Monday and the start of another week

Morning,

 

How was your weekend? I hope the weather didn't interfere with your plans too much - two of my pals were meeting in London and (sadly) it rained a bit!! I imagine that Wimbledon and Glastonbury experienced some rain too .... me? I was lucky and didn't get too much rain here - thank goodness.

 

It was good crafting weather!!! Here's a card I made for the ABC of Christmas challenge - M is for MAIL .... I set off making it with little idea as to how it would finish. I found a seldom used image and got carried away - made my vintage feel card and then thought ... so, remind me again where the MAIL bit comes in - guess it's the list. I hope it qualifies otherwise I will need to make another  - still, one more for my collection!

 

 

 

Materials used:

• White C6, 300 gsm, scallop edged card and matching sized envelope
• Snippets of white, black and burgundy card
• Great Impressions "Santa" image stamped on to white card using Memento rich cocoa ink
• Distress Inks: tea dye, aged mahogany and black soot applied using a splodgeaway mat, TimHoltz mini blending tool and foam pad
• I water coloured the image using the aged mahogany, black soot and pumice distress inks before adding Stardust stickles to highlight the "fur"
• Fiskars sentiment stamped using Memento rich cocoa ink

 

I can, however, enter this for Di's "snippets" challenge over at Pixies Crafty workshop - yee haa! I can hardly believe that it's the last day of June and that its less than six months to Christmas - YIKES! Best I start my Christmas shopping .... soon!

Bit of news to share with you .... one of my pals, Karen, has bravely taken the plunge and set up her own website selling craft goodies - check it out here. Wishing you the very best of luck, Karen.

 

Have a fab Monday

Here we are at Saturday again ...

We have Wimbledon AND Glastonbury so what would the weather be like? Yes, you guessed it .... rain!, rain! and yet more rain! Does this mean Sir Cliff will be entertaining everyone at Wimbledon? Whilst it's not ACTUALLY raining here it certainly doesn't look like it's far away - now, where DID I  put those wellies?!?!!?

 

Saturday, as my regular readers will know is my usual challenge day and, since I've been away for a couple of days - I've been a little craft starved (Mary and Barry if you are looking - it was so worth every minute to catch up with you both) ....... but, once home, I could hardly wait to get cracking on a project (or two). Yesterday I made two cards which fit about four challenges and I'm wondering whether I can achieve something similar today. I have been TRYING to make eight Christmas cards each month so that I'm not in a rush come November and, whilst I've not quite managed eight each and every month, I do feel like I'm doing pretty well on that front - and a quick count reveals that I have notched up 55 so far .... so, a day off from Christmas cards? We shall see!

 

Simply Less Is More have launched a new challenge this morning and their theme is: "TO USE A RECYCLED ITEM". Of course, last week I was delighted to have been their GDTM and I tried to visit the blogs of as many entrants as possible - my apologies if I didn't get to you - being away for a few days did seriously impact my ability to comment but, my thanks to the regular Design Team over at LIM for asking me to join them and for their continued visits to my blog when I enter - it's hard to visit everyone when there are well over 100 entries each week so, give yourselves a round of applause. Same goes to the Design Team for every challenge blog. Anyway, on to the topic in hand ... the Less Is More challenge - what to recycle:-

 

 

 

 

Materials used:

• 15cm square white, 300gsm, scallop edged card blank and matching sized envelope
• Recycled book page, coloured with Distress Inks in: squeezed lemonade, wild honey and wild persimmon.
• Clean blending tool and plain water to "bleach" some of the colour back off, which I then dried with my heat gun
• Imagination Crafts thistle image stamped using Versafine onyx black
• Stamplorations "small coffee stain" image stamped several times using Versacolour gold ink
• Black, chocolate and Kraft card for matting - with the aid of my now trusty Perfect Layering templates and a craft knife!

 

Of course, there are loads of blog challenges pretty  much every day of the week .... I try to enter Clean And Simple challenges when I come across them ..... like this one ... CAS-ual Friday's and their CFC133: Create a Clean And Simple project that uses hearts in summer colours. I have managed to combine this with a second entry for Cute Card Thursday's "Circles" challenge....

