Caique Momma

Its all go at Polkadoodles!

2012-01-20T22:56:00.002Z

Well howdy there folks.

Its all go here! More a case of go here, go there, go everywhere! Maybe if I split myself in two I might manage a touch better....

Still while I'm fathoming that pop over to Polkadoodles where a fab new challenge has started. This week its a sketch - oops forgot to pop it on and you can use a stashbox stamp. As always a fab prize is up for grabs.

I've used one of my new Magnolias - isn't she sweet? I've used a mix of various Polkadoodle papers. I went straight for the spots - I lubs them!

So there she is.... now I have to admit my interpretation of the sketch is.... sketchy! lol

A little arty shot of my flower. Now I had a rummage round for a flower in a creamy colour and there were only some squished primas.... a touch of glue and voilà a carnation!

New one at TG!

2012-01-07T16:06:00.005Z

Hey no one faint!

Its me again! I'm getting like a bus... you know you wait for ages and nothing and then all of sudden they all come along together! It would appear (keeps your fingers crossed here) that Mojo has made an appearance! Way hey! Actually I think Mojo was buried under the Christmas Mince Pie mountain. Fortunately that's now cleared so Mojo is feeling better. I hope he stays!

Now Mojo putting in an appearance is a god send just in time for the new challenge at Totally Gorjuss This week is a sketch (easy because I did it and I ONLY do easy). Once again we're sponsored by the super duper Joanna Sheen I think Joanna gets 11/10 for service and choice! Plus with free p and p someone will get £10 to spend on goodies - no hidden charges - plus the amount of new goodies in there.... well you'll be spoilt for choice!

So this is the sketch - easy remember ;))

And here's my take on it!

It felt odd again doing something non Christmas. Though I did make a couple of Christmas cards the other day. Knowing me though I'll have misplaced them by Christmas.

So for this one I've used one of my new magnolias which I 'accidentally' bought.... It happens you know! So I'd decided to use this Basic Grey Kyoti paper which has largely been untouched. I know how could I not use it? Well much as I love purpley colours I hardly ever ever use them! So I drew in a big breath, pulled up me big girl knickers, girded me loins.... OK I just reached for the purpley coloured Copics really...

And Ta-Daaaar! Now I have to say I was quite pleased with her. I even rather like the folds on her skirt. That was without and pencil shading too. So a couple of Doo-Hickey flourishes and some flowers. Now that's when I discovered I hardly have any purple coloured flowers! Yipes how on earth did that catastrophe happen? Trust me folks it will be remedied as soon as....that's as soon as the postman get them here ;))

I thought I'd check the current theme at Just Magnolia and hAnglar sTanglar and it was 'Anything goes' with an option of Happy New Year or something new. Well hello - new stamp!

While I was browsing I checked in at Papertake Weekly they too have an 'anything goes' theme with new options - perfect huh?

So here's the arty shot too!

Shades of grey at Polkadoodles

2012-01-06T23:32:00.003Z

Yo there tis moi - again!

I know so soon after last time!

There's a new challenge just launched over at Polkadoodles Its a super duper sketch and shades of grey.

So I printed off some papers from the fantastic Pretty Tuff CD Rom I only had one problem.... which papers to choose! Its jam packed with loads of papers and stuff. So I actually think it took me longer to choose which to use. I inked up the lovely Bevvieboo She was coloured up with Copics.

Well after all that grey I thought a bit.... and just added in a bit of pink.... oh and some glitter!

Oh and I've forgotten to tell you about the prize - its a set of flexmarkers in shades of grey! How fantastic is that!

Oh no snow!

2012-01-03T14:56:00.003Z

Don't panic don't panic Mr Mainwearing! Oh my life how does that TV quote age me! For those of you who don't know its from Dad's Army which is donkeys years old.... of course with me being 23 its a TV series I've only seen on repeat. At 23 I'm much too young to have even been born when the original series was on TV in black and white!

Anyway as always I digress. Don't worry the only snow is on my card! Thank goodness! Though it has turned much colder and wind - wow its awful.

So have a peek at my offering for the latest challenge over at the Creative Card Crew

So here's mine. Seeing as I'm not a fan of the white stuff mine obviously has minimal snow ;))

Sweet little Tilda carrying her love hearts inside to the Christmas Tree, which is what I do every year! She has been coloured with Copics and the papers are from MME.

This week we're sponsored by Simon says Stamp. And we're starting to choose a Top Three each challenge too!

As they say 'you got to be in it to win it'!

Its nearly New Year

2011-12-31T01:42:00.005Z

Heck where did 2011 go! It doesn't seem two tic since it was 2010! Mind you this time last year we'd had a big dose of that nasty white stuff which fortunately hasn't happened this year!

So I thought I'd share a few gratuitous pics of the girls! Well what could be better?

Here's Tinker, just about to deal with an itch!

Harry came to snuggle up next to her and was deep in thought!

Oh hang on she's got Tinkers itchy thing now!

Hmm what shall I do next...

Tinker's decided to have a look down her tube!

Best look a bit further down it! You can just see the blue edge of her wing feathers too - pretty huh?

Now for something a bit less colourful!

A new challenge has just gone up at Totally Gorjuss This week the theme is 'Happy' so it can be a creation for Happy anything!

A nice easy start to the year.

I've used one of the cute Lili of the Valley mice stamps. these are a breeze to colour! papers are Eva by Basic Grey. Flowers from Wild Orchid crafts ribbon from stash.

Thanks for visiting and leaving me a comment or two - Happy New Year to you all - health and happiness to you all!

Its Chrissstmasssss

2011-12-24T21:36:00.006Z

Well surprise surprise! Its me that's the surprise not that its Christmas, I mean that happens every year right? Seemingly more often than I blog lately. I promise to try and do better next year... is that a threat or a promise though? lol

So I thought I'd show you a bit of what I've been up to.

So these babies are almond and mincemeat macaroons. I think they smell lovely - I hate mincemeat though!

Then there were the mini mince pies. Don't they look fab? Fiddly though as then I to specially make teeny tiny boxes.... Each one is just under an inch across.

Oh and mince pies.... I made hundreds of these! Oh and there were none left for the family either... do you think I should make them some?

Now I make a few parrot cards ;))

These lovely stamps are by Stampotique they have a huge range of stamps these days! So here's a few I made.

These are by a super young artist called Kylie Diorio - I think she's really captured what parrots are about in her drawings. Now some of them are designated as one bird.... I've used my artistic licence to make them something else.

These were actually two love birds, here I've done an African Grey and a Senegal ;))

This guy is down as an Amazon - here he's an African Grey.

Love birds into Caiques! Well I had to didn't I?

I do like this one, the Amazon is dictating his Christmas list!

Now if Mr Blogger has played nicely.... there should be a little clip if Tinker with her new favourite thing.... A long cardboard tube! She sticks her head down it and growls and whistles. She'll do it for ages and ages. Note Harry bouncing along the tube to join in!

So folks that's all from me - oh please all have a fabulous Christmas!

And again

2011-12-12T22:34:00.003Z

Yay its only me, again! I know and so soon after the last time, which was a long time from the last time before the last time before the last time before that!

Can you remember the stocking I made the other week?

That's this one here in red and green.

Well I got to thinking, which I know can be dangerous for me. Well my thoughts were about making another one in shades of blue. Now I just so happened to have one or two bits and pieces of blue fabric! How lucky was that? So off I set and did a spot of cutting and stitching.

And Taaaa-Daaaaarrrr

The stocking in shades of blue. At first I thought my lush snowflake fabric was a bit bright but once it came together I think it looks OK. The back of the stocking is blue gingham.

You likey?

I'm here again

2011-12-10T21:37:00.002Z

Howdy there! I'm back again, a bit like the proverbial bad penny I suppose. You know turning up when I'm least expected. Just been a touch of manic-ness here again, but hey when is it any different I hear you say.... well assuming there's someone reading this of course ;)) Oh and just for the cherry on my cake I've got bronchitis AGAIN! Though I'm going to behave as I don't want what I had last year.

So there's a new challenge over at Totally Gorjuss This week the theme is ~sniggers~ Let it snow! And you all know how much I love that! Well hopefully this will be the only snow we see I certainly hope so.

So I got out this little darling from Wee Stamps She's been coloured with Copics, papers are my old favourites from Bo Bunny.... (I've only got one sheet left!), a Timmy clock dial, an assortment of snowflakes, holly leaves and a hellebore flower. Oh a smattering of Diamond Stickles too.

A bit of an arty shot for you.

Now I'm sure you remember my escapades with Little Missy Bitey Britches aka Tinker. For some reason Tinker decided Mummy was one BAAAD person who needed biting as hard and as often as she could get me! I've had a few good chomps from her.

Well I wasn't too keen on this to be honest. I prefer my blood in my veins and my skin without holes. Oh and it bloody hurt, she might be small but blimey can she get some power in that beak!!!

So we went right back to basics and we've made friends again. She still has the odd moments but we're much better. So I did a little film of her. She's sat on my knee. Harry of course HAD to be involved and she's sat in the foreground preening herself.

So how about this then? Tinker and me and my blood where it should be! Harry is doing most of the kissing noises, she makes them to herself when she's preening.

So that's my chickies!

Whoopsi Daisy Christmas blog hop

2011-11-20T23:00:00.001Z

Well howdy there and welcome to the Whoopsi Daisy Christmas blog hop!

A big hellooo from me and all the other Daisy Divas, you should have arrived here from Lills blog.

So why a blog hop? Well its soon going to be Christmas so I heard..... GULP! So to celebrate we thought we'd have a hop with mega chances of winning a prize to help you on your way to a happy creative Christmas. Each Diva will do a draw from the commenter's on her blog, that person will receive the sheet that Diva has used, I'm also going to pop a few bits and pieces in to make sure your Christmas gets off to a good start.

In addition each Diva has a letter, collect all the letters and solve the puzzle and email your answer to linniepink@google.mail for the chance to win 4 sheets of Whoopsi Daisy images!

So here's the order of the hop;

Linne

Nataliya

Mona E

Karen C

Audrey

Sande

Beth

Daisychain

Sheri

Joanie

Lill S

Net - that's me!

Suze

So here's my offering, little Daisy riding her polar bear to the North Pole..... I mean anyone who's anyone has a polar bear don't they?

She's been coloured with copics and I tried for a sort of mainly white effect.

Oh and here's the arty shot. Whoops I forget to crop it! Look how tidy my desk is!

So my letter is A and your next port of call is the taelnted Suze

Christmas Stocking!

2011-11-20T22:01:00.002Z

I've been to another day workshop at my local sewing shop! Knit and Stitch, its bad, bad, bad place though! Well my purse certainly thinks so. I just wish they'd stop having new fabric that I need.... OK maybe not need exactly but want is similar isn't it?

Anyway off I went knowing we were making a Christmas stocking. When I saw Lucy's (our teacher) I thought no chance!

So after a few hours of cutting and stitching....

Ta darrrrr!

I have to say I'm rather impressed.

The back is just plain, but I really like it.

Mind you Santa won't get many big presents in it, I reckon I need to scale the pattern up!

T'is only me!

2011-10-29T00:36:00.003+01:00

~Waves~

Tis only little ol' moi! Yup a victim of those pesky time thieves again! I know they always say lightening doesn't strike twice in the same place.... well those time thieves do for sure!

So before I treat you to a card a bit of news. Two bits actually ;)) Firstly I was asked to join the faberlus Nikky! Yup the Polkadoodle Momma herself! So yours truly is now a proud member of Polkadoodles DT! I'm absolutely totally thrilled! So watch this space - their stuff is superb.

Now the next news.... I've been asked to join the clever girls over at Creative Card Crew Another bit of fab news huh?

Well that's the good news over..... oh not really because a new challenge has just leapt into being over at Totally Gorjuss This week our sponsor is Fantastic Ribbons So that's another bit of good news, gee I'm full of it this week!

So the theme for this week is 'I remember' What we want is for to create something that evokes a memory. So images that make you remember. Easy huh?

So I've used this cute little guy from Lili of the Valley, of course he's been coloured with Copics.

