes "palm trio" image inked twice in Brilliance chocolate
Kaisercraft sentiment inked in Brilliance chocolate

Have a fantabulous Monday everyone

Afternoon and welcome to Sunday

2012-01-22T12:33:00.000Z

Hi there and welcome to Sunday,

Over on Craft Mad and Loving It I am the Guest Design Team Member this week and it falls to me to post the Sunday themed challenge and, this week, I've picked WHEELS - for my fellow CMLI-ers to make of it what they will! I had originally planned on transport but, if my memory serves me well, I think this topic may already have been used. With wheels I DID think that the more lateral thinkers could include ferris wheels (or the London Eye by Crafty Individuals for those lucky enough to own that image!) or even cog wheels ....... I'm sure there are even more - the World is your lobster!!!! If you fancy having a go then do pop over (you'll have to join craftbubble if you haven't already) and check out everyone else's entries.

On the Simply Less Is More blog the ongoing challenge (posted yesterday) is "CUT IT OUT" and I have yet to have a go at this challenge as yesterday was a bit busy.

So, this mornings make actually encompasses both challenges as it has wheels AND an aperture!

Materials used:

12.5cm 300 gsm scallop edged white card and matching envelope
4.5cm circular die used to cut aperture in the front of my base card
Dimension Fourth image inked in Memento london fog once on the inside of the aperture and once in Memento tuxedo black on to white card and cut out
Pro Markers and Copic Atyou Spica glitter pens used to colour image
Kaisercraft sentiment inked in Memento london fog

The above image and sentiment was also inked on the envelope and the sentiment used again inside the card to co-ordinate - Voila! A masculine card!! Hope you like it.

We had guests coming to dinner and staying overnight so there was frantic primping of the purple palace in readiness. Our friends had been away on a cruise, over Christmas, taking in sights of Thailand, Vietnam and China and we wanted to hear ALL about it. We do love cruising and hope that this dreadful tragedy with the Costa Concordia won't deter us from taking another at some point. Dinner was a mild curry as our friend Sandra has only recently agreed to try this style of cuisine - she LOVED IT!!!! Mr K served a very mild chicken korma with poppy and sesame seeds - yuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

We also exchanged our Christmas gifts so now Mr K has his very own breadmaker and I have a gorgeous silk scarf and robe (bet you will NEVER ..... EVER guess what colour it might be!?) as well as a silk purse and some fancy Liz Earle toiletries.

Hope you are all enjoying a fabulous Sunday. BTW, I heard from the pal who's at Littlecote and she's having a great time - she was just about to take in a wine tasting session when I got her text!

Morning and welcome to sketchie day!

2012-01-21T09:15:00.055Z

Morning,

Yesterday my aunt and uncle came a calling and they always come bearing gifts ... this time it was walnut cake for hubby and Fry's Turkish Delight for me (BOGOF too - even better!). Uncle Pete's been having trouble with his lappy so the I.T. department (complete with cape and underpants on the outside of his tights/pantyhose in true Superman styleeeee) swung in to action - is it fixed? Nearly but they had to go home before it was properly fixed so it was admitted to the I.T. hospital - it's sharing a ward with surrogate daughter 2's lappy which didn't quite survive a walk-on part by the cat!!! but I.T.man CAN (and will) fix them both! Those of you who remember that my CD laser arrived before Christmas will probably be assuming that it's been fitted by now ...... but (sadly) you would be wrong! ho hum - at least I can play CD's on my PC or DVD player if I feel the urge!

Some of you dear readers will also have notice my new (new) profile photo. I posted a Christmas-y one and when I removed it I thought I would like a change. I tried a couple but didn't like them, then hubby took a better one but ...... still not quite right. Whilst scrap booking this week I was working my way through my photos on the PC and I stumbled across one taken on the cruise - it didn't show too many chins - a winner I thought!! HOWEVER, I loaded it and it still didn't look quite right so it gave me the excuse to head on over to photobucket and have a bit of a play - I tried all sorts - some were just too weird but I happened to quite like this one version - it's title is COLOUR ROTATE!! it came out way purpley though my glasses (which are ACTUALLY purple) came out green - I loved it!! All it needed then was a purpley pink frame and I was all set - mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, wonder how long I'll keep this one for!

Is it me or is everyone else getting bogged down with spam too? I don't want to have to put word verification on my blog comments as I know how annoying it can be if you are visiting a lot of blogs ...... SPAMMERS BE GONE! or (in the words of Princess Anne) "NAFF ORF"!

Not quite up with the lark this morning but ....... over on the craftbubble group Craft Mad and Loving It it's the turn of a Guest Design Team Member to present challenge #77 and, this week, it's ME!!! Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE to enter the sketchie challenges and miss them when they are "resting" but it's lovely (to say nothing of it being a bit of a privilege) to have the opportunity to design and present my own sketch ........... so, without further ado, here is my card and the sketch for this week!! I had thought of the added twist of "See no, Hear no" (you know how it goes) ..... but found I wandered off topic myself so will just leave it to my fellow sketchieholics to use their own imaginations. Being such a fan of Clean And Simple I have chosen the "lots of white space" option which I'm sure that Chrissie and Mandi of Simply Less Is More would approve of!

Materials used:

8" square 300 gsm white card and matching envelope
Go Kreate fancy rectangle dies in two sizes, cut once on plain white card and once in purple holographic card
8" White card strip
Distress Ink Victorian velvet and Tim Holtz blending tool to colour strip and small white panel
Hero Arts floral image inked in D.I. Victorian velvet on to small panel
Hero Arts background grid image inked in Victorian velvet on to the strip of coloured card
Go Kreate oval die cut on white card
Fiskars sentiment inked in Memento tuxedo black on to white oval and then the oval edged with D.I. victorian velvet
3 x 2" dia white card circles cut
3 x 2.25" dia purple ribbed card circles cut
Hero arts shoes images inked in Memento tuxedo black on to the white circles and coloured using pro markers and Zig Wink of Stella glitter pen
4 crystal "water droplets" applied one to each corner

Hope you like it - fancy having a go? Then pop over to the craftbubble group site using the link above ...... ENJOY

And here's my colourful sketch!

Or there's always the new Simply Less Is More challenge ..... a Clean And Simple card with the theme of "CUT IT OUT"!, your entry must feature some kind of aperture in your card!

Have a fabulous Saturday whatever you have in store - one of my crafting buds has gone to Littlecote so here's hoping she's having a splendid and relaxing weekend. Another is still recuperating from her operation just before Christmas - so hoping she's feeling better every day and another moved last Friday so let's hope she and her family are starting to get straight in their new home too. As for me .... I'm off to do battle with the vacuum and washer!! Yee Haa indeed! How I hate domesticity!

Hi there and welcome to the Friday Funny!

2012-01-20T10:00:00.000Z

Hi there,

Hope you've all enjoyed your week, we had a new combi microwave delivered last evening - bought it on e-bay for half of the price of a new one .... and it's still in its sealed box and comes with a warranty! Woo Hoo indeed. It's exactly the same as the old one which kind of blew up before Christmas and that was going to cost only £40 less to repair ..... it was three years old. This seems like the perfect solution. Hubby's job for today? Plug it in, set it up and get it working! YAY

Meanwhile I decided to make another card - this one could be for ALMOST any occasion - I can see a couple it wouldn't be too appropriate for and I bet you can too!!! It's KIND OF Clean And Simple and yet so not when you read the list of materials ..... anyway, hope you like it.

Materials:

C6 300 gsm scallop edged white card, matching envelope and insert. All of the below were also inked on the envelope and insert, to fully co-ordinate
Stampers Anonymous diamond image inked multiple times in Memento angel pink
Paper Artsy line image inked multiple times in Versacolour silver
Inkadinkado splodge image (it was in a Joann's dollar bin and also came with a sort of candlewax drip image for this dollar!! - BARGAIN) inked in Versacolour raspberry but stamped off once before stamping on to my card.
Lavinia floral image inked in Memento tuxedo black
Kaisercraft sentiment inked in Memento tuxedo black ....... phew, so much for CAS huh?!

And now for the Friday Funny, this week forwarded by my dear hubby - ENJOY!!! - It's entitled "CARDIO VASCULAR EXERCISES FOR THE OVER 50'S"!!! Hmmmmm

ITS NOT AS EASY AS IT LOOKS

Pass to all 50 yrs and older. Cardiovascular Exercise

The older we get the more important it is to incorporate exercise into our daily routine. This is necessary to maintain cardiovascular health and maintain muscle mass.

If you're over 50, you might want to take it easy at first, then do more repetitions as you become more proficient and build stamina. Warning: It may be too strenuous for some.

Always consult your doctor before starting any exercise program!

Scroll Down.

NOW SCROLL UP..

That's enough for the first day. Great job. Have a glass of Wine.

Have a great weekend all

Hello and welcome to a sunny Thursday!

2012-01-19T12:03:00.001Z

Hi folks,

Thursday already - soon be the weekend - and the sun is trying its best today - such a change from the miserable day we had yesterday.

Got up this morning full of enthusiasm for scrap booking and set to - even managing to recycle some pretty gift tags so I can enter these for the January challenge over on Craftbubble.

Whilst it doesn't show in the photo, this paper has a light pattern to it.

Materials used:

12" x 12" papers (3 sheets)
A4 dark green card
Red/white satin and green satin ribbon
Recycled gift tags
Crystal gemstones (to fill in the space where the hole for string is on the tags!)
Plastic crystal "droplets"
Image and sentiment by The Cats Pyjamas
Various stickles and pearls to highlight the image
All Night Media foam stamp of a Christmas hat inked in Brilliance poppy
The photos were manipulated within word and the borders added there before printing
Journaling on the PC in word too

Enjoy your Thursday

Hi there and welcome to What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday!

2012-01-18T11:54:00.002Z

Wotcher peeps,

This morning started slightly earlier than planned as it would seem that one of our neighbours is having their drive ripped up and a new one laid. This drive's about 100' long and they're on their third skip (dumpster) already! It's a bit noisy and has been since 07:30!!! At least it got us up nice and early so we've done a fair bit already.

I thought I would do some more scrap booking and, further to a question raised by a fellow crafter yesterday, I uploaded some photos in to photobucket and played about a bit with different effects before saving back on to my PC. Of course, wouldn't you know that when I went to print my printer ran out of ink too - nothing's ever simple in this world is it? As you can see, the very first photo printed out OK but the rest were unusable! BUM! Luckily, we had the cartridges ready so changed yellow and magenta - the cyan's low so what's the betting that'll go next time I want to print some more photos?

At least it's warmer today, at 11°c (yesterday it didn't get about 2°'s all day) and feels positively balmy - I guess the workmen across the road are pleased that it's warmer today too.

Anyway, scrap booking's on the agenda this afternoon as, sadly, is a trip to Sainsburys or Tescos for food.

Here's how my work desk is looking today then .....

My photos AFTER changing the cartridge but before scrapping!

Have a great Wednesday

Hi there and welcome to Tuesday!

2012-01-17T10:00:00.003Z

Hi there,

Having promised myself some time to scrap our 25th wedding anniversary cruise and after I printed off some photos yesterday ........ crafting at the speed of light ........ I produced the following layouts. Now I would LOVE to be able to scrap like my pal, Jacky, who produces lovely (LOVELY) layouts but I just seem to gravitate more to minimalist layouts - or am I just a lazy scrapper? I don't know the answer to that one ..... or am I just too mean to use the embellishments? It CAN'T be because I don't have any! Anyway, We bought one of the cruise photographs (well actually, it was like an anniversary gift from Cunard!) and I had brought home some memorabilia so this formed a couple of pages ......

For the last couple of days people in the know have been blogging about a fab TSV on QVC this morning. I've checked it out here, it does look fab but I don't think it's for me - bet they will sell a lot though, have you had a look yet? I'll probably swing by again and see what else is going on. There was a rumour going around that QVC might be giving up on craft now that Dawn Bibby has "defected" to C&C but it looks like that's a no.