Here's the card featuring hearts (and circles) in sunshine colours!!!

And the design carries across the inside of the card and, on the left,
the front and back of the envelope too

Materials used:

• 15cm square white, 300 gsm, scallop edged card blank and matching sized envelope
• Hero Arts scribble circle stamped using Memento dandelion and tangelo inks
• Hero Arts scribble heart stamped using Memento rosebud ink
• Imagine That sentiment stamped using Memento rosebud ink

 

 

 

And now, here's a heads up regarding a free summer workshop from Clare, aka Miscanthuscrafts .... starting July 11th - see details here

Have a fabulous Saturday and I hope that the rain won't spoil all of your plans!

 

Second post Friday

Hi there

 

Been a while since I posted twice in one day but I'm playing catch up on my Christmas cards so .... if you missed my earlier post (and the Friday Funny) then either scroll down or click on this link

Well, it's just under six months till Christmas (YIKES!!!) and Rudolph Day just passed ... I was away so am playing catch up. Sarn's Rudolph Day challenge says you have to enter TWO cards to be eligible so here is the first, I shall also be entering this over at Cute Card Thursday where the challenge is: "#327 - CIRCLES"

 

 

 

 

Materials used:

• 15cm square white, 300 gsm, scallop edged card blank and matching sized envelope
• Die cut plain and scalloped circle using snippets of white, green and red card - doncha just love to use up little bits???
• I stamped the woodware Christmas tree on to the white circle using Versafine onyx black and multiple times on to the red scalloped circle using Versacolour gold ink
• Hero Arts mini scribble circle stamped across the card using Adirondack bottle and red pepper inks
• Hero Arts sentiment stamped using Versafine onyx black ink
• Stardust stickles applied to the solid black circles of the tree, to soften the starkness of the black

 

As usual, this design was carried across the inside of the card and both the front and back of my envelope. If I'm quick I can also enter this over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop in her snippets challenge which closes Saturday morning!

And here's my second card to make my post eligible for Sarn's challenge .... it also fits the Rudolph Day challenge on Craftbubble 2½ (registration required) where the theme is "snowmen scenes and glitter and sparkle" ...

Materials used:

• 5" x 7" white, 300 gsm, scallop card blank and matching sized envelope
• Snippets of card in white, red, turquoise and black
• Sparkle 'n Sprinkle snowie image stamped on to white snippet using Memento tuxedo black
• Distress Ink in Stormy Sky and Salty Ocean sponged on to the snippet
• Alcohol markers to colour the image
• Imagination Crafts Sparkle Medium in "diamond" used to give dimension and sparkle to the snowman
• Copic Atyou spica glitter pen in black to add twinkle to my little crows
• Inkylicious sentiment stamped directly on to base card using Memento tuxedo black ink
• Narrow red satin ribbon wrapped around base card and tied in to a knot off centre

And, to show that I carried my design across the inside of the card and the front and back of the envelope then here is the front and back of the envelope!

 

 

 

Have a great Friday, don't forget to follow the link to my earlier post and Friday Funny

It's Friday and that means the weekend starts here!!!

Morning all,

 

Honestly, I go away for a couple of days and miss so much in blogland! Sarn launched her Rudolph Day challenge - make two Christmas cards and Julie launched a new Rudolph Day challenge on Craftbubble 2½ (registration required) .... "Snowmen and snow scenes" - she asked to see some glitter too!! Shouldn't be too difficult but got lots of things to do first!! ....

 

We've been away for a couple of days, staying with friends in Blackpool, they're fab hosts and lovely people and we've had a great time. Thank you Mary and Barry for your splendid hospitality now ...... I'd like to share a couple of piccies with you ....

 

The sea view from our "penthouse apartment" - YES that IS the Blackpool illuminations you can see -
they don't get turned on for months but they have already started putting them up!!

Freeport shopping outlet and dock

Whitewell in the Trough of Bowland

The Inn and Church at Whitewell - a LOVELY place for lunch

This is the "advertising hoarding" for the John Ditchfield glass works
and is gloriously iridescent and is illuminated at night - FAB!