Now this image makes me think back to when I was small. One of my brothers was always breaking things..... and he'd always blame me!

Now I didn't think flowers looked right on here, which has got to be a first for me. I usually manage to shoehorn them in somewhere! So a little delve round stash city located these cute little star buttons. A bit of button cord and punching a la Martha Stewart and he was done!

So pop over to Totally Gorjuss and check out what the other Gorjussettes have done - its awesome!

Remember those photos?...

2011-10-15T14:20:00.006+01:00

The sun has got his hat on! Hip hip hip hooray! yay we've got sunshine! And according to the weatherman most of the UK has too. Lovely huh? I mean its nice but another 10 degrees would be even better - aren't I greedy? But any sun is better than no sun in my book.

So another challenge is on at Totally Gorjuss This week its bingo! I spent hours and hours drawing up a chart, calculating all the mathematical permutations and all the eventualities.... er OK I drew up a chart and picked all my favourite crafting bits and bobs and filled them in! All you have to do is a line either vertically, horizontally or diagonally. I sort of chose diagonal..... lace, buttons and bling... only bling didn't look right on the paper so pearls are bling aren't they? ;))

This is one of my all time favourite Magnolias - I ♥ her! Yes I know she's an old Christmas release but she fits in for so many other things too.

Of course she's been coloured with Copics ;))

Dress YG 91, 93, 95, 97 and E 40, 41, 42 43

Hair E50 25 and 29

Skin E000, 00, 02, 11 and R20

Touches of Prisma pencil and shaded around the outline with French Grey 70% and 30%, rubbed out with Sansodor.

When I picked my bingo line I wasn't quite sure just how I was going to incorporate my buttons. I tried placing them on the card and they didn't look right. So I tried them in the other corner and still didn't like them. So I got my lace and glued it around the edge and crossed my fingers! Well gluing onto plastic.... but Crafters Pick from Wild Orchid Crafts did the trick! So I made these 'flowers' with my buttons and lace.

The papers are from Nitwits, cherry blossoms.

This week TG is sponsored by Simon Says Stamp, the winner will receive $10 to spend online.

So now a few more holiday pics!

Sweet little peacock baby with his Momma.

The chateau at Branfere. This is a 'zoo' of sorts. It was founded many years ago as an animal collection. Its a great place to visit. If you want lions and tigers don't go! They don't have them.

Plenty of other animals to see and the grounds are really pretty.

Isn't this swan odd looking? A bit like he's stuck his neck in black paint!

These are Siamangs, a type of gibbon. This is this years baby playing with last years baby. They were so athletic! Mum and dad just sat on the ground chilling ;))

Some of the golf course we played had lakes. Lakes mean water birds! There were lots of them!

The tiny specks on the grass are coots. There were hundreds of them! They do a fine job of keeping the grass nicely cropped.

More of them, they'd all come out together.

Isn't this house pretty? I ♥ this house! I can remember seeing it years ago and thinking how lovely it was then.

This house is right on the promenade in La Baule. Most of the properties along here are blocks of apartments but here and there are still some beautiful old houses. These two are lovely.

Now another card! I know what a treat! Well maybe treat isn't the right word.... I'm entering this spooky little witch into two challenges! I know two! The first is at Tando Creative who have a spooky theme going on. The second is a DT call at Creative Card Crew which is also spooky!

This cute little witch is a Hambo stamp. She's been coloured with Copics and the papers are from MME.

So I hope you're till awake after my epic!

I'm back!

2011-10-10T20:41:00.006+01:00

Boo!

I'm back! This time I can't blame my absence on aliens, time warp, cosmic imbalance or any form of paranormal activity. Nope lucky old me has been on holiday! Though with the foul weather now - listen you can hear the rain hammering on the windows - it seems ages ago :(( Ahh the sun... the lovely hot sun! It was F A B U L O U S !!! I lurve France! I mean don't get me wrong I love America too but I actually enjoy the getting to France. Drive to the ferry, catch boat, have a lovely meal, a few beverages ;)), bed a nice drive on roads without potholes and we're there. Much better than the airport drama of luggage and queues!

So prepare yourself I have photos!

This is me with the Chateau de La Bretesche in the background.

A little sidestreet in a pretty little seaside town called Piriac

The beach at Piriac. Now this 'ruin' is on the beach and is below the tide line. I don't know what it was really but I'm guessing that it was perhaps something to do with oysters. All those white splodges are actually oysters! There were loads of people on the beach chipping them off the rocks and digging up clams and cockles.

Rocks at the same place!

You can see some of the folks digging, they all had little rakes and baskets.

Part of the gatehouse at La Bretesche - isn't it beautiful?

Little backstreet at Le Croisic - it was just a car width! Ours only just fitted!

Little cove near Batz sur Mer - these rocks and sand actually sparkle! Oh I tried a paddle - freezing!

I think this house is just so pretty, its in the medieval part of Guerande

The beach at La Baule, this beach is just fantastic!

The chateau at la Bretesche, its built in a lake!

So a taster of our French trip - I have about another 600 photos.... I'll share a few more, unless you want to see them all..... ;))

Now onto the important stuff ;)) The new challenge at Totally Gorjuss this week is in honour of my holidays, well kind of. Its Ooh la la! hehe kind of appropriate huh?

I've used this little sauce pot from Kraftin Kimmie - isn't she Ooh la la personified? She's one of my favourite Kraftin Kimmie stamps. Papers are some scraps of Basic Grey Scarlets Letter.

Here's the arty shot of those beautiful flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts.

Pop over to Totally Gorjuss and check out what the Gorjussettes have come up with. this week we're sponsored by Crafters Companion. The lucky winner will receive £10 to spend in their online store.

Ooh all manly!

2011-09-12T22:35:00.003+01:00

Ahoy there mateys! Oo'ar Jim lad, spice the mainbrace, shiver me timbers and other piratical phraseology!

I hope non of you have suffered in these awful winds. Its been blowing a hooley here! Or if you prefer its been bloody windy! We've had the aftermath of Hurricane Katia, thank you so much for sharing that with us! It would have been much nicer if we'd have had a share of some nice warm sunshine instead....

Now there's another challenge over at Totally Gorjuss This week we want you to go all manly! So something for the man/boy/bloke/chap/fella/hombre/guy in your life! See easy again? I know you all love making boy cards ;)) And just to encourage you to play along there's a £10 voucher from Crafters Companion for the lucky winner ;))

Here's my little offering. Isn't this little Nellie Snellen pirate boy cute?

For a change he's been coloured with Promarkers ~gasps~ I was lucky enough to be sent some so I thought I'd best give them a whirl. I'm thinking I need more practice with them though haha!

So here's the arty shot ;)) The little star was hand cut from a scrap of corrugated card and wrapped with twine.

You likey? I kind of think it works..... but that's at the moment..... I might change me mind!

Pop over to the TG blog and check out what the Gorjussettes have made.

Only me!

2011-09-05T16:27:00.003+01:00

Oh heck!

Yup tis only me, the victim of more time theft! Oh and also wondering where on earth Little Mojo has gone to! If anyone know the whereabouts of a scruffy scrappy looking thing that's Little Mojo, please give him a poke in the ribs and send him back here please!

So anyway whether he was here or not I had to make something for the latest challenge over at Totally Gorjuss This week is a sketch kindly sponsored by Joanna Sheen

My card this week is incredibly simple! Oh and it was quick too ;)) There's a C word event looming so I know quick cards will be very useful ;)) Certainly in my world at any rate! So the paper is all from last years Papermania Christmas collection, ribbon from stash and a Marianne star die which has been glamour dusted.

I think it took me longer to glitter the die than it did to actually make the rest of the card! I think it kind of works though....

Now I went on a bit of a jaunt this weekend. My first ever quilt show. It was the Great Northern quilt Show at Harrogate. So it would have been rude not to go wouldn't it?

Not only were there copious amounts of stash for sale.... more of that later ;) There were some fantastic quilts on display. My only gripe being that the lighting could have been better. Some of them were just awesome!

This one in particular caught my eye - its done on leather!

Where it was displayed didn't show the lovely colours that the maker used. However the flash picked them up nicely.

Now stash.... There were several stalls who were selling fabric at £4.00 per metre! What a bargain... I think it only fair to indulge when people have been so kind as to sell it at that price!

Oh and I got a few patterns too.... well you have to don't you!

Ouch!

2011-08-28T16:02:00.003+01:00

Brr! and as the title says Ouch!

Bizarre as usual eh? Well first the Brr! Well its 12c here folks, which for what is allegedly the middle of summer is about 20 degrees amiss in my book. Admittedly I like it hot but I think everyone would agree that for this time of year it really is rubbish! The heating was on again last night and I just know its going to be on again tonight too!

Now the Ouch bit.... well yours truly when head over apex in the garage the other day. As usual I was hurrying up... when aren't I? Well as I went in, down two steps, I tripped up over a brush which had fallen over nicely at mid shin height. So then I'm going through the air at about 500mph! Well it felt like it ;)) I realised I was going face first towards the corner of the tumble dryer.... somehow I managed to miss it with my face and opted to head-butt it instead. When I came round I was wedged between the tumble dryer and some shelves. Half an hour later I managed to get myself out! Yup I was shouting my head off.... OM was sat in the lounge watching TV.... So to say I have a few bumps and bruises is an understatement. Oh and the cracked ribs too.... So less dashing for me I reckon don't you?

I hope no one has nodded off....

Now in the middle of this another challenge went up at Totally Gorjuss this week its extra easy. mainly because I chose it and I love easy challenges! This week we're sponsored by Kenny K Kenny and Elena also provided the DT with images too. I chose this little cutie. I think she's fabulous! Actually this is the spitting image of me! In my dreams......

The papers are Jovial by Basic Grey, one of my fave ever pads. The sentiment is LOTV I cut the sentiment out and then edged it with some lace which was a gift from my kind blogging buddy Hazel - thanks babes its fab! Then because its so lovely I used it again down the edge of my punched border too.

Then I couldn't decide what embellishments to use.....

So a couple of punched holly leaves. But then I had no berries! So a couple of little rosebuds instead.

The arty shots for you fans ;))

I still think she's missing something though... I might have to have a fiddle round with her later on!

So come and play with us peeps, the Gorjussettes have made some super cards to inspire you.

Oh and one last bit of advice look where you're going, especially if you should be in my garage!!!

Boo!

2011-08-20T14:52:00.003+01:00

Boo! Its only me! Sorry if that disappoints.... ;)) Missing in inaction again! I don't really know how it happened.... But you know how one thing leads to another and then... well times flown by at a great rate of knots. But I'll spare you the boredom of it all!

So another challenge over at Totally Gorjuss This week its 'cute and cuddly' so an animal on your card! The sponsor kindly giving away $10 to spend instore is Simon says Stamp So whilst perusing my stamps and digis my eye fell on this super sweet Snow Bunny Isn't he just adorable?

He got the Copic treatment, Basic Grey papers, WOC flowers and a LOTV sentiment and here he is, all finished and another one off my Christmas card list!

Oh here's my 'famous' (in my dreams!!!) arty shot.

Now also this week was my last showcase as my July DT spot over at Stampotique finished :((

I loved this little stamp by Maryse Carrier called 'Hello' I did a little 'hello' sentiment by adding letter stickers to a punched flower. Oh and I used the last of my MME 'quite contrary' papers too.

Now there has been a dearth of Harry and Tinker photos and stuff lately - for some reason Blogger does not like my little videos :(( So here's a couple of photos of Harry. Part of the morning ritual is lots of preening! Those feathers take some looking after!

So here she is doing her chest! Each one is combed through her tongue and beak. She does the same to my hair if she gets chance ;))

Then of course the ones at the bottom of her tummy needed a bit of attention too!

So you just have to get your leg in the air!

Totally Gorjuss and some more Rawr!

2011-08-07T17:45:00.005+01:00

Hi there - have you summer weather, monsoon weather or a bit of both? We've had some most peculiar weather! Tuesday this week was glorious.... it basically seemed to go downhill from then on! We've also had some torrential rain. Fortunately no flooding here - unlike some areas - one of the advantages of living on top of a very big hill!