Being up earlier again this morning as hubby's off to Shepton Mallet with some radio controlled plane "thang" I had the opportunity to catch this sunrise - who knows? it may make a scrap layout of its own sometime - once I've caught up!

Have a great Tuesday

Morning readers and welcome to the start of another week!

2012-01-16T11:52:00.001Z

Hi folks,

Cold and frosty start to the day today AND we had to set an alarm as we both had an early (for us) dental appointment. The plan had been to walk to the appointment but with the risk of slipping we decided to take the car instead. It was a bit like the photo below when we looked out this morning (although this photo was actually taken in 2010) but the sun is shining now and the temperature has risen (not speedily enough though) from -1° to a balmy 0°C!!!

Back from the dentist and, happily, no treatment required so that's that for six months!

Decided it was time to do some scrap booking as I have a lovely cruise, Christmas and a few other bits and bobs just waiting for me to get creative with! So, this morning I trawled through and selected a couple of snaps to scrap ..... printed them off and I'm ready to rock and roll - just as soon as the inspiration takes me.

Yesterday my drawers were annoying me - drawers being of the storage variety - HONESTLY!!! So I headed off in search of some clear boxes, with a view to putting my unmounted stamps in to those instead of the IKEA drawers which are currently fit to burst in a couple of categories! So far I have taken out the unmounted images from my people, animals and foliage drawers and this is what I have ........ FYI, the coloured boxes inside the bigger boxes contain my small single images - those which might otherwise get lost beneath the sets!! The storage those images are inside came from IKEA but I couldn't face IKEA on a Sunday afternoon I'm afraid!

Hurrah, I can once again see all my wood mounted images in the drawers. Hmmmm - wonder how long it will take me to file those up again and, in the meantime, where the heck am I going to keep these new storage boxes since I craft cramped in a space behind the couch! Wish me luck ..... and a prevailing wind!!!

Happy Monday - what's on your agenda?

Morning and welcome to Sunday morning

2012-01-15T10:00:00.001Z

Morning all,

Hope your Sunday is progressing in an orderly fashion - well, for most of you anyway. A couple of good pals of ours moved on Friday and I imagine that they are still in a state of chaos and trying to emerge from their cocoon of boxes! GOOD LUCK chaps!

Yesterday saw me trying one of my personal nemesis' - a masculine card. Esther's technique was deployed again .......

Materials used:

5" square 300gsm white card and matching envelope
11½cm square black card panel
11cm square white card panel
Stampers Anonymous diamond image inked in Versacolour ginger multiple times
Hero Arts "daisy" shaped inked several times in Versacolour gold
Inkadinkado Rockstar sentiment inked in Memento tuxedo black
Inkadinkado guitar image (from the same set) inked in Memento cocoa
Faux crystal gemstones to finish

Here's the card I made for yesterdays themed challenge of CHRISTMAS PRESENTS as set by Karen on the Craft Mad and Loving It Design Team ....... hope you like it - I'm not sure I would exactly call it traditionally Christmas colours and patterns but I DO like it - AND it's another to add to my stack of Christmas cards ready for 2012!!

Materials used:

300 gsm white C5 card and matching envelope
Green patterned paper/card from Costco pack of 360!!!
Black panel and two white panels cut using a fancy rectangle die from Go Kreate
Martha Stewart corner punch
Michaels red satin ribbon
Faux crystal gemstones
Black panel edged with versacolour silver
Middle panel (white) coloured using D.I. forest moss and then stamped using Stampers Anonymous check image inked in Brilliance thyme
LOTV image inked in Memento tuxedo black and coloured using pro markers, copics, copic atyou spica glitter pens and crystal stickles
I edged the image panel with a Faber Castell pitt pen once adhered to the green check panel too

And here's a close up of the twinkley bits

Happy Sunday everyone

Morning and welcome to Saturday!

2012-01-14T11:30:00.002Z

Hi there,

Pleasant evening with pal Naomi last evening - a fish and chip supper and a very sociable evening. She's off to her daughter's today and has tickets to see Les Miserables tonight - ENJOY.

Before we went out yesterday I ran up this little ATC. I tried a spotlight technique on a card earlier this week and received some very nice comments about it so thought I would have another go. I also won some Sugar Nellie images at the Traplet stand at Newbury Artstamps show in July and these two images had never been inked! It was high time to get them inky ..... don't you thinky?

Materials used:

ATC blank
"Giddy Up" image by Elisabeth Bell for Sugar Nellie - inked in Memento tuxedo black twice.
One image coloured using pro markers, copics and Wink of Stella glitter pens before die cutting a circular section.
Blue and green shimmer chalks applied to the base ATC using a cotton wool ball
Once the spotlight section was adhered to the non coloured base I then used a Faber Castell Pitt pen to draw round the circle

Hope you like it. Anyway, bit parky here this morning ..... quite a change from the recent weather. When we looked out this morning it looked like everyone round here owned a white car!! Of course, the sun's come out now and the frost is melting fairly quickly but this little chap looked pretty ticked when he spotted me looking through the window at him! He just might have known about the LIM challenge in advance (see below)!

Challenge day again - now I KNOW I couldn't possibly be lucky enough to have a purple challenge again this week but ....... a girl can hope, can't she?

Over on the Simply Less Is More blog the challenge this week is: BIRDS - hmmmm, I might even do a card that simply ISN'T purple!!!! but then again NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Materials used:

5" square, 300 gsm scallop edged card and matching envelope
Post its to mask
Tim Holtz blending tool and foam pad
Distress Inks: milled lavender, dusty concorde
Lost Coast Designs crow images inked in Memento tuxedo black
Recollections sentiment inked in Memento tuxedo black
Faber Castell pitt pen to draw wire freehand

And on Craft Mad and Loving It there's a theme this week, set by Karen, and it's CHRISTMAS PRESENTS - that should get us all started on our stack of Christmas cards then!

Happy Saturday everyone - do feel free to check back and see how I'm doing with my challenges - I DO love Saturdays! And to my pal, who moved yesterday, I DO hope you remembered which box you packed the kettle in matey! - which is by way of saying that I hope the move went smoothly for you all.

2012-01-13T10:00:00.004Z

Hi there,

Hope you've enjoyed your second week of January - it's zipping by isn't it? Hope too, that you have fun plans for the weekend.

Welcoming new follower, Tan, thanks for stopping by - hope to see you again some time

Having been challenged by Chrissie and Mandi at the Simply Less Is More blog to complete seven PREDOMINANTLY PURPLE CAS entries it really does feel weird not to have one to submit today! I've done all seven - yee haa. Which was your fave? I have a problem in that each was my new favourite as I finished it. I have no new work to show you but here's a reprise of the seven entries so you can decide which you liked best! (once again, thanks to Esther for sharing the fabulous technique involved in my entry number 5). If you've developed a taste for Clean And Simple then I urge you to check out the Simply Less Is More blog, following the link above, and admire the work of the regular contributors ...... good luck with that, as there's lots of them!

LIM 1

LIM 2

LIM 3

LIM 4

LIM 5

LIM 6

LIM 7

And this week's Friday Funny comes courtesy of Liz - another entry in the draw matey! It came via e-mail and was entitled "THEN AND NOW" - so true!! ENJOY

Have a great weekend everyone

Totally Thursdaylicious!!!

2012-01-12T10:54:00.005Z

Hi there,

As you all know, I'm a bit of a purpleholic! The lovely ladies over at the Simply Less Is More blog kind of challenged me to make seven entries for their challenge this week - well, it IS PREDOMINANTLY PURPLE!

I stood at my craft desk yesterday and wondered what I could do that I didn't think had been done already this week ........ and this is what I came up with.

Materials used:

6" square 300 gsm scallop edged white card and matching envelope
Sparkle'n Sprinkle sentiment inked in Memento tuxedo black
Sugar Nellie image inked in Memento tuxedo black - stamped once directly on to my base card and a second time on to a scrap of paper.
I coloured the second image using pro markers and copics and then die cut in to circle, just a section of my image thus "spotlighting" in predominantly purple!
Foam pads to raise my "spotlight" and give the card dimension
Crystal ice stickles to highlight the "puddles"

Here's a close up of the twinkle

As I won this image in July of last year and this was the first time it had been inked I thought I better do something else with it and repeated the process for this ATC which I intend to use as a challenge for my Isle of Skye trading card buddy - be interesting to see if she spotlights her ATC! I would have submitted the ATC as my LIM challenge but wasn't sure there was quite enough white space - what do you think LIM-ettes?

Additional materials used:

ATC blank
Chalks and a cotton wool ball to apply

And here are the necessary materials I shall be sending her!

Anyhoo - Pam had sent me some materials this week and here's how I utilised them ...... in a bit of an art journal stylee!

Materials used:

ATC blank
White card on to which I scribbled blue, turquoise, yellow and green neocolour II water soluble wax crayons before blending with a baby wipe
Kaisercraft mesh image inked in Brilliance lavender
Kaisercraft gold acrylic paint - I dragged a credit card through to create lines and the lid off a toothpaste tube for the circles
Folk art copper paint - same as above
I cut out Pam's flower image and (using just the flower) mounted it on top of my two leaf images punched from Pam's card and then drew round the flower image using a Faber Castell pitt pen which I also used to draw the line border and free hand flower
I used a tag gun to attach two of the iridescent flower embellishments that Pam had also included, to the centre of the flower - to give movement

What do you think - will Pam recognise her materials?

A reminder of what Pam sent

I even used the card with my leaf punch

Enjoy your Thursday - whatever you have planned!

Hi there and welcome to What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday!

2012-01-11T09:15:00.000Z

Hi there,

I'm out this morning - visiting Hobbycraft (for ESSENTIAL supplies, HONEST!) and then on to visit a crafting buddy - get the kettle on Lilian!

So, not much crafting going on this morning, fortunately, I notched up another purple card last evening.! Since the ladies over at Simply Less Is More have challenged the Purplicious Princess (ie ... ME!) to make a predominantly purple project per day here is today's - how I LOVE that crow!

Materials used:

5" square white 300 gsm, scallop edged card and matching envelope
Violet neocolour II water soluble wax crayon scribbled randomly down the left side before blending with a baby wipe
Stampers Anonymous diamond design image inked with Memento Grape Jelly
Stamp World (of Australia) sentiment inked in Memento Grape Jelly
Lost Coast Designs crow inked in Memento Tuxedo Black

Whilst trawling the Simply Less Is More blog and the Predominantly Purple challenge I came across a glorious card design by Esther .... I couldn't wait to have a go at my take on her technique and ran one up pretty quickly (check out yesterdays post). I discovered it also looks pretty good in blue and hope you agree ....... this is one design I just WISH I could claim as my own but Esther got there well ahead of me!

Materials used:

6" square, 300 gsm scallop edged square card
Heart Image (from Craftynotions - free in the current issue of Craft Stamper) inked once in Distress Ink broken China and once in Marvy blue
Stampers Anonymous diamond pattern image stamped numerous times (in full and partial) in Brilliance lavender
Funstamps sentiment inked in Marvy blue
Art Warehouse flourishes inked numerous times in Versacolour silver
Neocolour II water soluble wax crayon (turquoise) scribbled and then blended with a baby wipe

As you can see, the envelope reflects the elements in the card, as does the insert. These were such fun to make that I batch made them in the purple (seen yesterday) the blue seen above and also in orange and in red but I thought you probably wouldn't want to see them all!

And finally - it's What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday - not much is the answer so it's time for another sneaky peek at some of my stash .... this is just one of three drawers which contain my flowers/trees/leaves and the like ..... several of these stamps (particularly the larger ones) don't get inked too often - many of them were my late mum's.

Have a great day

Greetings from me on a grey and murky old day

2012-01-10T12:05:00.003Z

Hi there,

Further to my writing some of my early 2012 cards I found that I have a gap in my masculine cards, my anniversary cards and my new home cards - hmmmmmm - wonder what my purple challenge card for today might turn in to ........