Stumbled across a Craft Central at the Burnside garden centre!

And even managed a little craft shopping at Freeport too!!!

 

 

So, all of this is by way of an explanation as to why I have no crafting to share with you but I hope you will forgive me for taking a few days to play tourist!!! I have a couple of projects under way and/or in the planning stages and even hope to get new stash inky so ..... there may be a second post today or, failing that, there may be quite a few makes in tomorrows post!!!! Watch this space!

And now for the Friday Funny, courtesy of Marsha once again - don't know where she finds them all! ENJOY

 

Have a chuckle or two with the following. :):):):)

How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it.

Venison for dinner again? Oh deer!

A cartoonist was found dead in his home. Details are sketchy.

I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest.

Haunted French pancakes give me the crêpes.

England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool.

I tried to catch some fog, but I mist.

They told me I had type-A blood, but it was a Type-O.

I changed my iPod's name to Titanic. It's syncing now.

Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.

I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid, but he says he can stop any time.

I stayed up all night to see where the sun went, and then it dawned on me.

This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore.

When chemists die, they barium.

I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. I just can't put it down.

I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words.

PMS jokes aren't funny; period...

Why were the Indians here first? They had reservations.

We're going on a class trip to the Coca-Cola factory. I hope there's no pop quiz.

I didn't like my beard at first. Then it grew on me.

Did you hear about the cross-eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn't control her pupils?

When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble.

Broken pencils are pointless.

What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus.

I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx.

All the toilets in New York 's police stations have been stolen. The police have nothing to go on.

I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough.

Velcro - what a rip off!

                            "Do not worry about old age; it does not last"

 

Have a fantabulous weekend, if you enjoyed the Friday Funny then check out the Hettiecraft blog for another funny! - ENJOY

It's mid week and you KNOW what that means ....

Yep, morning and welcome to What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday!

 

Well, you know me, I sure do love to craft but, I've been finding it a little hot and hard to concentrate, crafting (as I do) right in front of large patio windows - steamy!!! However, I had to make a wine tag and matching thank you card for some friends so, there was nothing for it but to suck it up and crack on .....

 

 

 

Materials used for the card:

• 15cm square white, 300 gsm, scallop edged card blank and matching sized envelope
• Cherry red card (2 x 6" x 6" sheets) die cut with a fancy circle (for the card and for the tag)
• Burgundy card cut in to two smaller plain circles                                    -- " --
• White card die cut in to two smaller again plain circles                           -- " --
• Distress Inks blended (using a Tim Holtz blending tool and splodgeaway mat): festive berries, rusty hinge, aged mahogany and black soot
• Kaisercraft "tiny dots" and "harlequin" and Visible image "stain" image stamped using festive berries
• Paper Artsy "splatter" stamped randomly using Color Box gold (this pad is so old that I have to go hunting for gold ink now but my replacement hasn't yet arrived! Anyone know how good the Encore gold in pad is?)
• Clearly Inspired rose image stamped using Versafine onyx black ink
• Imagine That sentiment stamped using Versafine onyx black ink

I'm entering this for the "Anything goes" challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.

And here's a close up of the image and also of the inside of the card and front of the envelope

 

And the co-ordinating tag ...

Materials used for the tag:

• As for the card (except for the sentiment) plus ....
• Offcut of Black card with one 2½" circle and 2 x 3/8" holes cut - for the bottle and ribbon to thread through
• Narrow satin ribbon

 

I'll give you three guesses as to what's on my work desk ...... if you said "A MESS" then you would be spot on - my desk is ALWAYS a mess. When my husband was working he had a sign for his desk which read "A cluttered desk is a sign of genius" and I've (PLAINLY) adopted this as my mantra! Repeat after me "A cluttered desk IS a sign of genius"!!!

Is your desk looking tidier? I expect so - nearly everyone's seems tidier than my own!

 

Have a great Wednesday .... enjoy the sunshine and hold the thought that it will soon be the weekend!!!

Lazy Sunday ... wot? AGAIN!!!