So a new challenge has just, well yesterday, gone live over at Totally Gorjuss This weeks its an easy sketch - remember I draw them so they're bound to be easy :)) The prize this week is from Joanna Sheen - who has some marvellous new stuff in... ~nudge nudge wink wink~

So here's my take on it....

One of the last releases from Lili of the Valley - isn't she sweet? The sentiment is also a LOTV stamp. Papers are basic grey Eva, coloured with Copics.

Close of the flowers all from WOC - Now I can't remember ever buying the orange ones but they were really useful and brighten this arrangement up nicely.

Now when I was rashly chopping up my sheet of this lovely green card for matting I thought I wasn't going to have enough to cut for the scalloped surround on my image. I had a sudden light bulb moment! I cut the scalloped piece out of my base layer!

Like this... and no one knows... well apart from you reading this of course ;))

So the Rawr in my title? Well there's a few more monsters in the family!

This cute little chap is Rufus... cute horns huh?

This is Malcom

Lavinia his sister

And last but not least Montgomery. Montgomery is a bit saucy, if you don't watch him he's always winking at the girls!

So when there's a few more in the family these little guys will be off to their new home. At the moment there's some heated discussion going on in the bag they're in. Montgomery has been winking at Olivia!

Red hot oh and yellow and orange!

2011-08-03T18:13:00.003+01:00

Phew!

Its scorchio! Which to me is of course fantastico!

Now in relation to this the latest challenge at Stampotique Designers Challenge - where yours truly is Guest designer - have a new challenge happening which is red, yellow and orange. This theme chosen by the talented Kaz She obviously knew this week was going to be lovely! In which case I want to know she doesn't do all the challenges! You know something like 'balmy warm days', 'perfect weather for sitting in the garden' themes. Maybe you'd like to give it a whirl Kaz?

This is what Kaz had to say;

"When I took this week for my challenge back in the winter, I thought it would be lovely and summery so I decided to set a colour challenge using the sizzling colours of red, yellow and orange. I should have known better really as I do, after all, live in England. It's been positively Autumnal this month. Rain, wind and grey skies. Yuk. So I'd like you to help us entice the sunshine back to help warm my cold toes!!"

This challenge runs till 9 August at 5.00pm eastern time and its Stampotique stamps only, the lucky winner gets $30 to spend in store!

Anyway here's my entry - late I'm ashamed to say ~hangs head and pokes chair with foot' Not entirely my fault - the card was made then I did a favour with my camera..... Anyway its photo'd now.

Now this is a bit different for me... actually its a lot different! No flowers on it for a start!!! I know how weird is that?

So I stamped this lovely 'Daniels hearts' stamp and swiped Copics over the details, then cut it out with a Spellbinder heart, made a heart border, added paper lace cur out a few hearts to spill out and stamped 'mwah' and it was done!

Oh and look an arty shot! I stuck the little cut out hearts on a blob (technical term) of pinflair glue gel to raise them up a touch.

So a bit different for me huh? Well when I saw the colours kaz picked I thought 'whoa! they aren't colours I ever use together!!!' But I rather like this card and the colours. I guess a shove out of our comfort zones is good for us really.

I fainted!

2011-07-31T17:44:00.005+01:00

Don't worry! It was only in a shock kind of way - the sun came out today! It actually felt like summer so I fainted sort of. I mean does this actually mean summer has finally done the decent thing and actually made an appearance? It was also quite pleasant last Sunday too (yup time thieves again folks) so we had a run out.

Check out this for a beach! There are literally miles and miles of beautiful sandy beaches..... looks fab eh? The photo doesn't show up the browny tinge the sea has though! Yup none other than Mablethorpe. Oh yes we had some of those yummy fish and chips we had last time too. Now this beach obviously gets busy as they have lifeguards as you can see one here with his surf board, Oh and coat on!

And donkeys! I lurves donkeys and always think they look sad. But I suppose treking up and down the sand all day is a bit boring. I'd shared my mints out with them shortly before ;))

So over at Totally Gorjuss we've just started with Christmas in July. This week we sponsored by Meljen Designs The DT had some of their beautiful images to play with. So I used Rudolph - isn't he sweet? Coloured with Copics naturally. The papers are some Basic Grey 'Wassail'. Now with Christmas in mind and postal charges being ever higher I made a 'flat' card that will post on a regular stamp. That put flowers out of the window! Now they're lovely but generally push postal charges up into the 'large letter' band.

The decoration is punched holly leaves and snowflakes. The leaves have been stickled with Distress Stickles in 'Picket Fence' I was hoping for a frosty look - do you think it worked?

Well after Rudolph I was on a bit of a roll! Out came the gingerbread man! He too got the Copic treatment. These papers are basic Grey 'Jovial', some of my fav BG Christmas papers ever.

the little gingerbread embellishment is some of that lovely organza from Hobby Fun. Goes lovely with him don't you think?

I thought kraft card would be nice for him in a sort of rustic/arts and craft kind of thing. The border is a Martha Stewart punch, rick rack from stash.

Well that's it for today - are you still awake?

Oh and while I've been typing this the sun's only gone in!

They've only been again!

2011-07-23T20:28:00.009+01:00

Well I have to say those time thieves have sneaked in a stolen a week.... again! I mean you'd think with them visiting me so often that I'd have an inking of what they look like and therefore be ready.... Pah not a chance! Little blighters have got away with a week again. I wonder what they do with all the time they steal....

Well a couple of photos to share today. Now I'm sure you know about the two parrots. Well there's also two kitties who live here too. This is Dudley. Dudley is doing one of the things he does best! Its a really natural position for a cat to lie in isn't it?

Now there's a new challenge over at Totally Gorjuss This week we want to see some punching or die cuts on your card. Mine is some punching a la Martha Stewart. The glass is a Magnolia stamp, the backing card is some rather luscious silver from The Paper Temptress

The ribbon is also from The Paper Temptress.

This also fits into the current challenge at Just Magnolia and hAnglar stAnglar challenge. This weeks its cooking. Now I don't really have any cooking stamps.... and I know some of the DT have been a little literal.... well mine is the glass of wine while you're cooking your dinner! ;))

Now I know some peeps have been checking my blog for little Harry and Tinker fix. So here's a film of little Missy Naughty Britches aka Tinker. She was busy playing with some cherry pips! Its amazing what actually keeps them amused!

STUPID BLOGGER WON'T LOAD MY VIDEO! I'LL KEEP TRYING!!!

Something new from the Doncaster Craft show!

2011-07-16T23:05:00.002+01:00

Yoohoo only me! I know and so soon too! Heck I had the best of intentions to post more often but the pesky time bandits have been around again! I wouldn't mind but I never even saw the little blighters. One minute loads of time and the next I'm chasing myself.... ~and breathe~ Still here I am! So a few things to share with you.

First we've a new challenge over at Totally Gorjuss, this week its all about boys! Yup we want to see cards for the men in your life. OK OK I know lots of peeps aren't so keen on boy cards but honestly when you see what the Gorjussettes have come up with you'll be inspired! Oh and if you need more inspiration there's a £10 spend at Crafters Companion too ;))

I've used this sweet little cricketer from Lili of the Valley He was an absolute breeze to colour! So the card came together super quick which was a good job really...... remember the time bandits?

So today I popped over the the Summertime (hah what a joke that word is!) Craft Show at Doncaster Race Course. How could I describe it? Well worth a visit! Super location, handy free car parking (take note NEC!) and its about 15 minutes from my house. Oh and chocka-block with fabulous crafting goodies! So I managed to acquire 'one or two' essential bits and pieces;)) It would have been rude not to wouldn't it?

So while there I got this super cute Lili of the Valley stamp and these lush Tilda papers. Coloured with Copics natch.

Now my ace find, OK I know I'm not the only one but.... check out these leaves! Aren't they just fantastic? They're organza fabric, oh and already glittered which is a bonus. I mean I love glitter but always end up with as much on me as I do the card ~blushes~

A little close up of the leaves and flowers, WOC as usual.

These lush leaves come from a fabby company called HobbyFun UK They have the most gorgeous organza fabrics! And you know how I am with fabric lately.... I just about resisted leaping onto the rolls and wrapping myself on them. I made do with a few surreptitious feels instead.

And yes there's an 'and' I felt a bit inspired after seeing the bead stalls! So a few pink beads later I made myself a bracelet too!

Welcome back Mr Mojo!

Stampotique Guest Spot

2011-07-11T23:00:00.000+01:00

Woohoo! Well the day, well OK night has dawned.... hang on if its night it can't be dawn can it? I'll rephrase that - the time has come! Yes that's better ;))

The tiime has come for me to share with you my first submission for the fabulous Stampotique Designers Challenge Blog! I'm so honoured to be asked, their full time DT make such F A N T A S T I C creations. So I'm hoping my little offering is up to scratch...

So here it is.... This week the theme chosen by the talented Gez is flowers. So when I saw 'Baby Cakes' and this wonderful text stamp 'Fabulous' I knew immediately what I wanted to do ;))

And that folks is how it looked in my head! 'Baby Cakes' has of course been coloured with Copics. I stamped her first and then masked her and stamped 'Fabulous' so it looked like it was behind her. That was then glittered for a touch of va va voom. A spray of roses and a crinoline flower and Voilà!

A spot of detail of the lovely Baby Cakes. I so need those boots!

As a treat an arty shot!

Oh my another one!

The flowers which were Stickled to add to the bling factor. I mean you can never have enough bling can you?

Summertime and some RAWRRRR!

2011-07-09T00:30:00.002+01:00

Howdy!

I guess you're splitting your sides now you seen me write 'summertime' I can hear you now 'has she gone nuttier than usual? Summertime?? where's that then because its not here' I am of course referring to the latest challenge over at Totally Gorjuss I chose the theme of 'summertime' thinking well the middle of July almost it'll be appropriate because its summertime, allegedly. Unfortunately we appear to have been transported into some grey monsoon land place! I have to say I'm not so keen on grey monsoon land myself. I'm more a hot summer land place. So if the weathermen happen to be reading this send summer back please because I'm missing it.

So here's my card for the challenge which this week is sponsored by Crafters Companion One lucky peep will get £10 to spend in their online store. Good huh?

So I've inked up little Tilda with her lolly.

Isn't she sweet? Its obviously much warmer where she is if she needs a lolly to cool down with. I've got the brolly Tilda.... I could have used that couldn't I? She's been coloured with Copics and the papers are MME. And its my last bit, honestly I was hyperventilating when I cut it.

Flowers a la Wild Orchid Crafts.

Now those of you with a good memory may recall Lumpy.... Lumpy is alive and well and lives on the floor by my craft table. He likes it there..... Now my plan was to increase Lumpys circle of friends. Olivia, Frank and Roland appeared and then things kind of slowed up.... I felt I needed fleece to make these little critters squishier. JoAnns to the rescue! I've not seen any fleece for sale my side of the pond :(( So I'd like to introduce...

Wilf and Prudence! Now these two are lovely and squishy! Now I plan on making more of these little guys and then they'll be off on their travels. They'll be going to Kids Company which is a London based charity to help children.

So you've a couple of things to look at, if you'd like of course. The new challenge at Totally Gorjuss and the Kids Company charity - could you help them?

Oh and if you see the sun while you're out and about point it in my direction please!

The tour continues and some news

2011-07-05T00:29:00.003+01:00

Howdy!

Our tour of the East Coast continues! This weekend it was Cleethorpes.... Cleethorpes is a quaint little town which joins onto Grimsby and is right on the mouth of the Humber Estuary. Now when the tide goes out they mean its out! By around a mile or so! So I think that is definitely out! The first photo shows the tide in almost fully out level. You can just make out the martello towers in the estuary. I can remember visiting Cleethorpes as a child and there being horse and carts to take you to the sea edge when the tide was out!

Now this is a couple of rides - yes the tide comes and laps round them! I'm not sure what happens if they have an extra high tide!