As you probably all know by now I have been bitten (well and truly) by the Clean And Simple technique and regularly enter a challenge over on Simply Less Is More - I like to look at the entries from other crafters too. Well, I was trawling some of the FABULOUS entries when I stumbled across a really "me" stylee technique, so I simply HAD to pinch the idea ..... but the credit MUST go to Esther for her fab idea in the first place - see her originals here. Fortunately, I don't have the Inktense pencils (yet?!!) so it can't be a direct copy but more of an adaptation and I hope that Esther will approve.

I'm not too sure I haven't overdone Esther's fab technique and excluded myself from CAS! but hey - I LIKE it and it's ......... an anniversary card and it's predominantly purple! Check it out - my LIM entry number 5!!

Materials used:

6" square, 300 gsm scallop edged square card
14cm panel of white card, coloured with Distress Ink in Dusty Concorde and then overstamped with a Kaisercraft mesh image inked in Memento grape jelly
13cm white card panel with rounded corners.
Heart Image (from Craftynotions - free in the current issue of Craft Stamper) inked one in Colour Box heliotrope and once in Colour Box violet
Stampers Anonymous diamond pattern image stamped numerous times (in full and partial) inked in Memento angel pink
Funstamps sentiment inked in Memento grape jelly
Art Warehouse flourishes inked numerous times in Memento angel pink
Neocolour II water soluble wax crayon (cobalt blue) scribbled and then blended with a baby wipe

And then the postman arrived, bearing a letter from my Isle of Skye trading card buddy - it was postmarked DECEMBER 21st - thanks Royal Mail!!! As my regular followers will recall - I exchange ATC's with Pam (and have done for yonks), to make it more interesting we swap materials ........ for the other to construct an ATC and return, at which time the original will be sent. It's a bit of fun and makes life more interesting - astonishing to see how differently they turn out too. Well, this package included my materials which, this month are:

Any ideas? Me either at this moment but I'll mull them over for a day or so and will post my finished ATC before posting it back to Pam - wish me luck! This is not a colour selection I use much.

Enjoy your day

I've been challenged to one predominantly purple project per day for a week!

2012-01-09T14:09:00.000Z

Imagine my distress (as the purplicious princess) to be challenged, by the ladies over at the Simply Less Is More blog, to make one PREDOMINANTLY PURPLE project per day for the duration of their current challenge!!! WOWser, what a hardship? Given my love of purple you might be forgiven for thinking that I had indeed bribed Chrissie and Mandi (who both concede they are not big fans of the colour) to set this one and yet ..... nooooooooooooooooooooo!

Here is number four ....

Materials used:

6" square, scallop edged 300 gsm white card and matching envelope
White base panel coloured with Distress Inks in Dusty Concorde and Black Soot
Paper Artsy lined image inked in Versacolour Gold and applied to this panel
Black card panel
Smaller white card panel coloured entirely with Distress Ink in Dusty Concorde and edged with Black Soot
Paper Artsy Diamond image inked in Memento Grape Jelly and stamped twice
Paper Artsy lined image inked in Versacolour Gold
Paper Artsy stem inked in Memento Tuxedo Black
Dark Room Door string sentiment inked in Memento Tuxedo Black directly on to base card

I LOVE the combination of the diamond image in one colour and the lined image in another - the eagle eyed amongst my followers will have spotted that I have used this formula before - but I LOVE IT so you may yet see it again! Purple is such a fabulous colour, apparently the Egyptians regarded it as a funereal colour so I thought I would try a sympathy card. Everyone hates to make sympathy cards but all card makers, sooner or later, have occasion to make one or more of them. I hope you like this and think I struck the right balance.

Happy Monday - how's yours working out for you?

2nd post - challenge entry!

2012-01-08T11:02:00.002Z

Hi,

Welcoming new follower, Gillian, thanks for stopping by - hope you'll find time to come back too

Well I DID wonder how long I would be able to resist a third attempt at the LIM challenge of "PREDOMINANTLY PURPLE"!!! and when Rosie set the Sunday challenge of "SWEET TREATS" too I thought I had THE perfect image. Of course, in my earlier post (which, if you've not seen it - you can view here) I DID say that cutesy hadn't figured so large in my makes of 2011 so this is to contradict that statement right away in 2012!!! DOH!

Materials used:

300 gsm white C5 card and matching envelope
2 die cut fancy rectangles
I coloured the larger rectangle with Distress Ink Dusty Concorde and then inked my Stampers Anonymous sun ray in Color Box heliotrope
The smaller rectangle was edged using the excess ink from my dusty Concorde blending tool.
My favourite things image and sentiment were both inked in Memento grape jelly, one directly on to the small rectangle and the other on to a scrap of matching coloured card which was then cut, banner style.
Pro Markers, Copics, Copic Atyou spica glitter and Zig wink of stellar pens were used to colour the image and stardust stickles to highlight the icing
Lilac and white spotty satin ribbon was tied in an off centre knot

I hope you like this, my third LIM card - oh, how I LURVE purple!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday

Morning and welcome to Sunday morning

2012-01-08T08:40:00.003Z

Hi folks,

Hope you've woken up to some pleasanter weather - don't know about you all but I'm truly a bit fed up of all the rain and windy conditions we've been enjoying (?!*) lately!

Welcoming my new follower, Vaktmastarn, hope you will find time to pop back from time to time.

Over on the fabulous Clean And Simple blog SIMPLY LESS IS MORE the challenge this week looked like it was designed with me in mind with it's theme of "PREDOMINANTLY PURPLE"!! Last year saw my styles hopping between collage-y and CAS in about equal measure, with a great deal less of the cutesy cards coming to the fore - now I'd LIKE to think this makes me versatile but ...... anyway, a combination of CAS AND my all time absolute favourite colour and I just KNEW there would be more than one card from me this week ......... and so did many of my friends!, how well they know me! Here's card number two - hope you like it as much as I do. I love the kokopelli image and the three used on the card are on one stamp but I also have one larger one and that's on the insert and one smaller one which appears on the envelope.

Materials used:

6" square, scallop edged white 300 gsm card and matching envelope
Scrap paper and low tack tape - to mask off the panel for colouring
Distress Ink in Dusty Concorde to colour the masked off panel
Copperleaf kokopelli images, Dark Room Door sentiment and treble clef all inked in Memento grape jelly
Faux crystals to highlight
I scored lines at the top and bottom of the panel to define the area, although this doesn't show in the photo.

Craft Mad and Loving It has a Sunday challenge just set .... SWEET TREATS - hmmmmm - thinking cap on already - you may yet see a second post from me!

Enjoy your Sunday peeps, whatever you have planned, as I type this the sun is out - hurrah!

2nd post - challenge entry!

2012-01-07T14:01:00.000Z

Hi there,

I should start calling this two post Saturday ...... this is my second post of the day and, if you missed my earlier post you can see it here

Over on the fabulous Clean And Simple blog Simply Less Is More this week's challenge theme is "PREDOMINANTLY PURPLE" Well, given the name of my blog it can some as NO SURPRISE that I was delighted with this week's challenge and may well be giving it a go several times - any excuse to play with purples! No other rules than Clean And Simple with plenty of plain white space. I've had this particular stamp set a while and only used it a very few times so I decided it should defo have another outing today - hope you agree .....

Materials used:

6" scallop edged square white 300 gsm card and matching envelope
Sparkle 'n Sprinkle umbrella and boot inked in Color Box Violet
Sparkle 'n Sprinkle raindrops inked in Color Box Heliotrope
Sparkle 'n Sprinkle sentiment inked in Memento tuxedo black

I used the umbrella, raindrops and sentiment on the insert and envelope too

Just over a year ago I bought a brilliant purple "wind proof" vented umbrella - plainly the BEST purchase I EVER made as it has yet to get wet!!! The sun is shining here today so I'm hopeful that it won't get used again today but ......... part of me wants to use my umbrella!!!! How sad am I?

Hope you're all enjoying your Saturday

Yay - Saturday and the challenges are starting up again after the break

2012-01-07T10:20:00.001Z

Welcoming new follower, Catherine, thanks for stopping by - hope you'll find time to pop back from time to time - look forward to seeing you.

The regular challenges are back ........ over on the Simply Less Is More blog this week's Clean And Simple challenge is entitled "PREDOMINANTLY PURPLE"!!! HUZZAH - how much do I love purple??????

And, over on Craft Mad and Loving It the sketchie challenge is back after a short break too ..... with Rosie setting the sketch and picking the added theme of "something old, something new, something recycled too!"

Here's my take on the sketch and below that is Rosie's set sketch ....

Materials used:

8" square white, 300 gsm card and matching envelope
19cm square (sorry about the mixed measurements) papermania patterned paper
Red coredinations panel on to which I inked my Inkadinkado flourish in Brilliance crimson copper before brushing perfect pearls in copper over the top (my OLD being the perfect pearls and ribbon and my NEW being the Inkadinkado flourish bought in a recent sale)
My RECYCLED part was this brilliant Santa image - the front of a Christmas card and mounted on a dark green panel and the corners given the Martha Stewart punch treatment before layering on metallic green
Rectangular punch to make two holes to the right and then two tone (red/green) ribbon threaded through
Die cut white oval on to which I stamped my Inkadinkado sentiment in Memento tuxedo black and edged the oval in Brilliance crimson copper
Platinum stickles to highlight the stars on the sentiment

Hope you liked my take - now check out the original sketch ...

Have a great day everyone

The First Friday of 2012

2012-01-06T11:30:00.000Z

Hi folks,

Last Friday I said I would enter the names of everyone who supplied me with a Friday Funny in 2011 and draw a name out of the hat (aka www.random.org!) and it selected week 10 ... so the winner turns out to be Jacky - cheers matey - watch your letterbox as a little goodie will be winging it's way to you shortly. I think I might do it again this year too ........ so don't stop sending the potential Friday Funny's to me - if I use them then your name will be added to my list and I will draw once more after the final Friday of 2012.

We're seeing friends this evening and the husband of the couple "retired" on December 31st so I'm guessing it would be a nice thing to present him with a happy retirement kind of card - they are both keen travellers and they acquired a camper van ...... thinks "I have a kanban clear stamp set with a VW camper van - hmmmmmm"

Retirement card for our pal

Materials used:

6" square 300 gsm scallop edged white card and matching envelope
14cm square white panel with tan and caramel pro markers used to colour border
Stampers Anonymous check image inked in Memento cocoa and stamped off once (each inking) before stamping a border around the P.M.'d panel
13cm black card panel edged with versacolour gold
12cm white card panel.
Kanban camper van and sentiment inked in Memento tuxedo black.
Pro Markers and Wink of Stellar pens used to colour image and glossy accents applied - for windshield
Faber Castell pitt pen used to draw border round panel

And this week's Friday Funny has come to us courtesy of our pals, Liz and Graeme - thanks guys - I hope you lot will enjoy this - turn the sound on!

Have a great Friday and a fabulous weekend peeps - Saturday tomorrow and the challenges are back!!

Morning - Thursday already!

2012-01-05T10:29:00.000Z

Hi there,

A warm welcome to my newest follower, Beckit, hoping you'll find time to drop back from time to time

Another wild and windy day here today with gusts of up to 50 mph!!! YIKES - everywhere I look I can see leaves all over the place and fence panels broken - thankfully nothing worse is visible but I do know that trees are being uprooted or blown down in this weather. The rain has been persistent for long enough for the ground to be waterlogged and trees just can't seem to stay put in the ground, it's dreadful right now. If you are going out and about today then do please, be careful.

I'm off out this afternoon, to the hairdressers for a trim but I think any efforts on my hairdressers part to make it look nice, once trimmed, will be rather wasted today and all the hairspray in the world seems unlikely to hold it in place!

Our neighbour is expecting a surveyor (complete with ladder) to call today, to give her roof some attention - not sure how that's going to work out but we're on duty whilst she needs to nip out - guess that means we'll all be holding the ladder!

A couple of people have posted their top five cards on their blog and some (including my crafting pal, DEBS) have posted their fave for each month in 2011 and I liked their idea so here is my TOP 12 of 2011 ...........