Morning all

 

Wow! Was it me or was it hot on Saturday? We got up pretty early with the intention of hitting the grocery store before it got too crowded - should have said before it got too HOT!!! Went to sit outside and read but .. you guessed it - too hot for me!! Still, around 18:00 it was perfect BBQ weather!

 

It's a smidge cooler this morning so ...... off to the table of craftiness and, after a quick clear up so I could ACTUALLY see my table ...... a snippets card for the challenge over at Pixies Crafty Workshop, where the only rule is that you have to use snippets of card and, let's be honest, who DOESN'T have loads of those little pieces that you are SURE will come in handy? I also made it a CAS birthday card which fits perfectly in with the challenge of "Birthday" over at CAS on Sunday - double handy! And at Addicted to CAS the current challenge is "SUN"

 

 

Materials used:

• 15cm square white, 300gsm, scallop edged card and matching sized envelope
• Snippets of: white, yellow and turquoise card
• Perfect layering rulers (1/16") and a craft knife
• Hero Arts scribble "sun" stamped in Memento dandelion ink
• Fiskars sentiment stamped using Versafine majestic blue ink

And there you have it, a CAS birthday card featuring sun AND snippets - BINGO!
 

 

 

Now, it's less of this laziness for me, I'm off to hit the shower and then begin preparations - we have dinner guests this evening and we're having a BBQ BUT I have to tidy the reserve craft room (sorry, dining room), just in case!!. I MUST have been a boy scout in a previous incarnation!

Have a fab Sunday and, HAPPY CRAFTING peeps!
 

Welcome to an extraordinary Saturday

Morning all,

After a glorious week I was looking forward to a "fresher" night last night .... and some sleep - oh, for some air conditioning!! Well, it MIGHT have been easier to sleep .... had some of our neighbours not decided to have a "footie party" and keep us awake till the wee small hours with loud talking/shouting! And then, we were awakened at 07:15 this morning by a police car, siren blazing, making a mercy dash in front of our window!! A siesta MAY be required this afternoon!

It is my pleasure this week to be a Guest Design Team Member over at the Simply Less Is More blog. Not familiar? Well, it's a CAS (Clean And Simple) weekly challenge blog and, when I first stumbled across it in February of 2011, I knew this was a card making style I could definitely live with .... mind you, it's not as easy as it looks. I've had some triumphs, some really pretty cards and (sadly) some real howlers - mostly recycled! I see some of my fellow entrants and am AWED by their talent and, if you have a few moments, check out some of the previous challenge showCASes and you will quickly see what I mean. This challenge has gone from strength to strength and has obviously struck a chord with crafters as there are regularly well in excess of 100 entries so there's always lots to look at!

However, this week's challenge is: "WATERCOLOUR" and, when I first read what my challenge was going to be I found myself totally stumped for I am a rubber stamping card maker and am SO not an artist, unlike some of my fellow challenge-aholics! It was my duty not to let the team down and, after a couple of failed experiments I was delighted to receive the July issue of Craft Stamper and eyed the free stamp with a form of glee, I'm a big fan of all things art deco and art deco style ......... So, I ripped open the packet and then here's what happened.

Here it is after I set to work with my Distress Inks and paintbrush ..

Materials used (so far):

• Watercolour paper
• C.S. free stamp courtesy of Chocolate Baroque, stamped using Memento tuxedo black ink
• Paintbrush and water
• Distress Inks: mowed lawn, picked raspberry, seedless preserves, dusty concord

So, after letting my watercolours dry - I moved on to matting and layering and creating a background ......

Materials used:

• 15cm square white, 300gsm, scallop edged card blank and matching sized envelope
• Snippets of Kraft, Aubergine and black card - cut using perfect layering template at 1/16th and a Fiskars finger knife
• Having drawn a faint pencil mark where I wanted my finished image panel to sit I stamped the JOFY grid and Visible Image ink blot images twice using Memento rosebud ink, Another Visible Image ink blot image was stamped twice using Distress Ink in dusty concord and my favourite ink splatter image by Paper Artsy was stamped three times using Color Box gold ink
• I struggled with the sentiment as I really wanted a Mackintosh-esque font but didn't want to add a layer by computer generating it ..... I finally decided on this cool Fiskars sentiment and stamped it at what I thought was a rather jaunty angle using Versafine onyx black ink
• All that remained then was to add a few highlights of stardust stickles to the flowers, leaves and grid to the lower right hand side and then ..... step away from the card whilst there was still plenty of white space!!!