And yes your eyes don't deceive you - people are swimming in the sea. Now me personally didn't stick a toe in the water but I reckon seeing as its the North Sea it would be pretty cold. these kids are obviously made of sterner stuff than me.

I felt shivery just looking at them! Oh and yes we had fish and chips.... again! I know I'll be reaching barrel proportions soon;)) I'm not sure if there's many seaside towns reachable late on a Sunday afternoon. Which is probably a good thing for my waistline.

Oh and now for my bit of news.... Stampotique have invited me to be their Guest Designer for July over on their Designers Challenge blog. If you've time pop over and laugh at the spectacularly scary photo of me! Oh and there'll be challenges and stuff too.

Its me!

2011-06-25T14:33:00.003+01:00

Hiya there!

Yes those pesky time thieves have struck again! I mean where do they come from? I never ever see them coming....

I seem to have been really really busy but I haven't got an awful lot to show for it. Well there was lots of cooking but that's gone to customers.... Oh and the weather! Blimey I thought we'd been transported to the tropics, minus the warm temperatures, with the amount of rain we had the other day! I only dashed 3 yards to the bin and was drenched. Trust me I chucked the next bag of rubbish on the step and waited till it stopped!

Now I love feeding the wild birds in the garden. The starlings are thanking me by scoffing all the cherries on my tree! Cheeky buggers peck all of them %-( I think they do that to make sure we don't eat any of them to be honest. Now I put meal worms out for the birds (they're weird they look like they're wriggling even though they're dried ugh!) and I noticed the other night we have another visitor who likes them.

I'd like to introduce....

Hedgie! He ate a huge pile of them. Yup all that pile which I put out when I saw him were scoffed!

Cute isn't he? I hope he returns the favour and attends to the slugs and snails!

Now a new challenge has launched.... I make it sound like a rocket, over at Totally Gorjuss This week we'd like you to use ribbons and lace on your entries. This weeks sponsor is Fantastic Ribbons

I've used one of the last boy releases from Lili of the Valley I managed to include ribbon and lace on a boy card! A first for me ;))

Teddy has been coloured with Copics and the papers are a mix of Basic Grey Pyrus and Kraft.

Back again!

2011-06-13T21:18:00.003+01:00

Yay!

Its me! Again and so soon! Now is that a good thing or a bad thing..... hmmm??? I'll let you decide..... ;))

Now I thought I'd share a few pics with you. Over the weekend the OM and myself had a little 'don't know where we're going but we'll go anyway' trip. Basically I pointed the car up the M18 and drove. Eventually we came to the North Sea and so I thought it would be a good idea if we stopped! Anyway we were at Withernsea... oh my! It was.... how can I describe it? Er.... brown! Sorry to any Withernsea residents who may be reading! Please don't think the sky is blue, they're actually grey rain clouds! So we hopped back in the car - pointed it again and.....

went to Hornsea! It was slightly less brown! The OM took a quick pic of me (don't be scared!) Yes it was as breezy as it looks. The joy of an English summer, yes jeans, jumper and a coat!

Can I think of a nice thing about Hornsea?.... Well if you're ever there I can recommend the seafront chippy - the fish and chips are wonderful! Made the trip worthwhile. They did make the car pong a bit but hey ho. Totally delicious!

So a little make to share with you. While I was on my jollies I happened, by accident, to acquire a couple of quilting magazines. Now they have some rather fabby makes in them, other than quilts.

One of them being a needle case.....

So.... taaaa daaaaaaaaaa! The needle case! Its actually easier than the instructions! I have to say they weren't worded terribly well, unless..... unless I'm thicker than I think I am that is..... well anyway its a good make for fabric scraps. The strips on the front are made from pieces 1" x 5" so with seam allowances they're 1/2" wide! Its really dinky.

The front.....

The back....

The inside, the needle 'holder' bits are felt

Its even got a pocket on the inside for...'stuff'

So that's my latest little make. Now I'm acquiring fabric and saving all the bits I reckon I can make one or two more!

Return from the time warp!

2011-06-11T21:08:00.004+01:00

~creeps in with a snigger~

Hi there its me again! Yup the time thieves have been here again! Pesky things sneaked in and stole loads of time and I never noticed....well hardly..... er OK I did but I've had a mixture of being busy/poorly/busy/poorly and well that just whipped the time away from me. Oh and the God awful weather doesn't exactly help does it? I mean what month is it? Its like April! Sun one second and then a torrential downpour.... then more of the same. Its been so cold too - my poor old joints don't like it one bit :(( I feel like a creaky door and I swear I can hear my joints creak!

So enough moaning, unless you want more? I can moan real good..... OK enough then. I thought I show you a couple of pics of something I made the other day. Pork ribs - my word I have to say they were absolutely delicious! First of all I put them in a roasting tin and put about an inch of water in and covered with foil. Into a slow oven - 160c for just over and hour. This way the sort of steam slowly. While they were doing that I made a glaze. In a bowl 2 tablespoons of honey, same of mustard, dash of Worcestershire sauce, two glugs of balsamic vinegar and a good squirt of tomato ketchup and then a teaspoon each of ground cumin and coriander. Mix together and then brush liberally over your ribs... pork ribs that is. Return to the oven and turn up to 180c for about another half hour. You can brush the glaze on as much as you like. When the ribs are tender they're done.

Then they look like this - they are absolutely delicious! The OM said they were the best he'd ever had! Even in the States! Trust me from him that's high praise indeedy ;))

Now I made these little babies the other day.... these are blueberry crumble tarts. Pastry, a spot of jam, fresh blueberries and some crunchy crumble on top. Were they nice? They were absolutely gorgeous!

I'm sorry if I've made you hungry....

So enough food I'll show you the card I made for the new challenge at Totally Gorjuss This week we want to see flowers on your entries. So I inked up this sweet little Tilda and broke into the new basic grey Hopscotch pad. these colours are a new thing for me.... took me ages to decide what colour papers to use as a backing and what colour to use for her dress! Take me away from my usual shades and I'm all a dither - haha!

Over at Just Magnolia and hAnglar sTanglar they have a sketch and flowers challenge. So I've entered this into that too - I'm not sure if I've 'over-tweaked' the sketch though!

Then I discovered I didn't have the exact colour flowers I wanted..... by then it was almost all stuck together so I improvised. I think it kind of looks OK..... I echoed the butterfly on Tildas hand with this Martha Stewart butterfly border punch.

My close up.... now I do have an arty shot...... Blogger doesn't like it and will not let me load it! How dare he? Very easily it seems ;)) Oh this week the challenge is sponsored by Crafters Companion - some lucky person gets £10 to spend - good huh?

2011-05-31T23:13:00.003+01:00

Howdy there Bloggettes, yup the time thieves have struck again! I mean where did they come from? I think the same guys also stole the sun too. The weather has been pretty rubbish here. I mean its the end of May and we still have the heating on! But I can't bear being cold..... please come back sunshine!

Now we've had a bit of a mystery, well kind of, over a dove cooing outside the bedroom window at 4.30am most mornings! The OM of course has no knowledge of this whatsoever - the upside of being a bit deaf eh? Well the other day I saw a dove almost fly into the bedroom window with a twig in its beak.... So I went outside for a look. Guess what I saw?

Yup the little dove has made herself a nest on the bracket of the security light! You can see how close to the barge board she is - not much room is there?

In fact so little room there's a good deal of overhang in the tail department!

But she does look nicely settled doesn't she? On the plus side of course there's as much food as she can eat in the garden. We've got a newly fledged baby dove in the garden, I wonder if its the first one out of this particular nest? I've no idea how long she's been there. On the plus side I suppose there's no one else trying get up there with her, the wind won't blow it and she'll be dry when it rains!

Now over at Totally Gorjuss we have another challenge up and running. This time its 'strings the thing' which basically means put some string on your card in one way or another - easy as always ;)) Now I had the idea for the card but then decided that I didn't want to just wrap it around the card kind of thing...... but what to do with it? Now while I was away I saw some flat coils of string so I had a go at those. I think its quite a good manly embellishment.

An arty shot of said manly embellishment!

Now I'm sure you've heard me mention the girls.... if not where have you been! Now me being a cruel Mummy I like them to earn their keep!

We had Tinker on cutlery duty the other day.....

I'm not quite sure she got the hang of it somehow.....

Woohooo!

2011-05-22T15:59:00.007+01:00

Well howdy y'all!

Have you missed me??? Had you even noticed I'd gone?...... Well I've been MOH, that's Missing On Holiday!

So that involved these two, Tinker at the front (nearer my fingers) and Harry looking for food going in their new travel cage. Its better than the old one but I have to say the 'parrot proof' door fastener is rubbish! Tinker had it open in about 2 seconds flat! Hence a cable tie holding it shut. Harry was actually a bit less car sick than usual, now whether this is because she can see more or she's getting better car legs... well who knows?

So we've been here! Yup lucky me has had another Florida trip. We started at Clearwater Beach, this was the view from our balcony - directly onto the beach. This is sunset the first night. Isn't it beautiful? As the sun drops lower and lower it seems to take ages. Once it gets to the horizon though it goes really fast. One minute its there and then its gone! Oh and the sea was beautifully warm too, none of that gasping in shock that we get here in the UK. Oh and its clean, as are the beaches. People just don't seem to dump their litter everywhere, they use the bins on the beaches. Perhaps something we ought to have don't you think?

We also fed a few of these on the beaches too! Its amazing you wander down with your bread or whatever and there's not a bird in sight! Once you have one you soon have a load of them, they are so acrobatic.

We also saw lots and lots of ospreys. There seemed to be a nest in every tree with chicks in. Now these are nesting on top of a floodlight on a soccer pitch. There used to be lots of these lights but they've been replaced with modern ones. They left this one though as the pair were showing signs of breeding so its had a reprieve for a few months till the chicks fledge. Obviously Florida (this part for sure) is ideal for Ospreys as there are so many lakes and fish to feed them all. We even saw them catching fish in the sea too. So the huge nest on top of the light! Oh they don't use this light when there's a nest on it, there would be a risk of fire and the chicks getting burnt too. I wondered how the chicks cope with heat, some days it was over 90f.

A bit of a closer view, as you can see there are two chicks and the mother in there. She was shouting her head off! I'm guessing to her mate to hurry up and bring them a fish!

This is a nest in a tree on the golf course at Dunedin, as you can see its right over the path where all the golf buggies drive. The birds aren't fazed by these in the slightest though. There are chicks in this one too, they decided to duck down as I took the shot! In the space of a small area there were 3 nests so they obviously don't mind close neighbours.

One of the neighbours nests! You can see they use rather big lumps of wood! Makes you wonder how they manage to make them really. I don't think I could using both hands, and they only do it with their beaks without any instructions either ;))

Now seeing as I've been in the Shopping, sorry Sunshine State I felt it necessary to indulge in a spot of retail therapy. Well it would have been rude not to. Oh I also bumped into the Lord of Inkiness too ;)) So here is a small view of the meagre amount of stuff I acquired.....

Now I'm sure some of you may have noticed my interest in fabric.... well I just so happened to find a haven for fabric strokers everywhere! Oh my I almost got thrown out when I screamed yippee and threw myself on the bolts of fabric... Luckily it would appear I'm not the first person to have done that! I've never ever seen so much fabric in my life! Now I got ~coughs~ one or two pieces.... but I could have filled 20 cases with it (funds and luggage allowance permitting). So I chose carefully(ish) and also bought a few patterns, magazines and 'stuff.

So see hardly anything really.... What I mean by that is 'hardly anything compared to what I saw and wanted as well but......' You know what I mean? Now of course I will have to brace myself to actually cut it! But for now I'm more than happy stroking and wrapping myself in it!

Easy as 1 2 3!

2011-04-30T16:34:00.003+01:00

Yay there Bloggettes - how are you on this sunny and breezy weekend? I can't believe its another long weekend! Mind you the Big L is not impressed, he's working again. I tell him to think of the money ;)) I'm not sure it works though!

Now a new challenge is on at Totally Gorjuss As always its easy (If I'm picking trust me they're always going to be easy). In fact its as easy as 1 2 3! What that means is you need 1 of one thing, 2 of another and 3 of another!