JANUARY - hubby's CAS birthday card

FEBRUARY - a good luck card sent to a good friend

MARCH - a surprisingly festive grumpie!

APRIL - a get well card for Cliff - made whilst in Florida

MAY - I stunned myself with how effective White on White could look

JUNE - how I enjoyed this sketch and using my Paper Artsy star image

JULY - I made this whilst entertaining Lauren and Wynneth - they were stunned to see how fast I craft!

AUGUST - everyone hates to have to make sympathy cards but I loved how this turned out

SEPTEMBER - I so loved this set of monster images that I bought 3 sets (1 for each craft location and 1 for a pal!)

OCTOBER - honestly? The caption says it all!

NOVEMBER - love this simple combo of Inkadinkado and Hero Arts stamps

DECEMBER - 2011 was the year I fell for Clean And Simple - BIG STYLE!!!

Have a fab Thursday everyone - stay indoors and craft!!

Welcome to wet and windy What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday

2012-01-04T14:08:00.002Z

How is it with you all? Blimey we've had a wet and windy couple of days here in Bristol. Just nipped round to the post box and almost got blown away! It was raining and hubby had this "BRILLIANT" idea to take an umbrella - not perhaps his smartest thought to date! Still, we have plenty!

New Year, weather's pants ..... so I decided to give my blog a new look - what do you think? Or do you prefer the old on - too much of a sunny image for this time of year?

Felt the urge for some crafting since it IS What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday ....

Materials used:

ATC blank, lightly inked with D.I. in aged mahogany
Inkadinkado animal skin image inked in D.I. aged mahogany but stamped off once first
Stampers Anonymous sunray image inked in Versafine ginger
Lost Coast crow images and sentiment inked in Memento tuxedo black
ATC edged with D.I. black soot

And here is my work desk - which, frankly, looks like it could do with a good old tidy up. With the weather so completely pants perhaps I will!

Enjoy your Wednesday and - stay safe in this vile weather

Afternoon what almost happened to Tuesday?

2012-01-03T13:10:00.000Z

Hi there,

Back from my hospital appointment this morning - follow up appointment with my surgeon (who did a great job btw) at eleven weeks from surgery. He's pleased with my progress - didn't even look at the scar but concentrated more on how I looked/moved/felt. All in all it would seem we are both pleased! I promised him a thank you card if he did a good job and, as it was a great job, I guess I owe him a REALLY nice card! So that's my project for today.

And here it is ...

Materials used:

300 gsm white C5 card and matching envelope
Black card
Papermania papers
White card panels inked with Distress Inks in pumice stone, aged mahogany and black soot
Lavinia image and Hero Arts sentiment inked in Memento tuxedo black on to the coloured panels
Black organza ribbon tied in to a knot well off centre
Faux crystal gemstones to highlight the sentiment

I was trawling the blogs of some of my buddies and happened across this post on the blog of my pal Katiejane and thought ...... good point! In it she says that she is proud of her blog and loves to update it and post things she wants to share on it. I have to say that I'm with her on this one - another friend asked me just yesterday why I had a blog and why I thought anyone would look at it. I told her that I used my blog as a visual diary open to the public - it's a showcase for photos that matter to me, whether they're of people, places, things or projects. Primarily I do it for me but I'm so proud to have 133 followers who check on my progress periodically too - so a big THANK YOU to each and every one of you and my best wishes for 2012, special thanks to Katie for reminding me to say this too.

In the words from the song "Baby it's cold outside" - the weather outside is FRIGHTFUL! - when we went out at stupid o'clock this morning (for my appointment) it was coming down in buckets! About a mile away from us the road is flooded, full width, for a distance of about 50m and we came home a different way! Most of the drains seem to be full to overflowing and our flower borders all look like mini rivers and/or lakes! It's rained so much of late that the ground is saturated so there's nowhere for this current rain to run off. And yet ...... I can't help but hear the summer cries of "DROUGHT" playing in my head already!

Anyway, that's how my days been going - hope yours is going at least as well - thanks for stopping by

2nd post - challenge entry!

2012-01-02T18:20:00.000Z

Wotcher peeps,

2nd post for me ......... my previous post dealt with this knotty problem too so, if you want to see how it evolved then please check out today's earlier post.

Well, rightly or wrongly - I THINK my first class over at Strathmore is complete and here it is - what DO you think? I'm still very much in two minds about it. It's taken me waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay left of centre in my personal comfort zone and, as I look at it, all I see is rubbish but this IS my first attempt so - maybe it gets easier with practise!

Have a great Monday evening - looking forward to your comments - be gentle with me!

Afternoon and here we are at Monday again

2012-01-02T15:55:00.002Z

Second day of January 2012 already - the year's just whizzing by - alright, own up - who started their 2012 Christmas shopping in the sales??? Don't be afraid to admit it!

And WHO has already broken about all of their New Year Resolutions? I gave up making them years ago because I never lasted more than a couple of days - don't think many do. What is it the gyms say? Membership surges in January as people make resolutions but, by March over 75% have lapsed their attendance - hmmmmmmmmmmm

One thing I DID want to do in 2012 was more journaling ..... Over on Craft Mad and Loving It a couple of crafting buddies signed up for a class in doodling and mixed media. Well the mixed media appealed to me as I thought it would help with my journaling but I was never sure about the doodling. Check out the on-line class here, some very talented people appear to have signed up ...... about 2000 of them and all seem to be more talented than me! The class appeared on-line and I eagerly watched the video and downloaded the printable instructions. Materials were a problem but I figured that, with the amount of stash I own, I MUST be able to cobble something together! The only thing I appear to be lacking is fundamental however ........ creativity. My crafting buddies Cherry and Clare seem to be doing so well with their pieces so it must be me - it's doodling for goodness sake, not rocket science but I just seem to lack the imagination - here's my progress so far .......

I gathered my materials and laid down protection for my work surface

This was my 2nd attempt and I'm NOT showing my first!

A bit further on - it's not finished by any means - got a gap bottom right for a start!

Anyway, how do you think it's looking? Anyone else signed up for this class? How's everyone getting on with it? I just feel it looks like junk ....... there's no doubt about it - I AM OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE!, and that's official! I love the stamping element and might incorporate stamps in that missing corner! Whaddya reckon?

Weather here's been complete pants all day though I did make it out for a walk and didn't get wet - which was (I think) pretty lucky looking out there right now .... AND it hasn't gotten light all blooming day!

Enjoy the rest of your Monday

Sunday and welcome to 2012

2012-01-01T12:53:00.001Z

Hi there,

Happy New Year - welcome to 2012, wonder how many times I'll write 2011 before I remember it isn't anymore!

Yesterday I signed up, along with a couple of on-line crafting buddies, for the Strathmore doodling and mixed media on-line class. I really wasn't sure what to expect but the class started this morning so it's not like I had very long to wait! As I signed up I read through the list of materials required and thought "Crikey, I haven't got all this stuff" but, reading comments through the day I quickly realised that I was not alone ....... so my very first project will be my best guesstimate! It will also be a bit smaller than the tutors piece as the largest heavyweight paper I own is much smaller than specified but hey ....... it's all about interpretation and they DO say that the best things come in small packages!!! I've downloaded and printed the instructions and watched the video of class one ....... not sure I'm quite ready to be so freeform but hey - I won't know till I've tried now ...... will I? Well, here is my take on class I layer one - how's it looking?

Materials used:

Spotty Mask
Doily
Stix2 tape centre
Rubber bands
Feathers
Tim Holtz cog masks
Various coloured spritzes

This, I'm hoping, will give a slight colour and a shimmer to subsequent layers ........... I plan to break out the acrylics including some fresco chalk acrylics next ...... once this layer is DRY! It's just a shame the photo doesn't show the glorious shimmeriness of the tanzanite, pink blush and sunflower spritzes!

Anyway, do enjoy your first day of 2012 - however you are spending it

The last day of 2011 - stand by to get used to writing 2012!

2011-12-31T15:55:00.005Z

Hi folks,

New Years Eve, ALREADY? What on earth happened to the rest of 2011, one minute it was October and now it's about to become 2012. Got plans for this evening? Whatever you are going to be doing I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year - I hope that 2012 will be kind to you and your family.

A little New Years Eve crafting - a Clean And Simple ATC - this is intended for my trading card buddy Denise - Happy New Year Denise!

Materials used:

White ATC blank
New Year cat image, Cheers sentiment and Champagne bottle image by the Cats Pyjamas and inked in Ranger Archival jet black - highlighted with Copic Atyou Spica glitter pens
Crystal stickles
Numeric stamps (from the might Costco scrap booking kit an age ago - manufacturer not listed) inked in Memento tuxedo black
Faber Castell Pitt pen to hand draw border
Distress Ink in bundled sage stippled on to torn card edge to "ground" my images

Alright, own up, WHO'S been on-line shopping in the sales? Yes, me too! I've bought a couple of presents for people with birthdays coming up and (OF COURSE) I fell for some craft stuff too - I'm dithering about dylusions paints (last day today as they're being withdrawn though who knows why) and pan pastels - can't make a decision and am in danger of missing the sale prices - that would NEVER DO!

Some new stash arrived yesterday and my mini moleskin journals arrived this morning - now I'm double dog torn with what to start playing with first! Here's my That's Crafty stash

Love those crows - had a touch more indecision about the crows as there was an identical set but, instead of the sentiment the crows were all wearing party hats. Decided on the sensible crow set as I thought ...... well you could always ADD THEIR HATS!! DUH! aren't they great? The Inkadinkado set was less than a fiver (Hobbycraft now want £12 for Inkadinkado sets!!!) and I love the ATC sized trio at the bottom - maybe these were behind my decision on the size of my moleskin journals ......... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Yesterday also saw us visiting my little brown pal below, Robbie, and his owner Jenny - for coffee and a catch up as they had been away over Christmas. Isn't he just soooooooooo cute? Who could have abandoned a face like his? Well, their loss has certainly been Jenny's gain as he's sweet natured as well as cute.

New Year new profile piccie - well, I couldn't leave the Christmas one on the blog all year now .... could I? Like it or prefer the old one? I'm undecided. Dare one ask about New Years Resolutions? If I was a resolution making person (which I'm not) I'd probably have to go with take more exercise and lose some weight but hey ......... cheers! EDITED TO READ: decided I didn't like the new pic so reverted to the old one once more, ho hum, still a WIP!

Happy whatever day! Have a GREAT New Years Eve and .........

TGI Friday peeps - and FRIDAY FUN TIME!!!

2011-12-30T10:15:00.002Z

Hi folks,

Busy old morning for me this morning, first off I nipped on-line this morning and ordered some goodies for an alcohol ink workshop for Craftathon 2012 - more about that as it draws nearer. Then our house became a bit like Paddington station with people ringing the bell - I've had no fewer than three deliveries this morning and (SADLY) have been rumbled by hubby over SOME of my sale purchases - oops! I fell for some fab Lost Coast rubber images at That's Crafty - gotta love those crows.

Now, I'm SUPPOSED to be going out this morning, for coffee with a pal but, now that my new rubber's arrived, I'd almost rather stay in and play! Of course, time with pals is irreplaceable so I shall be heading out shortly but on the way there and back you just KNOW I'll be planning projects! It's just a shame that my moleskin journal didn't arrive this morning too - ah well, there's always tomorrow!

And now for the last Friday Funny of the year, brought to us by ...... JACKY - thanks Jacky - ENJOY. Next week I'll be drawing names from my list of Friday Funny contributors so, if you sent me a Friday Funny in 2011 you better watch out!

THE BUS TEST

I already knew I was thicker than 11 year olds ...But now it's the pre-schoolers??

A PRE-SCHOOL TEST FOR YOU

Which way is the bus below travelling?

To the left or to the right?

Can't make up your mind?

Look carefully at the picture again.

Still don't know?

Pre-schoolers all over the United Kingdom were shown this picture and asked the same question.90% of the pre-schooler's gave this answer.

"The bus is travelling to the right."

When asked, "Why do you think the bus is travelling to the right?"

They answered: "Because you can't see the door to get on the bus."