Have a great weekend and I hope to see your make appearing over at Simply Less Is More - this Saturday is going to be a bit unusual as my first make each Saturday is NORMALLY a CAS card for the LIM challenge but ..... I'm done there, so - onwards and upwards, what else is out there today?

I'll tell one thing that's "out there" too ..... today is my FOURTH blogversary!!! WOW! When I started blogging I never dreamed that I would still be blogging four years down the line, I never imagined anyone would be even remotely interested in my craft-y ramblings and now .... I have 197 followers too - I've even been lucky enough to meet a number of you in person and I feel like many more of you are friends not just blog buddies - thank you all, I hope to meet more of you sometime too. ...... Hmm, when I get to five years I shall have to offer some candy ..... and maybe when I reach 300 followers too.

Welcome to the start of the weekend! And the Friday brain teaser instead of a funny!

Morning,

Here we are at another Friday and, frankly, it's been a pretty glorious week weather wise here at the purple palace. I hope you can all say something similar about your locations too.

It's been too warm to sit outside in the afternoons this week and I've found myself reading more than usual, in the shade! This has meant a little less crafting than usual and (as usual) I've fallen behind on my Christmas card quota - luckily Rudolph Day looms large on the horizon and I hope to catch up ..... we shall see!

Meanwhile, over at CAS Colours and Sketches the challenge is a colour theme this week ......

Materials used:

• 15cm square white, 300gsm, scallop edged envelope and matching sized envelope
• 13½cm square white card panel
• 3/4 sheet of turquoise card and snippets of wisteria and white card
• Pro Marker in peach to colour my white snippet
• DieNamics chevron die - used to cut three chevrons from each colour card
• Kaisercraft birthday sentiment stamped using Memento tuxedo black

This is a pretty unusual card for me as the only stamping on it is the sentiment!! Ah well, always good to ring the changes AND it used up some of those pesky snippets of card too! And the original colour options?

White and black is also allowed with this colour challenge but NO other colours

It came as quite a surprise to find I had no inks even close to the crisp cantaloupe!! I thought I had pretty much every colour covered - ah well, perhaps I need to ....... go shopping! In the absence of shopping though, the pro marker worked pretty well - I thought? You'd never really know that I coloured the white card before die cutting - would you? As I've used snippets of white, turquoise and wisteria card I shall be entering this card for the snippets challenge here too. The DieNamics chevron die cuts three chevrons from each piece of card .... so, there was enough left to carry my design through to the inside too

 

However, there's ALWAYS time for a quick Christmas challenge ... isn't there? Over at the ABC Christmas challenge they're on "L" and have chosen "LITTLE PRESENTS" - I had the perfect image so, off I went ...

Materials used:

• 12½cm square white, 300 gsm, scallop edged card and matching sized envelope
• JOFY present image stamped on to a snippet of white card using Memento tuxedo black ink
• Alcohol markers in red and green to colour the image before mounting on to snippets of white and red card
• Stardust stickles to highlight ribbon
• Hero Arts sentiment stamped on to base card using Versafine onyx black ink

And there you have it, a quick CAS Christmas card, another to add to the pile I'm accumulating for 2014 - YAY! Actually, I really like it and it's perfect as a batch card - one to hold in reserve in case I am still running behind come November!! Wish me luck peeps!

And now for the Friday Funny, courtesy of Marsha, this week is more of a freaky brain teaser than a funny - do take a moment to check it out

 

2% or 98%

This is strange...can you figure it out?

Are you the 2% or 98% of the population?

Follow the instructions! NO PEEKING AHEAD!

Do the following exercise, guaranteed to raise an eyebrow.