My 1 2 3 is 1 flower rosette, 2 nestie shapes and 3 ribbons. The images are all Molly Blooms - aren't they cute? This is a recipe box - though if you changed the image it coould be used for anything really. I think it could be adapted to hold photographs and display them too.

Now do you remember me giving you the news I'm now a step great grand mother which I know is totally unbelievable seeing as I'm only 23..... Well here is a picture of the little man himself. He is a lovely looking boy, not wrinkly at all!

Here's Isaac John, oh and the one who is wrinkly is the OM himself ;)) Little Isaac was very comfy and slept soundly, apparently he's not got the hang of this at night yet! Oops.

hey baby

2011-04-29T00:26:00.002+01:00

Hey baby! Happy royal wedding day!

Well a quick one from me, don't want to bore you..... well twice in one week. This is a quick card I made for the new addition to our family. The OM's grand daughter gave birth to her first baby and his first great grand child! which makes me a step great granny! Which as a 23 year old surely cannot be right! So little Isaac John has arrived and he's lovely.

So this is the card I made for him.

And now a little video of Harry going though her paces! She's having a workout on the camera case. I think it looks like she's on the Olympic rings!

Sneaked a quick one in!

2011-04-24T18:36:00.002+01:00

Happy Easter to you Bloggettes!

Did the Easter bunny come to see you? Well he came here but not to see me.... ~sniff~ He did come to see my OM though....

Not a bad haul of chocolate delights for one person eh? He now feels suitably guilty! Muahahahaha! Now I did go and show him a couple of rather nice sewing machines yesterday;))

Now this basket is what I made at sewing class. Its got quilting, appliqué, embroidery and 'stuff' on it. It holds a decent amount of chocolate too ;)) I think without the Easter stuff it could be useful for various things, so watch this space ;))

Now seeing as I was fired up and we have a new baby due (NOT MINE!!!) I made a baby basket. Now I know I'm calling these things baskets but I don't know what else you'd call them. I thought this would be good for keeping nappies etc in on the baby's changing station.

I put a pack of nappies in (when did they start doing hundreds of sizes and stuff??) A couple of baby toiletries filled the bag out. When did they start doing so many of those too? There were stacks to pick! In the end I went for good old Johnson's. Plus it had the nicest scent some of them were really strong smells. To me baby stuff should be a delicate scent.

And another week rolls on by...

2011-04-23T00:29:00.003+01:00

Yipes that's it another week has rolled on by! How blinking quick did that happen then? I mean one minute I was sat here last week saying about time flying.... and well here I am repeating myself. I reckon it must be getting pretty boring for you. In my defence (I have an excuse for every occasion according to the OM) We had our market a day early because of it being Easter... therefore my body clock is all to pot. So in my head its a day later.... Which actually means if that were the case I'm even later than usual with my blogging ~gulp~

So on that bombshell lets get onto some photos and news! A new challenge has just happened over at Totally Gorjuss This week its easy (as usual) Its 'bling it on'. Quite simply get some bling on there! We're sponsored this week by Whoopsie Daisy. All the Gorjusettes have worked with these images and they've made some stunning samples.

Here's mine

I think she looks so wistful! Coloured with Copics as usual, papers are 'Eva' by Basic Grey and were a pressie from a lovely blogging buddy - mwah! Ribbon from stash, flowers from WOC and a crinoline flower and a doily strip from the lovely Linda

Here's the arty shot Isn't this ribbon lovely and shimmery? I've only got a bit left, pity I can't remember where I got it from.

Now regular readers will have heard about my sewing adventures. I decided to have a go at making some shopping bags. I bought some heavier weight fabric for them.....

Tadarrrr! The bag. It is straight in real life! I just hung it wonky for the photo (for some reason).

Oh and the other news.... well that's pushing it a bit really. Now I've been undecided what to do with my hair for ages now. Everytime I've gone to the hairdressers I've just had another trim.... and another and another.... Well yesterday I bit the bullet. 8 inches chopped off the length! Oh my I feel bald.

Here I am.... don't be scared!

Now it probably won't look like that when I've dried it!

Blimey yet another week!

2011-04-16T21:09:00.003+01:00

Blimey another week stolen away! Am I the only person to suffer at the hands of the time thief? I mean its not fair is it? Its happening to me again and again! I wonder if it'll happen again this week...... Funnily enough I don't think you'll get good odds on it not happening to be honest... But hey never say never!

I took Big L out on shopping training today. You know for when he's married.... it was practice of waiting outside shops! Result on my part as I got two new tops and some jeans. I could hear him sighing inside the shop!

So seeing as another week has gone by it must mean its time for a new challenge over at Totally Gorjuss and its to not use any patterned paper. Now when I set this challenge I thought 'How easy will this be!'....... Well you all know the saying 'wise after the event'? Well I sat down to make the card I reached my papers... so I slapped my hand away and went for the plain card.... after a few minutes I was about to cut a beautiful piece of Basic Grey.... I slapped my self again... Well after about 20 slaps I eventually cottoned on to the fact that I wasn't to use any patterned paper. I've always been a fast learner..... Well eventually I'd got things stuck down that didn't involve any patterned papers! I've not inked this Kraftin Kimmie beauty up for ages. I think she looks a bit of a sauce pot ;))

Oh that's not a snail trail around the image.... that's just how wet Stickles photographs I'm afraid.

Here you go the arty shot! I used some of the stems and just curled them and glued them on for a change.

Another arty shot! Check out those pins.... the pearl headed ones not her legs ;))

Now as a treat a little video of Harry. Now Harry has a bit of a thing about hair, well my hair really. She'll often sit of my shoulder and rub herself with a foot full of hair.

So here's she's doing what caiques love to do - its called surfing! Check out when she's giving her face a rub. - Cute huh?

Hopefully the time thief won't appear again this week!

Another week gone!

2011-04-09T16:15:00.002+01:00

Cripes that's another week that's whizzed by! In fact I think it went even quicker than last week did! How on earth does it happens so fast? Any tips on time management let me know ;)) I can't even blame it on laying in bed - every morning has been an early one thanks again to neighbours immensely annoying yapping dog! So any loan of suitably annoying yappy dogs will be accepted!

Anyway seeing as another week has past it must be time for another challenge over at Totally Gorjuss This week is another easy one (but hey aren't they always?) its for something fluffy! So like I said easy! Anything fluffy so that's bears, teddies or whatever is fluffy!

This is my effort. This cute little bunny is by Lili of the Valley He's been coloured with Copics and was a doddle to colour. You get several little sentiment stamps to put your own sentiment on his letter. I thought the postcard stamp (also by LOTV) worked perfectly with him.

Papers are Basic Grey 'Eva' and flowers by WOC. This week TG is sponsored by Crafters Companion the lucky winner gets £10 to spend in their online store.

Now last week (seems about a year ago actually) I went to a sewing class at my local wool and fabric shop. This one was to make a bag.... in patchwork! Eeps that meant I'd have to cut straight... oh and sew straight too.

Ta darrrrrr!!!

One bag with 'flying geese' or if you're like me 'triangles'! I showed it to my friend (who does patchwork beautifully).... she did her usual bit and looked at the seams inside and out, held up at arms length to see if the quilting was straight and checked the points on the 'geese'. I have to say she liked it and that it passed muster!

Who stole last week?

2011-04-03T17:10:00.003+01:00

Crikey who on earth stole the whole week??? I mean one minute its Sunday and then in a flash its Sunday again, but a week later! Mind you its been pretty busy... hence me feeling totally tatered! To you none Yorkshire peeps, well if anyone's reading, that means really tired ;)) I did have plans for a small lie in this morning, well it is Mothers Day ;)).... that failed though thanks to our 'lovely' neighbours who put the yappiest dog in the world out in the garden at 7.30am! Thank you so much for that! Does anyone have a yappy dog they could loan me I can return the favour?

So onto the newest challenge over at Totally Gorjuss This weeks its a nice easy sketch, always handy sometime to kick that mojo started! We're sponsored this week by Joanna Sheen The lucky winner get £10 to spend in her online store! And with free p and p its even better.

So this is what I made - isn't this little Lili of the Valley fairy just the sweetest? The paper is my last piece of a sheet of (I think) Bo Bunny that I've had for ages.... and now I've none left! A LOTV sentiment and WOC flowers and ribbon from my stash. Oh a spot of stickles too.

Just for the fan.... whoever you are.... the arty shot.

Oh and just for a change the glue was dry when I took the photo!

Now you may have seen in my last post the girls helping them selves to the treat box of nuts. Harry decided she needed a snack so she helped herself.

Honestly she can get that lid off quicker than I can!

Yoohoo spring has sprung!

2011-03-28T20:56:00.003+01:00

Woohoo!!! Its official! Spring has sprung ;)) Hopefully the start of better weather and so far so good ~touches wood~ I had a discussion with someone over which day was the first day of spring. Easy its the 21st of March! Which happens to be the Big L's birthday. I remember when I had him there was about a foot of snow! Very spring like I don't think.

So a bit of news. I'm now on the DT for the Paper Temptress (fabulous name). I've always wanted to be a temptress of one kind or another! Its an American company oh and they also have ribbon! See two of my fetishes, er favourites! If you want to try one sheet of something then you can! So you have bits of lots of things without having huge packs which you'll never use. So that's my bit of news.

Over at Totally Gorjuss the latest challenge is up, well it was on Saturday actually but muppet brains here forgot to post on her own blog.... Anyway in celebration of Spring having sprung that's the challenge - Spring - easy peasy huh?

So this is my effort. I've used one of the fabby shaped cards from Which Crafts, the papers which are Nitwits also came from the lovely Paula.

So there you go a little Magnolia bunny! Flowers from WOC, seam binding from Creative Treasures Teeny tiny pearl dragonflies are from The Hobby House

This also fits the challenge over at Just Magnolia and hAnglar sTanglar challenge blog. They've got a bingo challenge on where you choose 3 things in a row. I opted for gems, glowers and ribbon/lace. That's a great idea for a challenge - thanks girls.

The nobbly flower 'thing' was in my stash, I've no idea where I got them from. I do know though I've only a couple left! Yipes I'll have to try and get more as I quite like them.

Now yesterday the OM was in charge of the two monkeys! He always maintains he keeps a very close eye on them and they're not allowed to get up to any mischief or get into anything they shouldn't..... Do you believe him? I certainly don't.

May I present the evidence?

That tub of fruit and nuts was sealed up very nicely! Harry, who is on the right as you look at the photo. took the lid off and helped herself! Tinker being a girl who doesn't want to miss out joined her for a snack! So they had a lovely munch and then weren't interested in a nut to go back in the cage with!

Button it!

2011-03-20T23:55:00.003Z

Howdy there peeps!

OK who stole the weekend? I mean the time flying by has nothing to do with me being out all day Saturday and Sunday has it? Well perhaps it has a teeny bit...

So busy that I forgot to post my card for Totally Gorjuss - Yipes! Anyway this week the challenge wants some buttons from you.

This is my effort - I have to say the idea that was in my head wasn't anything like how it came out....

I cut the shaped card with my Calibur (yes Linnie its out of the box!) I like the papers, I like the colours and I LOVE the image.... for some reason though I'm not keen on how it turned out though :(( I think I like my matted borders smaller for a start.

Still the Gorjussettes have made some fabby entries and if you're quick you'll still make the DT call out!

A new bag!

2011-03-14T00:01:00.002Z

Whoa get me posting again so soon!

Well you know how I've been bitten by the sewing bug? Well today as I was lolloping on the couch (again) I decided I wanted to sew 'something'.... now I'd done my homework from last week plus my purse which I showed you. Well I went and had a root through my meagre fabric stash..... I didn't fancy making more monsters. But what?

I dug a little deeper and came across this pink ribbon fabric and then the pink which was sent to me by a forum buddy (Thanks babes) and I thought BAG! I can make a bag! So I did! Now I got all clever and decided to make it reversible - get me!

So TA DAAAARRRR!

the bag....