How do you feel now???

I know, me too!!!.

Happy Friday one and all - last one of the year so make it a good one! I'll be back later with a photo of my new rubber and possibly even a project - MAYBE!!!

Hi there - Thursday already!

2011-12-29T13:18:00.001Z

Hi there,

Hard to believe we're already at December 29th - the last Thursday in 2011 - how's your year been? I've had ups and downs and I'm sure most people have had the same. I hope that 2012 will be better for you if you've had more downs than ups.

Just a quickie journal panel today - been a while since I did any but I ordered a moleskin journal on-line this morning so thought I should get some practise in!

Materials used:

300 gsm white card
black card panel
Neocolour II water soluble wax pastels to colour the background
Baby wipe
Tanzanite shimmer spritz and icicle mask
Lid from toothpaste pump rubbed on versacolour gold ink pad and applied randomly
Plastic "cork" from bottle rubbed across versafine ginger ink pad and applied to centre of gold circles. I REALLY like the effect this achieved as it's not an even application of colour.
Credit card dragged through the gold ink pad and used to draw "lines"
Paper Artsy images inked in Brilliance crimson, memento london fog and memento tuxedo black
Inkadinkado animal skin image inked in versacolour gold
Stampers Anonymous star and check background inked in versacolour silver and studiog plum
Faber and Castell Pitt pen used to draw freehand border

Hope you like it and I hope you are enjoying your post Christmas break too. May see you all tomorrow with more "stuff" - thanks for stopping by

The LAST What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday of 2011

2011-12-28T14:58:00.000Z

Afternoon,

After a blowy old night and a murky morning the sun is now shining its socks off!! What IS it with our weather?

I've not crafted since before Christmas and got lots of lovely stash that I wanted to play with so ...... here's how my work desk looked this morning....

Anyway, I took a circular mask and some low tack tape and a card blank and then, using just three of my water soluble wax pastels ....

And then .....

Materials used:

C5 300gsm white card blank and matching envelope
Neocolour II water soluble wax pastels in violet, yellow green and purple
Baby wipe
Dark Room Door sentiment and Imagination image inked in Ranger Archival jet black

How do you like my neocolour's first outing - I'm sure my blending will get better with practise but I quite like this harder edge.

Fed up of left overs and far too many chocolates yet? Me either! Happy Wednesday everyone

Hi there it's the post Boxing Day Boxing Day!!

2011-12-27T09:03:00.000Z

and, if it's anything like usual there's just something a little flat about today ...... after all the frantic activity over recent weeks with the present buying/wrapping/giving and the same with the cards!, yet today? NOTHING except a fridge full of left overs and the feeling that you can't face another turkey sandwich!

Must be time for some on-line surfing of the sales then! I did some trawling yesterday and am now expecting two parcels to arrive in the coming days - yee haa! Might do some more today as I have received a whole load of e-mail sales notifications, now .... where DID I put my credit card?

Yesterday saw us at the home of one of the surrogates (actually, real mum's home this year) for dinner, a few drinkies, silly games and (of course) the Secret Santa exchange. Harry (surrogate grandson) played Santa and sometime photographer and I'm going out on a limb here and saying that everyone was delighted with their selection this year, as most years. What did I get out of yesterday's entertaining evening? Well, aside from my giftie of a DVD and Amazon gift voucher, I began to realise that I shouldn't be trying a spelling competition after I've had a few! OOOPS. The boys challenged the girls to a "pub quiz" and (given they had the benefit of Steve, Chris and Alan on their side - all of whom have a passing interest in sport) we girls came second!! I was pretty proud of getting three whole sports questions right but it STILL wasn't enough! Becky and Dawn have about as much sporting interest as I do and Nick was asking the questions. We enjoyed the company, the food, the games and the gifts - thanks, Surrogates and a Happy New Year.

My Secret Santa giftie

My S.S. gift was for Becky - I think she liked it!

Steve's S.S. was for Nick and she liked hers too

As the games draw to a close we realise there's a joker in every pack!

However you spend your Tuesday, I hope it's a good one - all the best. I'm off to play with some of my new craft stash in a mo so I may yet be back with a second post - watch this space!

Happy Boxing Day

2011-12-26T11:11:00.000Z

I hope that Santa brought you all everything (or at least something) you asked him for! Me? I was VERY LUCKY and got LOTS of lovely things - some crafty and some not. I got the Harry Potter boxed DVD set, a Whitesnake CD (Mmmmm), some Marc Jacobs "Daisy" (mmmmm), slippers, chocs, soaps, and lots LOTS more - here's a photo of the bulk of my craft goodies and one beneath which will (hopefully) show up the wondrous colours of the embossing powders.

WOW! indeed!

Happy Boxing Day peeps - hope no-one's hung over! And if you are well I hope you will soon be feeling more chipper! Later peeps, I'm off for a spot of on-line shopping in the sales

The briefest of posts this Christmas morning ...

2011-12-25T08:30:00.004Z

It's CHRISTMAS DAY ....

Just wanted to stop by and wish everyone who visits blogland this Christmas Day the HAPPIEST OF CHRISTMAS' and my very best wishes for a great 2012 too.

Ho Ho Ho hope you get everything you asked Santa for too!

2nd post for Christmas Eve - challenge entry!

2011-12-24T14:01:00.001Z

Afternoon all,

Second post from me today (to make up for lack of post tomorrow perhaps!) - if you missed my earlier post then feel free to check it out here

My card is for the Simply Less Is More challenge and the theme this week is ONE WORD - I selected HAPPY and inside I can make the card in to anything I want ...

Materials used:

5" square 300gsm white card and matching envelope
Bronze DCWV metallic card panel
White 300 gsm panel with rounded corners.
Circular mask coloured using Distress Inks in Pumice Stone, Victorian Velvet and Worn Lipstick
TGF image inked in Memento tuxedo black and coloured using pro markers
Imagine that mix and match sentiment inked in Memento tuxedo black
Fawn polka dot ribbon

Hope you like it and I hope that it's quite Clean And Simple enough for the last challenge of 2011 - perhaps not quite as much "white space" as desirable but lots of "plain" space - fingers crossed anyway.

The Arty Carty blog has candy on offer, celebrating birthdays, 100 posts and, ooh lots of things! The candy will remain on the blog until December 31st and a winner will be picked on January 1st 2012 - you just have to post about the candy and become a follower ..... easy peasy?

Happy Christmas Eve and Merry Christmas to all my readers and followers and an even Happier New Year

It's Christmas Eve - only ONE MORE SLEEP!!!

2011-12-24T10:51:00.001Z

Morning all,

It's Christmas Eve, it's just before 11:00 a.m., hubby's been to Sainsbury's already and I've been out for my constitutional and now he's doing what has become traditional in recent years ...... booking a holiday!

My brother is coming round tomorrow morning and we'll exchange presents with him - his wife's a nurse and is working, which is a shame but hopefully they will enjoy their Christmas together at some time.

I still can't believe that I don't need to be making Christmas cards at this late stage and guess what? I made another one yesterday!!! DUH! At this rate I won't have any to make at all in 2012! I have really found the challenges over on Bah Humbug to be helpful in making up my quota this year and I shall certainly miss them in 2012 as the fine ladies at Humbug Hall are resting the challenges - we regular contributors are missing them already!

Anyway, here's what I hope will be my last Christmas card of the year!

Materials used:

5" square, 300gsm white card and envelope
Inkadinkado image and sentiment inked in Ranger Archival jet black
Stardust stickles to highlight

In case you find yourself in want of craft challenges, there's a challenge over on the Simply Less Is More blog and this week's Clean And Simple theme is ONE WORD - start your crafting engines!!!

In the time it's taken me to compose this post my dear hubby has managed to book our holiday to San Francisco and Orlando - how fabulous!

Have a great Christmas Eve and a Fabulous Christmas Day - there seems little point in my posting tomorrow as I doubt many of you will be checking out my blog tomorrow!!

TGI Friday peeps - and FRIDAY FUN TIME!!!

2011-12-23T13:00:00.023Z

Hi there,

Friday again - another week gone and not long now till Christmas - how are your preparations coming along? Only two more sleeps so - if you've got much left to do then I wish you much luck with achieving it!

No crafting for me for the past several days and I missed it. A new member joined Craft Mad and Loving It and is on the DT over at Cute Card Thursday so ....... with CMLI resting their sketches till the New Year it seemed like a good idea to support Shary. I checked out the sketch and it makes a nice change from the Clean And Simple layouts I've been doing of late .... so, here's my card and then underneath is the Cute Card Thursday original challenge sketch - hope you approve.

Materials used:

8" square 300 gsm white card
7" square of green DCWV paper
Black panels with rounded corners (as matted layers)
DCWV metallic paisley card for matting
DCWV bronze card strip edged using a Martha Stewart punch
Metallic ribbon
Red paper - free with Card Making and Paper craft recently
LOTV image coloured with Pro Markers, Copic Atyou Spica glitter pens and Stardust stickles
Retro flower punch in two sizes and DCWV, cream, bronze, metallic and black card
Faux crystal gemstones as flower centres

and now for the sketch ..

And this week's Friday Funny is not so much a funny as a humorous seasonal greeting - not that it feels particularly seasonal here as it's absolutely chucking it down in stair rods here - boy, am I glad I took my constitutional earlier AND in the dry!

Happy Friday - make it a good one!

Hi there and welcome to whats left of What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday!

2011-12-21T16:16:00.000Z

The last What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday before Christmas. I imagine that lots of people are sick to the back teeth of Christmas cards and yet, that was the last thing on my work desk - I blame the arrival of those new Dark Room Door stamps!!

A great big festive welcome to my latest follower Katina Killey - if you've time then do pop over and check out her blog.

Well, some of you may recall that hubby and I weren't putting decorations up this year - place looks really sad and bare. Last night we decided to have a little drive round to see what other people have been putting up this year - boy there's a lot of blue LED lights this year! We passed one house (Forest Road, Fishponds) and they had this display - which we could never hope to compete with!!

Yes, these two photos are juse ONE HOUSE!!!!

Happy Wednesday folks - make it a good one!

Only FIVE more sleeps ....

2011-12-20T14:00:00.000Z

till Christmas!.

Yesterday saw me out to lunch with my pals from school days. Boy have we known one another a while then?!?!??! (rhetorical question but the answer IS ..... YES!). We met at a local restaurant and enjoyed a Christmas lunch with a lot of chat in between. It was such fun ladies - we should do it again ...... SOON!

Remember yesterday?, when I told you all that we weren't putting up decorations in our house this year? WELL, we're just waiting for the neighbours to complain about our Bah Humbug impression ..... after all, look at their displays! Between the three of us you almost feel like we could be seen from space!

It's Roger's birthday today - he's my lovely neighbour in Florida - HAPPY BIRTHDAY Roger. My pal, Wynneth, is home from the hospital and starting her recovery - good luck matey. That just leaves one other pal who's been poorly to make some significant improvement - fingers crossed for you too. Surrogate family have had a few illnesses of late too and I hope they've all started to feel better too - there's a lot of it about this time of year.

Happy Tuesday

Only SIX more sleeps .......

2011-12-19T09:12:00.002Z

till Christmas! Anyone else (over the age of 21) getting really excited?? Or IS it just me then? I do love Christmas. Normally we have lots of lights up (inside and out), though not an obsessive amount - like you see in the papers! We usually have a 6' tree in the lounge and a 4' in the dining room and a 2' tree in our bedroom - twinkling away ....... but not this year. All of our trees and decorations are still up in the loft. Since my hip op I've not really been up for scampering up and down ladders to assist hubby in their removal from the loft or their siting in and out of the house so we decided that, this year, we wouldn't do it. So, about the only trace that it's Christmas in our house this year is a 2'5" fibre optic tree in the lounge and a couple of USB trees attached to our PC's - BAH HUMBUG I say!! Look out for next year.

Fortunately, our neighbours opposite have put up their usual show and, when I remember, I'll take a pic and post on here - it's lovely to look out and see.