There's no trick or surprise.

Just follow these instructions, and answer the questions one at a time and as quickly as you can! Again, as quickly as you can but don't advance until you've done each of them ... Really.


Now, scroll down (but not too fast, you might miss something).





Think of a number from 1 to 10

 

 

 

 

 

Multiply that number by 9

 

 

If the number is a 2-digit number, add the digits together

 

 

Now subtract 5

 

 

 

Determine which letter in the alphabet corresponds to the number you ended up with

(example: 1=a, 2=B, 3=c,etc.)

 

 

Think of a country that starts with that letter

 

 

Remember the last letter of the name of that country

 

 

Think of the name of an animal that starts with that letter

 

 

Remember the last letter in the name of that animal

 

 

Think of the name of a fruit that starts with that letter

 

 

Are you thinking of a Kangaroo in Denmark eating an Orange ?



I told you this was FREAKY!! If not, you're among the 2% of the population whose minds are different enough to think of something else. 98% of people will answer with kangaroos in Denmark when given this exercise.
 

 

Sadly, I'm a 98%-er, were you? My Danish Kangaroo was fond of oranges too!!! Need another shot of Funny this Friday? Don't forget there's usually one over at the Hettiecraft blog ... see it here

 

Have a fab Friday and a super weekend

Welcome to hump day Wednesday - or What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday!

Morning all,

 

Yesterday was a lovely day both weather wise and from a social point of view too. Yesterday morning saw me heading off to the mall, to meet with crafting buddy (Lilian) for a wander around Hobbycraft followed by a drink at the Costa Coffee right next door. We were joined by her lovely husband (Ron) for some of the time too - good to see you Lovely Ron. After lunch with my own hubby I headed off to Yate to have a mooch around the shops - whilst I didn't actually buy anything it was a lovely afternoon for a stroll!

 

And then, yesterday evening, having first had a long conversation with my Uncle, I set about a masculine card using the new DoCrafts stamp set I acquired in Hobbycraft - perfick!
 

 

 

 

Materials used:

• 15cm square white, 300 gsm, scallop edged card and matching sized envelope
• 12½cm square white card for image panel
• Chocolate brown and black card - for matting - 1/16" layer cut using perfect layering ruler
• DoCrafts sentiment panel stamped using Memento rich cocoa ink
• Acid Drops and Whatnots Algernon image stamped using Versafine onyx black ink, stamping him a second time (without re-inking) on to a post it and cutting out the feet and lower leg - for a mask
• Alcohol marker to colour his pocket handkerchief and waistcoat
• With my post "mask" in place, Kaisercraft "tiny dots" image stamped across the bottom using Memento rich cocoa ink
• Black sugared brad through the "tag hole" of the DoCrafts image before assembling the finished card

 

As is my usual habit these days .... Algernon was stamped again on the insert and both the front and back of the envelope, to co-ordinate the design

And here's the new stash from Hobbycraft ....

 

 

I will be entering this for the Fathers Day challenge over at the Male Room - since neither my hubby or I have fathers living I have omitted the word "Father" from my card but I hope they will forgive me - it's very definitely a card I could have given to either of our fathers.

 

And now for my work desk, messy (as always) - I swear that, if I tidied it, people would think I'd photoshopped it!

 

 

 

Have a great Wednesday

It's Tuesday and I'm not sure you will be expecting a post from me today!

Morning peeps

First off the bat, allow me to welcome a new follower, Karen, welcome - hope you find reason to stop back from time to time too

 

I know I don't usually post on Tuesday's these days but I'm playing catch up having been away for the weekend (photos in yesterdays post if you are interested) and trying to fit in a few challenge cards ....

 

Merry Monday's Christmas challenge blog launched their new challenge unsurprisingly .... on Monday!! It's a colour challenge this time round and their choices were Pink/silver/white. There's also a sketch challenge on the Stamplorations blog and here is my take on one card to fit both challenges ...