Complete with phone pocket - to be used when this is the inside obviously ;))

And......

For if I feel the need to be more pink!

Is that grammatically correct? More pink? Pinker? Who cares its more pink!

I hope you like it - I'm a bit chuffed as I did this one with no input from anyone else!

Its the weekend!

2011-03-12T16:07:00.003Z

Yeehoo! Thanks heavens its the weekend! I have had a manic week.... so I plan to spend my time doing.... NOT A LOT! hehe Well that's the plan which has succeeded so far today. By tomorrow I might be bored though so who knows? So a day of chill-axin on the couch and catching up on all the TV I have Sky +ed. I'm currently watching Jerseylicious...it doesn't require any brain taxing whatsoever!

A bit of news too - there's a DT call out over at Totally Gorjuss!

One thing I have done this week is to make this card for our new challenge over at Totally Gorjuss Our sponsor this week is the fabulous Joanna Sheen, the wiinner will receive a £10 voucher. The challenge is to use Lace and Pearls. Well this was easy as they're two of my fav things!

So I inked up this sweet little Tilda and for a change coloured her blue! I mean orange last week now blue.... I sneaked some pink in though!

The papers are by Nikki Sivil, everything else from my stash.

And for once the glue was dry when I took the photo!

A little detail of Tilda.

My pearl pins and roses which were sprayed with Tattered Angels glimmer mist.

Oh and the arty shot!

Now the best bit! The girls - well what else?

Now both girls are potty trained, yes it can be done. But just like toddlers you get the odd accident. Now a loo roll is very handy to have around.

For some reason though both girls decided the loo roll was evil and should die!

Yup there were bits everywhere! Thank goodness for the Dyson!

WOMOWDW

2011-03-09T21:15:00.003Z

WOMOWDW? I can hear you saying what on earth is WOMOWDW??? Well its easy really... it means What's On My Other Work Desk Wednesday! See simples! The reason I say my 'other' work-desk, well not actually a work desk more a worktop to be honest. I've been bitten by the sewing bug and you've seen the state of my desk... trust me its no better than last time I showed you ;)) So my sewing work-desk is my work-top!

Anyway after my last bag (the post with no words so maybe your favourite) I'm onto my next bag. This time I've opted for a hand bag, again my usual lengthy fabric selection.... its not my fault the shop has too many nice ones in.... so anyway I adapted a pattern from a book. Get me eh adapting patterns! Anyway its basically strips of fabric which have been backed onto some calico to give it a bit of substance. I added some lace from my 'meagre' stash which I dyed to match it in better.

So.....

The part done bag! Now at the moment it doesn't look like that at all. Since then its almost finished I just need to put the handle on, so I'll show it to you then.

Now while I was on such a roll I was looking at some scraps of fabric, now you can't throw them away can you? So before I knew it I'd got them sewn onto a scrap of calico... added a zip and ta-darrrrrr

A purse!

Of course it matches my new bag perfectly!

So that's my work-top er desk - what's on yours?

Yeehar weekend!

2011-03-05T00:26:00.003Z

Howdy!

Flipping heck who stole the week again??? I mean wasn't it last week just well... yesterday? Time is certainly flying by. Me being my usual well organised self just hasn't got much to show for it! No change there then eh?

One thing I do have to show you is my card for this weeks challenge over at Totally Gorjuss This week is so easy - its a sketch! Just what I needed as my Mojo has decided to go walkabout! So if anyone sees a scruffy looking ball of fluff with a bit of glitter and ribbon on please turn it round and send him back!

So here's my card - now I NEVER EVER do orange! I've no idea where on earth that idea came from! I think it was when I chose the background paper.... a new Papermania pad that has birds on... and then this stamp had a little birdie on.... So that was it orange it was! The gingham is a Pink Petticoat download. You get loads of colours of gingham, so you always have the right one.

Now I didn't have any orange flowers.... but I did have some white ones.... so I spritzed them with a green glimmer mist.

Oooh look you can see the glimmer! I wonder if its because its still wet in the photo...

Now for something truly gorjuss! My Harry....

Now do you remember Lumpy? and his friend Olivia? well Olivia has a couple of new buddies...

So on the left is Billy-Bob and on the right is Widget!

Now when these little guys have amassed more of themselves they'll be off to London to Kids and Co. That's a charity that helps out abused children.

So pop over to TG - this week we're sponsored by Joanna Sheen, the winner receives £10 to spend in her shop ;))

Its all black and...

2011-02-26T14:19:00.004Z

Howdy there peeps!

Well its been all go here today... well I'd got my card for the Totally Gorjuss challenge all ready, well OK the glue was wet (as usual). Photos taken..... then..... well nothing. When I came to put the photos onto the computer I noticed that 'someone' had had a little chew of the camera lead! I wonder who it could be?.....

Now I won't name names. I mean that would be unfair wouldn't it? Well when said 'person' doesn't have their own blog to offer an explanation on? As I said I shan't name names... but that's not Harry in the photo! ;))

So anyway camera lead problem sorted (and now out of beaks way).

This week over at Totally Gorjuss the challenge is for black and... well I opted for black and pink. Well what else would I have chosen! This week our sponsor is Tando Creative They have the most gorgeous chipboard you could imagine! It takes paint and colour wonderfully. They have the most fantastic shapes, perfect for card making too.

So here's my entry for this week. I've used a Whoopsie-Daisy digi coloured with Copics, the Tando flourish corner was painted with acrylic paint and sprinkled with glitter while still wet. Seam binding from Creative Treasures, flowers from WOC.

Now I'll put my hand up and admit to having another image coloured and all ready to go..... then I noticed all the others colours I'd used on it! Doh me!

A wet Stickles close up!

Now this is the Tando chippie in its nekid state. I think it looks pretty good like this too!

And here in its glittered glory!

Oh and the arty shot!

So what could you do with black and? The DT have made some fabby examples and yes there's an 'and' we're joined by Di Oliver who is the clever bod who comes up with the Tando ideas. So this weeks winner will get their selves some Tando chippie of their very own!

2011-02-23T21:02:00.000Z

Winters back!

2011-02-19T15:47:00.006Z

OK now I want to know who sent us this ruddy snow??? Now I know it was only an inch or so but snow is snow ~stamps foot~ and you all know how I feel about it! You may have heard one or two moans from me about it.... ;)) Fortunately its chucking it down with rain now.... heck that's how bad it is when I prefer rain to that white stuff!

Fortunately there's something much nicer to report over at Totally Gorjuss this week. This week the challenge is for you to 'check it out', which is that we'd like to see checks on your card. As usual The Gorjussettes have come up with some stunning samples. Karina's is a real WOW! I decided to make a man card (I don't know what came over me!) So seeing as I'd put my LOTV boy stamps in 'a safe place' wherever that might be! I remembered this Ian stamp from The Greeting Farm...I've had him un-inked for months..... well I know you all know how that is.

So he got inked and then he got Copic'd. Then of course you can't use flowers really can you? So then the button hunt ensued.... a bit of cussing and faffing followed and I found the buttons. I decided to use one of my new metal corners. I decided I didn't like it in gold on this card so I coloured it with a Copic! I got mine from e-crafts, they arrived super quick and they're the cheapest I've found anywhere! The papers are from Nikki Sivil and a spot of punching a la Martha and some Bo Bunny ribbon, a few more checks with a Pink Petticoat gingham.

This card also fit the theme over at Claudia & Co who have a boy theme running this week so I've entered him in that.

A close up of the man himself!

Just in case anyone's interested the colours are;

Skin - E21, E000, E00

Jeans - B91, B93, B95 B97

Top and cap - BG95, BG97, BG99

Cap - E41, E42 E43

The dots around the image are a mix of W1, W2, W3, W5

The corner was done with BG99 - I think its given it a vintagey sort of look.

Now for the best bit! A couple of photos of the girls!

Harry, just a little fluffed as she was relaxing and making the most cute teeny tiny cheeps.

Tinker looking just like butter wouldn't melt in that beak! Do you think she looks like she's smiling? Can you see the wonky wing feather? She removed it right after this! It was a loose one ready to come out.

Now at the moment my favourite, well one of them, is in season - cherries! I love them. So do the girls! So here they are having a bit of fun in the cherry bowl! I'd put them some pieces of cherry in and they like playing with the stones! they don't have make their faces dirty though!

Love at Totally Gorjuss

2011-02-13T16:12:00.004Z

~sniff sniff~ Anyone want a cold? Please??? The OM had a cold, now he doesn't and I do! How kind of him to pass it on.... I don't think! The other amazing thing was I felt OK then sneezed solidly for about 10 minutes blew my nose a thousand times and that was it I had cold. Just like that. Up to the sneezing starting I'd felt absolutely fine....Bizarre huh? I can't ever remember having and 'instant cold' before. Shame they don't ever go as quickly isn't it? I'm hoping it doesn't go the way of my last cold so I'm trying to behave myself a bit more this time.

So (me late again) another challenge over at Totally Gorjuss, this time its LOVE, well it is that time of year again. This week we're sponsored by Crafter Companion (they've new stamps in!) Stampotique also have love as their theme too - I wonder if its a special time of year? ;)) So I've entered this over there too.

Anyway I used my fave new Tilda again. I decided to colour her in grey and add a little pink to the hearts.... then pink kind of took over.... But I like pink and grey! The background paper is a Magnolia one, now because its cut from a brand new sheet ~gasps~ there was a white border on two sides... now I could have cut it off but then I wouldn't get 4 pieces out of it... so out came the Distress Crackle paint! A quick swipe round with that and the sides are nicely evened out. Some more of that fabby Handy Hippo card (check out the colours! They're lush) for matting and borders, a squirt of glimmer mist to the flowers.....

Et Voilà!

Now if you look closely and screw your eyes up and get your nose about an inch from the screen you make out the glimmer on the flowers and butterfly.... oh hang on that's just me without my glasses on!

And here's little Tilda - I'm kind of pleased with the colours here.

And I've remembered them too!

Hair - E 50 E51 E53 E55

Skin - E0000 E000 E00 E21 R20

dress and boots - C00 C0 C1 C2 C3 C5

Hearts and hem of dress - RV00 R81 R83

Oh a touch of black prisma pencil on her dress too.

Now as some of harry's fans know she's been a poorly chickie on and off for quite a while. Now ~touches wood~ she's been much better lately. So a little clip of her having her tummy tickled while playing with the camera strap! Notice how it goes from beak to foot/hand!

Fabby eh?

Oops an accident!

2011-02-09T20:53:00.001Z

The post is an accident! I haven't had one.

I was chatting to a couple of friends on-line and I mentioned my new dress.... I popped a photo here of it and was going to delete it. Heck I didn't want to frighten anyone ;O)) Anyway a comment slipped in so I left it.

Oh and a photo of the flowers the OM sent me for my birthday - the lily has opened now and it smells beautiful!

Whoa the weekend!

2011-02-05T12:25:00.005Z

Afternoon! I almost said morning, but it feels like it to me as I've not ventured outside the house as yet! Not even had the door open ;))

Just a quickie for now with my card for a double. This week over at Totally Gorjuss its a nice easy sketch - drawn by me therefore its got to be easy! It also fits in with the new 'anything goes' challenge over at Just Magnolia and hAnglar and sTanglar challenge too. (Its not only me that gets confused where the capital letters goes it it? lol) So I inked up this sweet new Tilda - she's got her arms full of hearts! I'm quite pleased with how she turned out.

The papers are some My Minds Eye 'Quite Contrary' and I've almost none left! What will I do when they've all gone? I love them! They seem to go with so many other colours. The bright pink backing card is fantastic - that's from Handy Hippo, its lovely and smooth, sturdy without being too thick. It punched beautifully with my Martha Stewart punches too. Even with the latticed heart one which is a good test. So that gets a BIG thumbs up from me. There's some beautiful colours too - trust me you NEED some! I've sometimes used paper to matt with but I do prefer card.

So there you have it - the card, this week Totally Gorjuss is sponsored by Joanna Sheen ;)) remember you got to be in it to win it!

So a couple or three pics of some my little girlies!