Last evening saw hubby and I out with a pal (and neighbour) for an Indian at our local favourite restaurant - it was well up to it's usual standard and the boss is always pleased to see us.

Today I am off out to Christmas lunch with friends from my dim dark (and distant) school days. The three of us will meet at the restaurant and attempt to catch up on what's been happening in each of our lives since our last meeting during the summer school holidays! Wish us luck!

I did manage a little crafting yesterday and, would you believe, both cards are only blooming Christmas cards! The first one is on a Kraft card base and started life as a CAS music themed card for the Simply Less Is More challenge this week. The great thing about CAS (esp One Layer CAS) is that, if it goes wrong, you can simply mat and layer over it - as had to happen in this case!

Materials used:

C6 300 gsm Kraft card and matching envelope
Patterned papers (free with a recent CM&P)
Red card
Santa image (unknown manufacturer) on white card, die cut in to scalloped oval
Pro Markers to colour
Merry Christmas satin ribbon
Faux crystal gemstones
Crystal stickles to highlight

And now for the second card .... following my recent purchase of some dark room door stamps I felt I just had to get them inky ....

Materials used:

5" square, 300 gsm scallop edged white card and matching envelope
Dark Room Door sentiment inked in versacolour gold and inked twice on to my base card
Dark Room Door image inked in Brilliance chocolate
Crystal ice stickles (the larger textured glitter glue) to highlight the antlers and reindeers nose!

Hope you like them - I just hope I can remember where I put them when it comes to writing the 2012 cards!!!

Have a great Monday everyone - check out this video .... and don't forget one of my faves, located at the top of my side bar too!

Morning and welcome to Sunday morning

2011-12-18T09:00:00.001Z

Morning all,

Welcome to Sunday - is it a nice lazy day for you? After dinner guests on both Thursday and Friday it was nice to be "just the two of us" last night, so it was a nice dinner and a nice bottle of wine and the final of Strictly! I've been rooting for Harry Judd for a couple of weeks now - so was pleased to see him triumph last night. Everyone was indeed "just wild about Harry"!!

I'm saving White Christmas and Miracle on 34th Street for this morning whilst hubby is out at the flying field and am hoping that the weather won't bring him home before I've watched both! This will set me up for the upcoming festivities. I'm also out to Christmas lunch tomorrow with two pals from my school days, Andrea and Naomi - this should be fun - we simply don't get together as often as we would like.

On the craft front, yesterday afternoon saw me cracking on with a second entry for the Simply Less Is More blog's "MUSIC" themed challenge and, if the truth be told, I like this one a little better than my first and I wonder whether you (dear readers) will too ........

Materials used:

8" square 300 gsm white card and matching envelope
Circular mask attached to the lower right corner (with post its) and coloured using Distress Inks in Antique Linen and Pumice Stone
Dark Room Door musical image inked in Memento cocoa bean
Dark Room Door music definition inked in Memento tuxedo black
Taupe organza ribbon tied around the card and in to a knot above centre
A piece of 100gsm copier paper was cut 9" x 8" and folded 1" in from the 9" end before inking with a Penny Black sentiment in Memento cocoa bean. The dictionary definition and instrument image was inked on to the envelope, to match, too.

Hope you are having a nice leisurely Sunday and didn't overdo any Christmas "Do's" last night!

2nd post - challenge entry!

2011-12-17T11:36:00.000Z

Wotcher peeps, second post of the day from me. If you've missed my earlier post and card then please check it out here.

In the meantime here is my card for the Simply Less Is More blog challenge which, this week, is to feature the theme of "MUSIC".

Materials used:

5" square, 300 gsm scallop edged white card and matching envelope and insert
Dark Room Door sentiment inked in Memento tuxedo black
Unknown manufacturers music image inked in Memento london fog
Quickie glue pen and glamour dust to highlight the rounder letters of the sentiment
Narrow white satin ribbon, coloured using a pro marker - ice grey1 and tied in to an off centre knot and trimmed

Hope you all like it - I look forward to reading your valued reviews

Have a fab Saturday

Morning and welcome to Saturday!

2011-12-17T08:40:00.001Z

Morning all,

Great news, my pal's operation was a success. Her hubby rang last evening to say that, although she had gone to theatre late in the afternoon, she was now back on the ward and starting her recovery. Fingers crossed this will go well and she will be home in plenty of time for Christmas.

My get well card for her should have reached her this morning so I can now reveal it .....

Materials used:

6" square 300 gsm scallop edged card and matching envelope
Dark Room Door sentiment inked in Memento tuxedo black
Nitwits image inked in Memento tuxedo black on to white card and cut out
Pro Markers and Copic Atyou Spica glitter pens to colour
Xyron sticker maker used to attached adhesive to my bear

Over on the Simply Less Is More blog the new challenge has been revealed. This week's challenge does not have to be a one layer card but DOES need to be Clean And Simple and with lots of white space. The theme for this week is....... MUSIC. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, interesting - may BBL!

Happy Saturday, if you are sallying forth to the shops then ..... don't forget the shin pads - it's supposed to be the busiest shopping day in the run up to Christmas!!

TGI Friday peeps - and FRIDAY FUN TIME!!!

2011-12-16T11:30:00.022Z

Friday again - only one more till Christmas! I'm told (by the weather forecasters) that snow is heading our way today and that many parts of the country already have it - take care out there and stay warm and safe.

Hope you've got your trimmings up, the tree decorated and presents starting to appear under the tree (unless you've small kids likely to open these presents or pets!! ('nuff said, eh Karen!?!).

Of course, I DID make another card yesterday- using my splendid new Dark Room Door stamps but - it's a get well card for a pal and only going out in today's post so I shouldn't really post it just yet - check back tomorrow though as it should have arrived by then.

Anyway, now for the Friday Funny which, this week, comes from my crafting pal, LILIAN - thanks Lilian - ENJOY peeps

I woke up,

I lifted my arms,

I moved my knees,

I turned my neck....

Everything made EXACTLY the same noise:

'CrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaccccK!'

....I came to a conclusion:

I am not old,

I am crispy!!!

Get well wishes going out to the same two that have been poorly this week, one's having an operation today so ...... all the best matey.

Have a fantabulous Friday and a great weekend.

Hi there and welcome to a slightly soggy, but sunny, Thursday!

2011-12-15T15:02:00.002Z

Hi folks,

What about this weather eh? It's true you know, we Brits DO love to talk about the weather!!! Yesterday it was blowing a gale and alternating between torrential rain and sleet and today I can see brilliant sunshine through dark grey clouds - these clouds seem to indicate that the sunshine may only be temporary! Certainly looking at the weather radar there's a particularly nasty load of rain heading our way - whoop dee doo!

Hmmm - hubby's gone grocery shopping and I've started on the soup for our starter this evening, we have guests coming to dinner tonight and tomorrow so hubby will be busy chef-ing in the kitchen. Since about the only thing I cook these days is soup (or chilli) I thought I would make the starter!

I've a wash load of delicates in too - one thing hubby declined to do whilst I've been recuperating (afraid he would shrink everything!) but I now feel that I should be taking back some of my duties and giving the poor guy a break! He's been marvellous doing all the cooking (which he already does) cleaning, laundry, shopping etc - I've felt like I've had a servant and I could soooooo get used to it but it wouldn't be fair any longer as I feel so much improved. I still have a few limitations, which I'm working on, but - basically NORMAL is almost back! My rehab equipment was collected yesterday and I almost feel ready to drive again - might try hubby's car at the weekend and, if that goes OK, then we'll tax my car and I can get mobile - something I'm REALLY looking forward to, I can tell you all.

My Dark Room Door delivery arrived this morning from the Artists Trading Post and I couldn't wait to get cracking - lucky I had some Klingon! The only thing I don't love about DRD is having to mount and cut them out ..... I suppose I COULD use them uncushioned but...

Materials used:

6" square 300gsm scallop edged card and matching envelope
Dark Room Door reindeer image inked in Brilliance chocolate and stars in versacolour gold
Dark Room Door sentiment inked in Brilliance rocket red gold
Stardust stickles to highlight

Get well vibes still going out to the same two people as yesterday although one now has an operation date so light at the end of the tunnel, hopefully - best wishes for Friday.

Happy Thursday

Hi there and welcome to What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday!

2011-12-14T11:00:00.001Z

Wotcher peeps,

It was such a filthy day yesterday that I felt the urge to do a little on-line retail therapy and treated myself to two sets of DarkRoom Door images - don'cha just love Rachel Griegs tins? I found that UK stockists vary quite a bit on cost from around £18 to £27 per set!!! I've been eyeing up one of the sets for an absolute age since my pal, Wynneth, bought the set earlier in the year.

Now Wynneth's not terribly well at the moment and another pal has been having tests this week so ...... sending you both FEEL BETTER vibes.

On another matter ...... Now don't get me wrong - I LOVE the Clean And Simple genre but I'm beginning to wonder if I've lost my mojo as far as it's concerned. Remember the new home card on Monday? Well here's another one that doesn't quite ...... is it the Kraft card do you think?

Materials used:

C6 300 gsm Kraft card and matching envelope
Kaisercraft grid image inked in memento cocoa bean
Tim Holtz image and sentiment inked in memento tuxedo black - does anyone else have trouble getting this image to ink thoroughly? I tried it with Ranger Archival jet black first but with even less success and I was using a soft mat to try to get a better impression too!
Three faux amber crystals

I had a fairly busy day ahead of me with a pal scheduled to visit this morning, for coffee, and another this afternoon - to exchange presents over a cuppa and a mince pie! Plus, I'm expecting someone to call to collect the mobility equipment I've had on loan since my operation - a sure sign I must be getting better! If only I could get my walking cracked I'd be a very happy bunny - but it doesn't stop me crafting! However, the DREADFUL weather has already cancelled my morning plans. We had some extreme weather overnight and, close to where my pal would have been coming from, there was a nasty "incident" overnight so we've decided not to risk the journey - just for coffee and a chat - we'll get together again sometime (hopefully) soon.

It's What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday today and, as my work desk doesn't change much, I thought you might enjoy a rummage through another part of my crafting area - hidden (well nearly hidden) behind the couch!

Anyway, I FINALLY decided on something to buy my hubby for Christmas and it just arrived so I'd best get off and wrap it whilst he's not about and doesn't get to see what it is!

Happy Wednesday

Blustery Tuesday - how is it for you?

2011-12-13T11:51:00.002Z

Hi there,

Were any of you kept awake last night? Around here the wind was howling and the rain was lashing against the windows for much of the night - one penalty of being about the highest point in the area, I guess. I sat and read for a while until my blinks were getting so long that I simply fell asleep!

This morning hasn't dawned much better, we've had terrific winds, lots of rain - even a ten minute hail storm!! Hmmmf, and there's me supposed to go out for a 15 minute walk twice each day as part of my rehab - and this is important to my fullest recovery so there was nothing for it but ........ to walk continuously around the house for 15 minutes!!! Blimey - you got any idea how many times you can walk around your house and up and down the stairs in 15 minutes???? My hubby reckoned he was getting dizzy! and he WASN'T even walking with me! I forget how many circuits of the coffee table I notched up - but it was STILL raining when I finished but at least I was dry, and surprisingly warm too!!

Now for the crafting bit of this craft obsessive blog ...... hubby was out last night so I set out to make a new home card for my pal who's imminently moving but it just wasn't new home card night ... plan B) was another entry for the Simply Less Is More "Let It Snow" themed challenge this week but hey - I already have around 30 cards for NEXT Christmas so that didn't get off the ground either. There was nothing for it but to try something that wouldn't take up much space but which DID take a lot of techniques and time ........... so here it is, an art journal style ATC!!!! Hope you like it

How I achieved it .......