 

 

 

 

Materials used:

• C6 white, 300 gsm, scallop edged card and matching sized envelope
• White card for image panel and pink card for matting - 1/16" border using perfect layer rulers
• Inkylicious stripe image stamped using Memento rosebud ink
• Post It used to mask the bottom of the white card - Versamark embossing ink applied generously over the un masked area and Pan Pastel metallic silver applied using a Sofft tool, buffed with paper towel and set using hairspray
• Stamplorations sentiment stamped using Versafine onyx black ink
• Stamplorations tree stamped using Versamark ink and then heat embossed using two shades of pink embossing powder
• Wink of Stella glitter pen added to just the star - for added twinkles!

 

 

 

 

 

Pan Pastels have the current challenge of Flora and Fauna ..... and I'm hoping that my Christmas tree may well rock that challenge too

Right, now I've done that, I'm off out to meet Lilian for coffee this morning - leaving hubby to cut the grass - hopefully! Have a great Tuesday

I've been away! - WARNING - picture heavy post!

Morning all,

 

I have indeed been away, with a pal and a cousin, for a weekend in the Cotswolds!!! Started off with my pal and I leaving our homes on Friday morning and heading for Evesham where we had afternoon tea booked (how decadent?) at the Wood Norton Hotel - see below....

 

What an idyllic location - and just look a that clear blue sky too - how lucky?

Here's the cream tea - whilst it didn't initially look huge neither of us finished everything!

Then it was off to check in to our hotel for the weekend, bad news - NO AIR CONDITIONING!!! But there were fans in every room!! The nice chap on reception found us rooms on the ground floor on the shaded side of the building - thanks mate, we appreciated that by the morning! We recce'd Broadway for parking etc and then headed in to Evesham to find somewhere to eat on Friday night.

Rather grand entrance to a pretty park

Said pretty park!

The Church of St Michaels, adjacent to the Abbey

Still full from our cream/afternoon tea we ended up sharing a starter in one of the pub's in Evesham - potato skins with bacon and mushrooms - YUMMEEEEEEEEEE!, and struck up a conversation with two lads (from Broadway) and two local ladies ... who suggested the Snowshill Arms as a better venue given that Broadway was mid festival and likely to be MOBBED on Saturday - thanks peeps.

 

Saturday morning saw us joined by my cousin and we headed off to Broadway, VERY picturesque but so busy. Fantabulous snorker sandwich for breakfast - you should have seen what my pal and cousin had .... suffice it to say, we didn't want lunch! Moving on, our tour of the Cotswolds took us to Snowhsill (the lads were right with their recommendation and we booked our table for dinner!), Moreton in the Marsh, Stow on the Wold

My pal Liz (left) and cousin, Debra (right) seeing the sights in Stow on the Wold

And we ended up in Bourton on the Water, which was pretty busy ..... we felt duty bound to enjoy an ice cream by the river as it was such a beautiful (and HOT - around 24°c) day!

 

Bourton on the Water

Back to the hotel to freshen up before returning to the Snowshill Arms for a great steak and a delicious dessert. Lucky we booked as the pub was heaving by the time we left.

 

Sunday saw us heading just up the road from the hotel to the Evesham Country Park where we enjoyed a Danish pastry and a cuppa before heading off towards home - thanks guys - already looking forward to our next foray .... wonder when and where we will end up!

 

Hope you enjoyed your trip around the Cotswolds with us too!

But now, I'm back and trying to catch up on some crafting challenges ..... over at Simply Less Is More their new challenge is the dreaded OLC (One Layer Card) with the theme of "Off the edge" and here is what I came up with:-
 

 

 

Materials used:

• 15cm square white, 300 gsm, scallop edged card and matching sized envelope
• Distress Ink in squeezed lemonade "swiped" across the lower right hand corner and off the edge
• Visible Image large blot image stamped multiple times using Memento inks in Dandelion and Tangelo being sure to stamp "off the edge"
• Visible Image smaller ink blot image stamped twice using Memento Rosebud ink
• Magenta "bloom" image stamped "off the edge" using Versafine imperial purple
• Paper Artsy "splatter" image stamped using Color Box gold ink
• Hero Arts sentiment stamped using Versafine onyx black ink

Happy Monday