Now little Tinker is still a bit too keen to get to 'see' me! Luckily Big L was on hand! She actually looks sweet with her little feet dangling! Looks can be deceptive though, little bugger wriggled out and managed a quick chomp!

After a while in 'time out' that is back in the cage she behaved herself and settled down for a good preen.

When you look at the girls wing people often thing they're 'just green'. However on the edge of their primary flight feathers, thats the biggest ones, they're actually a beautiful bluey turquoisey sort of colour.

Harry is preening, they spend ages preening! Because she's fluffed her feathers out you can see it.

Gorgeous eh?

As you like!

2011-01-30T22:06:00.003Z

Whoa!

Who stole Saturday? Oh AND Sunday? I mean one minute it was Friday and then heck its Sunday night and almost Monday! So where's it gone to? It must have been stolen because it wasn't here....in other words I've been almost totally idle and done just about nothing, oh apart from a bit of sewing.... ~snigger's~ Heck who cares?

I was so ditzy I even forgot to post my card for this weeks Totally Gorjuss, how bad am I then?
Yup I'm B A D!!!

This week I even mad it easy, its a ''as you like it' week. See said it was easy ;)) We have another fabby sponsor this week - the lush Fantastic Ribbons I mean ribbons? How can you ever have too many?

I dug out one of my Sweet Pea beauties and Copic'd her thoroughly, applied flowers and Glimmer mist and voilà!

I'm not sure what made me do her hair pink! Its a bit bright for me... I think I might secretly fancy the same!

So here's the arty shot!

And another one! You'll notice a spot of seam binding has slipped in there too. I ordered this from Tracy at Creative Treasures - I got one or two bits.... as you do! Super quick service and her postage is pennies!

So come and play Gorjuss with us!

I'd like you to meet someone and WOYWDW

2011-01-25T23:35:00.005Z

Well howdy there Bloggettes - well what a lovely day today, well yesterday was! I say that as by the time this gets published it'll be Wednesday and I'm talking about Tuesday which because I've not been to bed yet is still today.... Confused yet? I am and I'm supposed to know what I'm on about! Heck sometimes I do....it just doesn't seem to be often that's all, I'm a natural blonde remember folks.

So to start with a few pictures of my special babies! To start with my big baby girl Harry! Look at that dirty face! Yup at the moment blueberries are her FAVOURITEST fruit. She digs through the dish to find them.... and chucks what she doesn't want out! I think that's how she ends up with it on the top of her head...

At the same time Little Missy Nippy Knickers also known as Princess Tinker was enjoying treat, I was in the same room next to her and didn't get chomped.... She isn't on my knee though the Big L was sat next to me and she's on his. Yes I know she looks a sweet innocent baby....

Another one of Harry... just because I can ;))

So who's this person I want you to meet? Well you remember my little buddy Lumpy? Well Lumpy was telling me how lonely he was.... poor boy..... so I made him a little friend.

I'd like to introduce Olivia! Olivia is quite a tiny girl, I popped the Crafters International Size Gauge next to her. I think she's kind of sweet....

So here's the happy couple amid my chaos. Its a good job they aren't big.... they'd never fit on there!

Here they are having a look at an image I've coloured for an upcoming Work In Progress piece, the papers are picked but I'm not showing you them yet ;))

You remember the pic of Tinker looking like an angel? Well if you look at Harry in the foreground nice and chilled.... check Tinker out in the background!

Hey Momma you lookin' at me?!

I said you lookin' at me?!!

Yup in the last pic the little Madam had got her fluffy pants on! Which always means trouble!

I hope you enjoyed seeing my desk - this week I'll try to get to see more of yours!

Could you imagine having the hooligans on my desk? ~gasps and faints~

What I made today...

2011-01-22T19:39:00.003Z

I had a day out today - a sewing class! I'm lucky enough to have a super fabric (and wool) shop nearby. I discovered they do classes so seeing as I'd bought a sewing machine I booked myself in! I'm also doing a 6 week class as well....

So I went today and made......

TA DARRRR!!!

I'm rather chuffed with it!

Yeehar!

2011-01-15T01:00:00.002Z

Howdy there Bloggettes.

I hope you're all having a super week - ours has just got better, well earlier today.. well OK yesterday really but seeing as I haven't been to bed yet its still today to me. Confused? Heck I am and I know what I'm talking about.... well some of the time anyway! See my baby girl Harry has been poorly again! Yup another hospital stay for her. Cripes I reckon we must have shares there by now. the vet still isn't sure what the problem is.... more worry. Still she's home now and ~touches wood~ is bouncing around like anything. Now when we took her to the vets we were expecting some medicine and come home. But no she had to stay! But before we went she 'found' a clementine.... these are a big favourite. So she helped herself.

Hey I found a clementine Mum!

Mmmmmm!!! Nom nom nom....

Just get a bit more peel off and I can stick my face right in!

Do you notice the little pool of juice? She licked that off the paper!

So onto card making... though parrot photos are much nicer!

A new challenge has just gone live at Totally Gorjuss This week we're sponsored by Simon Says Stamp We, well me, want to see something cuddly on your cards.

So I had a rifle through my stamps and looked at teddies, bunnies, and things and then settled on this baby and his blanket!

I think that's cuddly don't you?

Meet Lumpy!

2011-01-10T23:28:00.003Z

Now as you may have seen in my last post I seem to have acquired the urge to sew... I mean I've managed to avoid it all these years (all 23 of them) other than the odd button or hem repair. Well this urge started with the acquisition of Flossie the sewing machine. After a while to recover I'd booked myself on a sewing course before I knew it! So I'd been there today and like a good girl I did my homework when I got home. Once I'd done I wanted to sew something else... but what? I didn't want to start on my lovely fabric in the previous post and make a pigs ear of it!

So it needed to be small..... after a scoot round I came across some felt.... so some cutting.... sewing - on my machine no less, the application of stuff and Voila! Lumpy was born!

Now if you examine this creature.... which is a 'cat of sorts' you will see he is appropriately named ;)) Now his eyes didn't come out the way I pictured them in my head... nor his ears which were meant to be pointy kitty ones... or nose are you getting the picture? I quite like his little heart though.

So Lumpy has taught me a couple or three things.... felt is not easy to turn inside out - especially tails! Little things are mighty fiddly, pins are very sharp!

So please be kind to Lumpy... he has feelings you know!

New buy!

2011-01-09T20:52:00.002Z

Now recently I bought myself a sewing machine. Now I've never had one but decided I had to have one! So I was asked by the OM if it were to remain an ornament - cheeky bugger!

So I've enrolled myself on a sewing course and while out today I acquired fabric! The plan is to make bags with it....

Now when these will happen I'm not sure..... keep checking!

First challenge!

2011-01-08T00:55:00.003Z

Howdy Bloggettes!

Well what a shock for me when I came home today... we had 2 inches of snow! I'd been out only a couple of miles away and the lucky folks there had none! How unfair is that? Luckily it seems to be going, its very cold though so everywhere will be a skating rink no doubt. Roll on summer I say!

Now I've just done the first challenge of 2011 over at Totally Gorjuss Its a nice easy sketch - I draw them so it has to be easy! This week we're sponsored by Joanna Sheen The lucky winner gets a £10 spend in her shop!

So here's the sketch, told you it was easy!

And this is what I did, its my usual last minute wet glue card! This week more so than usual..... I made a card and photographed it.... went to put it on the blog and realised I'd used the wrong sketch!!! Looking on the good side, and there usually is one, I've now got a card already done for the next sketch! Mind you by then I'll no doubt not be able to find it. A bit like the new diary I bought ages ago. I know its somewhere.... I just don't know 'where' that 'somewhere' is that's all....

So the card. I used a Whoopsi Daisy digi image and coloured her with Copics. Now Whoopsi Daisy has got a BOGOF offer on at the moment! So for a mere £1.99 you get 8 images to colour - how good is that! There's a great choice too, cute, sassy, boys, well loads to choose from.

Anyway I used some papers from GCD, a Wild Orchid Crafts hellebore, see hellebore's aren't just for Christmas! and a Doo Hickey lace border die.

So there you have it. So you have two things to do now, enter at TG and check out Whoopsi Daisy!

Stay warm and snow free folks.

Oh I'll be having some candy soon as its almost my birthday - I'll be 23.....

Happy Noo Year!

2011-01-01T22:49:00.003Z

Happy Noo Year peeps! I'd like to wish you all a super 2011 and that you all have the best year ever! Did you have a good time last night? I did, we went to a ball and it was fabulous. A masked thing..... I don't do masks myself ;)) I mean how do you wear a mask AND glasses? So seeing as I like seeing I just stuck to me specs!

Now do you recall seeing THE SHOES on my WOYWW? Well I wore them last night, and I could walk and dance in them! No blisters or anything! So here's me..... posing!..... I take an awful photo....

Now the OM says these shoes need looking after after as they were a bit pricey......

He decided to give them a quick shine before we went!

Oh and seeing as this blog is (sort of!) crafty..... I thought I'd show you the card I did for the OM's recent birthday. Now as I sat down to make this, well ahead of time.... well before he got up on the day of his actual birthday..... My mojo was very conspicuous by its absence! So a quick furtle around in my paper stash found some Graphic 24 (I think) papers and made him an easel card!

The main thing is he liked it! but then again he always does... ;))

A couple of cards

2010-12-29T17:27:00.003Z

Happy Christmas folks, well belated at any rate.... Or is it early for next year perhaps?

I do hope you've all had a lovely Christmas - mine was different as I had an unexpected 'gift'..... pneumonia! How fantastic was that then? You're right it was not in the slightest bit fantastic at all! In fact it was sodding vile, I've never coughed so much in my life. I did prove though that I possess some muscles as I pulled some in my side coughing. That made coughing rather difficult - but I'm over the worst now.

So a few photos for you today - here's my gorgeous girl Harry. I love the expression on her face! Any ideas what she's thinking? Well seeing as she was eating I had a camera in her face I'm sure you can guess!

Now a few shots of the card I made for my OM. Yes I know its got a Tilda on but she's hugging! I even cut into a sheet of Magnolia paper! I almost had palpitations, fortunately the other piece had already been cut so that wasn't so traumatic. A bit of lace and a few flowers a la WOC and it was done. Copics for colouring natch ;))

The delightful arty shot!

A close up of the flowers, these were spritzed with some Glimmer mist..... I think you can almost make the glimmer out.....especially if you squint!

Now over at the lovely Julias its WOYWW. Now the 'work', if you could call it that, can't be shared as yet. So I put these babies on there! Now I can put my hand up and say 'I love shoes' especially little babies like these, I mean who wouldn't? And yes I can walk in them. Of course I was chuffed to bits when LK Bennett opened a shop in Meadowhall!

Oh I wubs them I does....

Now seeing as I've not shown you any actual work.... I got talked into showing you the area 'loosely termed' as punch storage.... Otherwise known as the 'space on the cupboard where I pile up some punches'. Notice the use of the word 'some' ;)) That's all I'm saying!

Pop over to Julias and check out the real desks, who know you might see some actual work!

~cough cough~

2010-12-23T21:10:00.005Z

~cough cough cough~ I'm a poorly bunny here at CM towers folks! I've got lurgy pretty bad! Well before I get onto lurgy details let me tell you about the secret I did for my OM. Well last week he had his birthday.... I planned him a secret party! Well it stayed a secret and it was fab! The keeping it secret was so hard! Especially when folks ignore invites not to phone me... or bother to answer RSVPs! But despite all that it was marvellous!

Oh now to bore you with my lurgy, as my Doc puts it I have a touch of pneumonia! Yipes how can you have a touch of bloody pneumonia? Anyway I'm armed with enough antibiotics to stop an elephant, inhalers and all sorts of malarkey I almost needed a mortgage in the chemist to pay for it. When I croaked 'what?????' the assistant very kindly repeated the amount loudly as she thought I hadn't heard her. I had I was just in a state of bloody shock! When she handed me my sack of drugs several people stepped back as if I was going to give them what I obviously had bad as proved by the sack of expensive medication I had. I'm now waiting for them to kick in....