I took one white ATC blank, my Tim Holtz distressing tool and Distress Inks in bundled sage, peeled paint and shabby shutters and coloured the entire ATC.
Next I took some sequin waste and the distress tool (not inked again) and just sponged through the waste randomly.
I inked my Paper Artsy texture stamp with forest moss and stamped off a couple of times before putting on my ATC.
I squirted a small amount of Kaisercraft gold acrylic paint on to a palette and then dragged an old credit card through it and used it to apply some lines. With the leftover gold paint I twirled an old toothpaste cap and used to add circles.
For the smaller black circles I took the top off of a shimmer mister and twirled round on my Ranger Archival jet black ink pad.
I then inked my Hero Arts star in versamagic sage first and then a second image in Brilliance thyme.
All that remained then was to ink the Hero Arts sentiment in Ranger Archival jet black and then give the whole ATC a quick spritz in sunflower yellow mica mist and set aside overnight to dry ......... worth it? I'd like to think so, I'm quite happy with it.

And whilst on the topic of art journaling - which we were, loosely .....

Over on Kate Cranes fabulously arty blog she now has over 800 followers and is offering candy until December 20th ...... if you are interested then do pop over, become a follower and leave her a comment - good luck.

I uploaded a seven second video of one of our hail storms this morning but, sadly, it didn't really show up so I deleted it again - it just looked like a view from my front door! Ah well, trust me - it looked (for several minutes after it stopped) like we'd had snow! Of course, now we have mini streams flowing down the gutters instead!!! DEFINITELY a worthwhile exercise - wearing a path in the carpet instead of going out this morning!!

Happy Tuesday everyone

Happy Monday

2011-12-12T14:26:00.002Z

Afternoon all,

Tell me ...... is the weather as totally bonkers where you are? We seem to be alternating between light showers, downpours and bright sunshine - what on earth!?!?!??!

Sounds like the perfect excuse to stay in and craft and use up some of those scraps of Christmas paper.

Materials used:

ATC blank
Backing paper from CM&P
Green card cut in to a triangle
Scraps of Christmas paper cut in to strips and adhered to green "tree"
Faux crystal gemstone
Faber Castell pitt pen to outline tree

And then here's another ATC ..... using the DTP (direct to paper) method

Materials used:

ATC blank
Brilliance thyme direct to paper to colour the white blank
Inkadinkado image and Kaisercraft sentiment inked using Ranger Archival jet black
Quickie glue pen used to draw randomly on stems and leaves and allowed to dry
Gold foil applied to glued areas
Faber Castell pitt pen used to draw freehand border

And for those of you who think that CAS (Clean And Simple) is easy peasy here's one of my failures ..... it started off as a result of looking at a card on Susan Raihala's blog (she does such beautiful CAS work see her blog here). She inspired me to have a go at something similar - especially since I needed a new home card anyway ...... well, as you will see below - CAS doesn't always work. Whilst there's nothing ACTUALLY wrong with it - it just doesn't work at all - too many variables. Perhaps if I had used a white card, perhaps if the sentiment had been smaller/plainer, perhaps if the row of houses had been shorter ... CAS really is NOT just as simple as putting two stamps together and calling it done, so, the next time you see a CAS card that REALLY DOES work - just spare a thought about how many dummy runs the maker MAY have had to achieve it!

Materials used:

300 gsm Kraft card and matching envelope
Hero Arts houses inked in Ranger Archival jet black
Sparkle 'n Sprinkle sentiment inked in Memento paris dusk

Happy Monday everyone - hope yours isn't too bad.

Morning and welcome to Sunday morning

2011-12-11T09:59:00.001Z

Morning peeps,

Yesterday, over on Craft Mad and Loving It, Clare set a themed challenge which was "TAKING THE ROUGH WITH THE SMOOTH" and I immediately thought of distressed edges and glossy accents.

Materials used:

300gsm Kraft card and matching envelopes
Stampendous chequerboard image inked in Brilliance chocolate and applied round the outside edge of the kraft card, to create a base pattern
DCWV offcut edged using a Martha Stewart punch and then a Brilliance dewdrop pad (in chocolate) swiped along the edge. Remaining edges distressed using a Tim Holtz distressing tool
White gel pen used to draw "faux stitching" line to panel
DCWV metallic panel with rounded corners and distressed as previous
Costco double sided panel with corners rounded and then swiped with chocolate pad
Die cut white card circle distressed using D.I.'s: old paper, pumice stone, bundles sage, vintage photo
Inkadinkado image inked with Brilliance chocolate
Quickie glue pen applied randomly to stems and leaf veins and, once dry, a goldy copper foil applied - to match in with the metallic on the DCWV panel (smooth huh?)
Glossy accents applied to blooms and leaves and left to dry

Here's a close up which shows the rough and smooth in a little more detail. Hope you like it everyone - I look forward to hearing your comments - don't be shy!

And, looking out of my window this morning I saw this image ...... reminds me of some Paper Artsy and Penny Black stamps ..... how about you?

Have a great Sunday although the weather certainly doesn't look promising hereabouts!

2nd post - challenge entry! If you missed my earlier post then please scroll down

2011-12-10T13:26:00.001Z

Hi there, me again.

Just thought I would stop by again and post my challenge card for the "LET IT SNOW" theme over on Simply Less Is More, where they already have EIGHT entries!

Materials used:

300 gsm scallop edged white card and matching envelope
Walmart large snowflakes inked in Brilliance lavender
Inkadinkado small snowflake inked in Brilliance starlight silver
Delafield sentiment inked in Memento paris dusk
Cystal stickles to highlight

Here's a close up of the sparkle .....

Hope you are enjoying a festive Saturday - got your decorations up yet?

Hi and welcome to Saturday

2011-12-10T10:28:00.001Z

Morning all

Saturday being, challenge day, usually keeps me busy at the table of craftiness and this is a good thing as there's a THICK white frost out there today - brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Yesterday, I set to crafting - something I hadn't had time for since Sunday of last week!!! YIKES - not like me. Just goes to prove how quickly you get out of the habit...... I chose to use a Kraft card and a layout I have used several times and really liked (A LOT!), I felt it versatile enough for both a Christmas card and a sympathy card - now those are poles apart aren't they? So I set off using the Kraft as the background .... then stamped my background images. Stamped my main image and sentiment and stepped back - DISGUSTING. Looked like it was destined for the bin. We crafters hate to concede defeat in such a rash manner so ...... after a bit of a think, I took a white card panel and started again ..... whaddya think, did it work second time? (If you look carefully at the base card you can just about make out the original layout but I think it merely enhances my panel - but that could just be me!)

Materials used:

C6 300 gsm Kraft base card and matching envelope
Panel of 300 gsm white card, cut slightly smaller than my kraft base card
Distress inks: fired brick, aged mahogany, vintage photo, black soot
Paper Artsy chequer image inked in vintage photo and stamped twice in opposing corners
Paper Artsy line image inked in versacolor gold and stamped twice in opposing corners
Paper Artsy flora image inked in Ranger Archival jet black and stamped in full once and just partially a second time
Studio 112 image partially inked in Ranger Archival jet black. This stamp also includes a car image and a 2nd sentiment, which I didn't want to use.

And here's the same formula .... previously posted, as a Christmas card

Over on the Simply Less Is More blog it's time for a One Layer Card and this week's theme is "LET IT SNOW" - now I shot myself in the foot recently by using my truly gorgeous Inkadinkado snowflake for another theme - it would have been soooooooooooooooo perfect for this one but hey ....... it's not like I don't have other stamps!!!

On craftbubble's Craft Mad and Loving It group Clare has set a theme (whilst the sketch challenge rests until January) of "TAKE THE ROUGH WITH THE SMOOTH" and this sounds like an intriguing challenge - two things popped straight in to my head but I can't share them yet ....... because then I might have to kill you!!! Only joking! You know what's it's like - you have a brilliant idea (allegedly) to use two elements but they fail to work together, now - if you shared it people will KNOW it didn't work, right?

Have a great Saturday and stay warm - if you have to go out then watch your step ...

Hi there and welcome to the Friday Funny!

2011-12-09T11:13:00.001Z

Hi everyone,

How's your Friday shaping up? Lots of plans for the weekend? The first of the Christmas parties perhaps?

We have pals coming to Bristol on Sunday. They live in Thatcham but are coming to Bristol to see us, we have dinner plans as well as plans to exchange Christmas cards and presents - it will, hopefully, be a nice start to the festive season. It has to be said that we have had several years when our plans with this family have simply not worked and these have been weather related so we're hoping that nothing happens to prevent this years gathering.

What about this weather then? I feel so sorry for the thousands of homes in Scotland (and anywhere else for that matter - it's just that Scotland made the news) without power as a result of the terrible storms yesterday.

It was rather wet and wild here too (and none too warm either) so I stayed in and finished wrapping my presents. They are now under the tree .... well, when I say tree I use the term advisedly as we didn't get any of our usual decorations down from the loft this year. The lounge looked so bare that we nipped to B&Q and bought a teeny weeny little fibre optic tree - see how sad it looks with presents underneath?!

And now it's time for the Friday Funny which comes to us this week courtesy of my friend Sandra - thanks Sandra. ENJOY

THIS WEEK'S BRAIN EXERCISE

This is designed for really intelligent people like you!

Have fun....

man

1. ------------

board

Ans. = man overboard

Okay, let's see if you've got the hang of it.

stand

2. ------------

i

Ans. = I understand

OK . Got the drift ?

Let's try a few now and see how you fare ?

3. /r/e/a/d/i/n/g/

Ans. = reading between the lines

4. r

road

a

d

Ans. = cross roads

Not having a good day now, are you ?

Redeem yourself.

5. cycle

cycle

cycle

Ans. = tricycle

Not easy to figure out ha!

        0

6. ------------

    M.D.

    Ph.D.

Ans. = two degrees below zero

C'mon give it a little thought ! !

7. knee

    light

Ans. = neon light

( knee - on - light )

U can prove u r smart by getting this one.

      ground

8. ---------------

    feet feet feet feet feet feet

Ans. = six feet underground

Oh no, not again ! !

9. he's X himself

Ans. = he's by himself

Now u r messing up big time.

10. ecnalg

Ans. = backward glance

Not even close ! !

11. death ..... life

Ans. = life after death

Okay last chance ....................

12. THINK

Ans. = think big ! !

And the last one is - - -

13. abababababababababababababababababababab...

Ans. = long time no 'C'

Hope you have a great Friday (despite the Friday Funny!!!)

Afternoon what almost happened to Tuesday?

2011-12-06T17:15:00.001Z

You probably spotted that the Purple Princess has been away from her desk today ..... my pal (Liz) and I went off to Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust this morning. It started off a bit chilly but layers were definitely the way to go and, as the day wore on we lost a few layers. We got to see otters as well as the birds though it should be pointed out that what we actually saw was otters sleeping but boy, they sure were CUTE!!! The were behind thick glass so there was NO CHANCE of a photo sadly. I did however, manage to take a couple of photos ...... which I'd like to share with you below

Can you spot the reject flamingo in the heap? (there's a white one!)

Feed me! Feed me .... NOW!!!

Me? A swan? Awww .....

Look at this sleepy little chap!

Hope you've all had a good day - it was a good long walk for me and I was glad to get home to put my feet up for an hour - thanks Liz - it was fun. Hope you've enjoyed sharing my day trip to Slimbridge (just south of Gloucester).

Morning and welcome to Sunday morning

2011-12-04T10:38:00.000Z

Morning and welcome to Sunday,

I expect some of you may be watching Barbara Grey of Clarity Stamps on Create and Craft this morning - I was but am now recording the end!!

Yesterday, over on Craft Mad and Loving It Clare set the challenge to make a project taking inspiration from an article in the latest issue of Craft Stamper - well, there sure were plenty to choose from! I eventually went with one written by Riet van Zundert and using clear glue!!! Yes, that sure drew my attention!

So, here's my card made using her technique - hope you like it.

Materials used:

White C5 300 gsm card, envelope and insert
Blue organza ribbon, knotted top to bottom off centre
Fiskars corner rounder and a Martha Stewart corner punch from a PATP set
Sequin waste
Old credit card
Mirri card
Panel of light blue card
Panel of navy card
White card: see technique below
Distress Inks - weathered wood, tumbled glass, broken china
Inkadinkado sentiment, unknown image and credit card inked with Memento paris dusk
Stardust stickles
Faux crystal gemstone

Technique, as described in the article:

Take a dries clear glue and draw random patterns (not too many) on to card and allow to dry completely before applying the lightest Distress Ink over the card panel. Apply more dries clear glue in random patterns in the gaps and allow to dry fully before applying your next colour.
I used a stipple brush to apply colour through the sequin waste and dragged my inked credit card to creat lines before attaching my cut out image and sentiment

Happy Sunday - hope the weather's nicer where you are - it's dull, grey and a bit on the chilly side!

3rd post for today - just a challenge update

2011-12-03T17:58:00.000Z

missed my earlier posts? I do hope you'll spare a couple of moments to scroll down and check out my sketchie .....

Here's my Simply Less Is More challenge entry. This week's challenge is to make a Clean And Simple card in GREEN

Materials used:

5" 300 gsm scallop edged square white card
Elusive images flourish inked in both versacolour lime and Brilliance thyme
Kaisercraft sentiment inked in Brilliance thyme
Narrow satin ribbon (in lime) knotted across the top
Faux crystal gemstones coloured using alcohol markers to make them green

I co-ordinated the envelope and insert to match

Hope you like it and thanks to your patience in checking out my THIRD post of the day - you can go back to your Saturday now - quick, Strictly's on shortly!

2nd post - challenge entry! If you missed my earlier post then please scroll down

2011-12-03T16:15:00.000Z

Hi there, me again

A quick update, over on Craft Mad and Loving It there IS a sketch challenge this week, set by the lovely Lauren - she just overslept!!!!

And here is the card i made using this sketch

Materials used:

5" square 300 gsm white card, envelope and insert
Paper offcuts from my collection
Inkadinkado image inked in Ranger Archival jet black
Kaisercraft sentiment inked in Memento paris dusk
Stix2 double sided narrow tape and dark blue glitter
Faux crystal gemstones
Larger blue faux gemstone
Paper flowers in blue, white, dark blue
Stardust stickles

Hard to imagine but ..... this morning hubby and I headed out for a drive. We were just aimlessly driving down this country lane when we saw these chaps ...

AND this afternoon my pal (and neighbour), Debbie rang to see if I fancied a coffee and, the net thing I knew - we were in IKEA!!!! WHAT! Three weeks before Christmas - were we mad!! It would seem not as we managed to find a super convenient parking space, got ourselves a coffee and then found we were only third in line at the checkout too - boy weren't we lucky?????

Hope your Saturday is going as well

Happy Saturday folks

2011-12-03T09:56:00.004Z

Hello everyone,

Hope your weekend's starting off well.

Over on Craft Mad and Loving It, the Saturday challenge is taking a rest till January 7th but I'd like to thank the dedicated three woman Design Team for their efforts to keep the challenge fresh throughout the year, thanks Karen, Lauren and Rosie. However, Clare has a copy of the new Craft Stamper issue (with the free rooster stamp) and has challenged anyone who's interested to make a project inspired by one of the articles so, maybe later. There are quite a number of interesting items in this month's issue so it might take a while to narrow it down to one project and take that leap!

Over on the Simply Less Is More blog there is a new weekly CAS (Clean And Simple) challenge this morning and it's a colour challenge - it's: ..... GREEN

I know some of you may well be putting up your Christmas decorations this weekend. Now, normally, that would be us too but (with the hip still in recovery) I can't go shinning up and down ladders - stairs are still proving a trial upwards! We took the executive decision that, sadly, this year we're not going to put up much in the way of decorations - in fact, this could well be IT!!!!

The LED USB tree on my computer!

Of course, the last time we were in Florida for Christmas we felt we simply HAD to take a drive around some of the surrounding sub divisions and see what the competition looked like .............. well!!!

Yes, this really IS the decoration for just ONE house!!!!

Makes me glad we don't put up QUITE that many decorations! How about you?

Happy Saturday - you might want to check back later and see what, if anything, I come up with for the above challenges!

2nd post - challenge entry! If you missed my earlier post then please scroll down

2011-12-02T17:09:00.001Z

Afternoon,

Just a quickie from me this afternoon - just nipped back to post this challenge entry for the Bah Humbug challenge which, this week, is CUTE CRITTERS - I think he's cute anyway!

Materials used:

C6 300 gsm Kraft card
Papers from My Minds Eye
Fizzy Moon bear and sentiment inked in Memento tuxedo black on to white card, corners rounded and edged with brilliance poppy
Pro markers to colour image
White card panel, coloured with Brilliance rocket red gold and corners rounded
Inkadinkado dot flourish inked in Brilliance poppy on to backing panel
Red and gold ribbon tied round base panels and in to a bow
Stardust stickles to highlight

Happy Friday

TGI Friday peeps - and FRIDAY FUN TIME!!!

2011-12-02T10:00:00.013Z

Morning all,

Hope you've had a good week. I've a couple of pals who've been under the weather of late and I hope that these friends are starting to feel some improvement - thinking of you peeps.

I'm sure most of you have spotted my festive piccie and Christmas countdown ticker .... well I now have my virtual tree up - across the top of my blog. Not really sure what else I can do to make a blog more festive - any ideas???? Oh, almost forgot to mention - my embedded Christmas video on my side bar - tee hee, hope you will smile at this cheesy vid!

Yesterday evening, whilst watching Masterchef (not relevant but thought I'd share!! - my friends know that I DON'T cook!!!) my mind creatively wandered towards crafting and I decided that my project really needed NOT to be a Christmas card!

Materials use:

C6 300 gsm Kraft card, envelope and insert
Studio112 (part of K&Co) image inked in Ranger Archival black (in full for the card and in different parts for the envelope and insert
Narrow black organza ribbon, knotted off centre - to balance with the image
Two faux crystal gemstones - as hubcaps!

And the insert

Of course, it's likely to be back to Christmas cards later as the lovely ladies over at Humbug Hall have unveiled their final challenge of 2011, which is "Cute Christmas Critters" - if you fancy having a go then pop over and check it out - some fab examples from the Design Team. I can't wait for the 2012 challenges to start - I'm sure it MUST be their fault that I've made so many!

And now for the Friday Funny which, this week, comes from Jacky - thanks matey! ENJOY

" FATHER OF THE YEAR "

A man boarded a plane with six kids.

After they got settled in their seats a woman sitting across the aisle from him leaned over to him and asked, "Are all of those kids yours? "

He replied, " No Ma'am, I work for a condom company. . . . . . . . . . . . . . These are customer complaints!!!."

DAMN, I WISH I COULD THINK THAT FAST!

Have a fab Friday and a great weekend everyone - catch you tomorrow for the Saturday challenges.

Hi there and welcome to a sunny Thursday!

2011-12-01T11:17:00.000Z

Hi everyone and welcome to December,

Strangely enough, as we roll towards Christmas - the sun is shining and it looks merely autumnal - what's that all about??? Where are the crisp frosts and the fabulously frosty cobwebs on hedgerows that I remember from my childhood? Doesn't really feel like Christmas is less than four weeks away ........ not to me anyway.

I've written most of my Christmas cards now. I started in January, with the objective of making around half a dozen each month which would mean now final push, come November, to get enough hand made cards to send out to all of my family and friends. Now, I just MAY have overdone it as, having written most of them, I appear to have quite a few left over! Hmmmm - my objective was to have 100 made in readiness as I actually sent out slightly over 100 last year. This year looks like I was far more sensible with the number of exchanges and I expect to send out 70! - still sounds like a lot, doesn't it?

AND I've discovered that I appear to be ADDICTED to making Christmas cards too as I ran up another two last night! DOH! I just don't seem to know when to stop! At this rate I won't have any to make with next years inevitable batch of new Christmas stamps - ooooooopsie.

Materials used:

300gsm 5" square scalloped white card, envelope and insert
Inkadinkado snowflake and Woodware sentiment inked in Ranger Archival jet black and Brilliance rocket red gold
Stardust stickles
Red faux gems

Materials used:

300gsm 5" white scallop edged card
Inkadinkado reindeer image (from the same fabulous set as the snowflake) and DoCrafts sentiment inked in Ranger Archival jet black
Red faux crystal gemstones
Stardust stickles to highlight

Anyway, enough of that ........ this morning my postie brought me the new issue of Craft Stamper with its smashing free stamp of a rooster - I know a pal or two that will enjoy this stamp. Me? I'm still pondering .... Also in there are some fabulous articles by people I know (of, I should say rather than personally) - I'm a follower of their blogs Kate Crane, Chrissie Stokes and Brenda Brown. Lots of interesting projects contained within this issue and I hardly know where to start .....

So, without further ado, I'm off to my table of craftiness to see if I'm capable of a decision - wish me luck, I'm going in!!! Have a fabulous Thursday

Well I'm Bloggered!!!!

2011-11-30T13:56:00.001Z

Hi everyone,

It's less than four weeks till Christmas so I thought it was time to start getting in the mood .... no, NOT with Christmas music but .... I've temporarily changed my profile piccie (like it?) and I've installed a countdown ticker on my blog too. If you don't "do" Christmas then I hope you are not offended by my festive appearance!! To those of you who do "do" Christmas - SEASONS GREETINGS

It's also What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday but, as my desk doesn't change much from week to week here's a peak at one of my three art journalling / collage drawers - well, one layer of it anyway!!

Happy What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday!

Here we are, Tuesday again ....

2011-11-29T11:00:00.006Z

and it's SIX whole weeks today since I became the ceramic woman with my hip replacement. Apparently, I am now able to turn in bed which means I can go back to sleeping on my side - hurrah! and those gorgeous passion killing compression stockings can come off for a couple of hours during the day - let joy (and toes) be unconfined!

I fell over this stamp in my collection once more and remembered how simply fab it is - doesn't it lend itself well to Clean And Simple? AND it's not a LARGE postage stamp to mail it either! Here's another BLING entry for the Simply Less Is More challenge this week - my third doncha know!

Materials used:

5" scalloped square, 300 gsm white card and matching insert and envelope
Inkadinkado sentiment and Penny Black wreath inked in Memento paris dusk ink
Crystal stickles - to bling it to within an inch of its life!!!

And here's a close up of the stickle bling!

Like it? Here's the envelope and insert - check them out too .....

And they make such great batch cards that I "ran up a couple more" in similar style ....

Have a good Tuesday folks.

Hi there and welcome to Monday

2011-11-28T10:00:00.000Z

Hi there,

Hope you all had a great weekend - what did you all get up to? We're told that today is the busiest shopping day of the year, for on-line purchases so, my question is ..... will you be shopping on-line today?

The Simply Less Is More challenge, unveiled on Saturday morning, is to feature a CAS card with BLING!! Now this appealed to the Clean And Simple Card maker in me and I've had one go already ..... and now here's another. I was inspired by a newly acquired image and seeing another LIM-ette using this stamp (check out her entry here).

Materials used:

DL cream linen card and white envelope
Woodware image inked in Memento tuxedo black on to white card and cut out
Pro markers, to colour
Faux crystals to bling up the tree
Stickles to further bling it up
Inkadinkado sentiment inked in Memento paris dusk

Close up of the bling!!

Yesterday evening saw me out for my first CHRISTMAS meal with my cousin, Debra, and my pal, Liz. We lead busy lives and this was about the only date we could manage, at the weekend, between now and January ......... we trundled along to the local Beefeater for their newly launched Christmas menu. They had Christmas decorations and a pretty tree in the reception are. They also had another one with what looked like price tags on it but, when we looked, the tags were little adverts for ....... Costa Coffee!!!! The starters and desserts were very nice but our three steaks were about the poorest quality we've had in a while, and CHEWY too - such a shame as everything else was good .... except the cracker jokes but who expects good cracker jokes?? It was so nice to get together anyway so we entirely overlooked the steak - especially as their chips were so fab! Ooops. Not a late night as Debra had to get to Birmingham after she left us so Liz and I adjourned back to ours for a further natter and a cuppa.

My pal, Liz

Debra and I

Have a great Monday - catch you later