So enough of my moaning....

While I was blog shopping the other day I came across a blog with a really cute gift holder made from a paper bag. Now me being me I can't remember who's blog it was! Sorry! (natural blonde remember)

So anyway I got a sudden flash of mojo-itis! and I HAD to make one! I knew I had some bags..... well when I eventually found it (turns out I only had one left!) So anyways I dug through my Magnolia papers and stamps and off I went....

So this is the front

After its folded in half this is the middle section

On the right is a pocket where you put your gift - ideally something flattish!

This is the card that slides into the pocket, I attached the gift to the back with DST

I even decorated the back of the bag too!

Now it looks quite a bit but I only had to cut two pieces of 12 x 12 paper, and there's scraps left over too. Naturally I did the colouring with my trusty Copics. Obviously I added a spot of lace, ribbon, die cuts just because I could ;)) I actually rather liked it.... I hope the recipient does and if Royal Mail have done their stuff it should be there!

Over a 7kids college fund challenge blog its 'anything goes' so I think this nicely fits into that one. makes a change for to be able to enter a challenge just for the sake of it ;))

Now a couple of gratuitous chickie pics!

Here's that naughty little monkey Missy Tinker.

Who'd have thought that sweet little baby would chomp a lump out of Mummy's arm first chance she got?

Now I filled their water dish up.... the jusg obviously evoked a lot of attention and needed to be thoroughly investigated!

So ~cough cough~ stay warm folks!

We want snow!

2010-12-11T00:59:00.003Z

Howdy Bloggettes!

Now let me just explain the title of this post. Yes we do want snow but ONLY over at Totally Gorjuss where I've just done a new challenge. A touch seasonal and topical I suppose ;)) We want snow on your cards. Easy huh? Now you know I set them so they're bound to be easy! I mean if I do complicated ones I couldn't do a card.... So I opted for snowy paper and a couple of snowflake buttons which I acquired in the USA. Now the choice of image.... its a Stampotique stamp. Now I know most of you will associate them with the Daniel Torrente stamps (which are fabulous) but they also do loads of other ones too! This one is part of a range by a talented young lady called Kylie Diorio. So I coloured this little cockatoo and made him into a galah. yes they are pink! A friend of mine has some parrot Christmas cards off me so these are perfect! The papers are by Papermania and this little chap has been Copic'd. I think its Santa's cookie in his beak! Well I know my naughty pair would pinch Santa's cookie if they could! They'd take the risk of him not leaving them any presents just to eat the cookie ;))

So as I've been neglecting you on the parrot photo front I thought I'd treat you to a few! Humour me please, these are my babies!

Now this is Little Tinker, she's having a really close look at Dan's pocket for some reason! I think she was planning to bite the button off if she got the chance! And yes she would!

Harry giving the camera case a very close examination! She's doing a bit better now, not 100% and still having the odd poorly spell but is quite bright and eating very well, but then again caiques are little piggies ;)) As the OM said this nicely shows off her big feet.

Now my little Princess Tinker. (Now this little beast, oh yes don't let this cute little wave fool you!) For the past while all she's wanted to do is eat me! So me getting this close without bleeding is quite an achievement I can tell you. Dan is rather good at catching her mid flight ;)) The OM fair to say is rubbish at intercepting her! He just says she's a sweet baby! Trust me looks can be deceptive ;))

Tinker again. Now these are what we call 'baby wings' in other words a spot of begging! But look at her legs, that's a touch of what we call 'fluffy pants'! Caiques wear 'fluffy pants' when they're in the mood for trouble! And bless you can see her wonky toe!

So there you are my babies!

Oh don't forget Totally Gorjuss either, its sponsored by Meyer Imports this week - their glitter is LUSH!

Ice ice baby!

2010-12-04T20:57:00.003Z

Hi there Bloggettes - crikey its cold! Now we've been having the odd drip drip as a teeny tiny bit of all that snow is melting. But accompanied with the cold we've got one or two icicles. Look at these ones outside my craft room window! Yipes! They're over 2 feet long. I was going to show you a photo of the ones on the conservatory..... they're only a foot long so I didn't bother ;)) I meant they're titchy little things.

Oh most of that white stuff on the photo should be black as its the road! Its about 6" of packed solid ice. Needless to say our cars are still on the drive for now.

Now a new challenge has happened over at Totally Gorjuss. This week its a nice easy sketch, its easy because I drew it and I only do easy ;)) Oh and this week we're lucky enough to have a super duper Guest Designer, none other that the super talented Rach Jakes! She's made a fantastic card, I couldn't believe my little sketch could look that good! Just to add a cherry to the cake this week we're sponsored by Joanna Sheen. The winner gets a £10 voucher to spend in her shop. Good huh?

So this is the easy sketch....

So here's what I made. yes the glue was still wet when I took the photo! No change there then eh? I discovered if I'm quick I can do it before the embellishments fall off....

Anyway I used one of these sweet little Hanglars, coloured her with Copics, used some Basic Grey Wassail (my LAST sheet as well sob!) Flowers from Wild Orchid and a sentiment from Lili of the Valley.
And there she was done!

Pop over and have a look, the other Gorjussettes have made some beautiful cards. Oh and there's a prize remember, you got to be in it to win it!

Oh no more snow!

2010-12-01T18:18:00.005Z

Oh my! How much snow are we going to get?! I reckon now we've got almost 2 feet of the dam stuff! I almost fainted when I saw how much more had fallen overnight! Now yes it does look pretty but.... it makes everything so blooming difficult! Even our milkman couldn't make it today. Fortunately we had some in so cuppas were in order ;))

So a few more photos of my snow!

These two are at the bottom of the garden - its almost 3 foot deep there!

The mounds on the right are tree branches weighed down by snow.

More of the weighed down branches, I've knocked the snow off and hopefully the tree, which is around 7 feet tall, will recover without it having to be tied up. Its a favourite for the blackbirds to nest in.

Look at the snowy feeders!

More weighed down branches!

Now while I was out there I knocked as much snow off the trees as I could. Last year we had to cut some branches off which got broken by the weight of it. It must be heavier this year as there's tons more! I also cleared the feeders too. Now Mr Blackbird came and watched me, he didn't even wait for me to go before he came for a feed.

So for this snow I did have to get my wellies out which are longer than The New Boots. I did go out for more milk later on though and my feet were lovely and toasty warm and dry! So here are The Boots! Note those zips folks ;))

Oh while I was out poking snow off you might wonder where the OM was......

Yup here he is 'supervising' from the warmth of the house! he didn't even have the kettle on for when I'd finished either!

Oh my! BRRRRRR!!!

2010-11-30T19:01:00.003Z

Oh my BRRRRRR!!! Yup we have tons and tons of that nasty white stuff! And from what I've seen on TV so does most of the country too. I suppose compared with some parts of the country our 8" is nothing really.... Well for me though that's 8" too much! Needless to say the OM and me's cars are staying on the drive. Well no choice really I don't think they'd shift an inch! Now I had a very lucky thing yesterday, I went and bought myself a pair of waterproof boots! Yup I managed to buy them BEFORE it snowed. Usually I end up getting them after its gone ready for the next time which doesn't happen ;)) So anyway I have these dinky little fur-lined, zip fronted.... yes I said zip fronted, at which point the Big L asked me when I was getting my shopping trolley as these were clearly 'old lady' boots. Well 'old lady' boots they may be but today my feet were dry and toasty warm.

Now while I was out I took a few photos of 'my' snow - which incidentally is available for anyone who wants it.

Pyracantha buried in snow! We also have an orange berried one, now the birds have eaten all the orange ones first. I wonder if they taste different? But then again one of my neighbours has an orange berried one and the birds haven't touched it.... mine is obviously much tastier ;))

Now yes I will concede the snow looks quite pretty.... but look at it piled up on the top of my bird feeders!

A little look through the wood near us.

And another!

Now a different sort of card for me. Where's the stamped and coloured image I hear you cry? I can't hear you..... I decided to try something really different. I think it kind of works too. Plus it was really really quick and it only used scraps of paper which I'd probably have ended up binning. A little punching a la Martha Stewart and a ribbon et Voilà!

I quite like it.... but its very different from my usual cards.

Now I 'd like to thanks those of you who've been asking after my Harry. Oh she has been a poorly chickie, especially after her new medicine last week. I thought we were going to loose her! She reacted awfully to it. So that went straight in the bin! Well she's perked up a bit since then and is just being sick occasionally. So I took a little video of her getting stuck into her seeds. Oh Tinker appears and she's playing 'kill the evil bell' I'm not sure what the 'evil bell' has ever done to Tinker.... but boy does it pay for it!

So here's Harry bum in air.....

I mean how else would you eat your seeds?

Just for Just magnolia!

2010-11-23T00:10:00.003Z

Yikes Bloggettes its me - again! I know twice in one week! Now is that a good thing or a bad thing.... hmmmm.... I think I'll leave it at that ;))

Well what have I been doing? I seem to have been really really busy but there doesn't seem to be much done. I had some really good plans too. Well they seemed good in my head at any rate.

I took the OM to Costco today. he came out laughing abut not spending any money. Well seeing as he ran off at the till is a fairly easy answer to that! And he'd slipped all sorts into the trolley too.

Well I've managed to make a card specifically for a challenge! Yipes how did that happen? I can't remember the last one I did just for a challenge, well not including Totally Gorjuss that is.

Over at Just Magnolia the challenge is for white and one colour. So all of a sudden I had this peculiar feeling.... it was my mojo poking me in the ribs! I grabbed hold of him and rushed off this card.

This has to be one of my all time favourite Tildas. So I did her in various shades of grey and used some of last years papers from Craft Creations. I used loads of these in this grey and in red and green too. I used flowers from Wild Orchid, ribbon from Jo-Anns, flourishes, pins from stash (two of which I coloured black) and a doily. Oh a little Stickling too.

The arty shot ;))

And as a special treat (I hope you're sat down) another arty shot!

Oh and for extra contrast I decided to take the photo on my nice grey worktop too..... ~whistles~

Not so traditional

2010-11-19T23:51:00.004Z

Hi there Bloggettes.

Here I am again another week which seems to have vanished in the blink of an eye!

I mean come on who stole it? It doesn't seem two minutes ago that it last week and now its this week.... how did that happen? I know it seems to have past in a blur of flour, eggs and butter-cream! There's been one or two cakes made here this week!

Then there's the foul weather too. We've had a bit of everything almost. Today's has been murky in a cold damp sort of way. But the one thing I want to know is why do people drive round all the time with their bloody fog lights on??? I think I've got third degree burns on my retinas after going on the motorway tonight. I mean it was so foggy you could only see a mile or so....

Anyway enough of my whinging unless you want more?....

OK I take it by the resounding silence you don't ;))

Well a new challenge has just gone live (or whatever you call it) on Totally Gorjuss

This time its for non traditional colours. So I coloured this cute little hAnglar girlie. isn't she sweet? The papers are from the Basic Grey Jovial pad - thank goodness I bought a couple of these pads because I'm loving them lots! The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and ribbon from my small ribbon selection... By that its not a selection of small ribbons but a small selection of ribbons... I mean there's hardly any....~whistles and blushes~

Now seeing as I've used a hAnglar image I thought I'd check their challenge out - and its snowflakes. Now the little panel of paper has snowflakes on so I'm entering this in the Lovely hAnglar Only challenge (or however you exactly spell Hanglar lol)

There' are some Stickles on the flowers and here and there just as a accent.

Et voilà! The arty shot! If you look really really closely, with your nose about an inch from the screen you might just make out the Stickles!

Oh this week the challenge is sponsored by Crafters Companion - as they say you got to be in it to win it!

All traditional

2010-11-13T01:31:00.003Z

Hiya Bloggettes!

Windy enough for you? Its been blowing a Hooley here! Well frankly I have no idea who this windy Hooley is but flipping heck I pity him with wind like we've had! Last night I was woken up by banging which was the bin being blown against the fence. I did elbow the OM to inform him... actually I was rather hoping he'd go out and move it... While I'm not exactly sure what he grunted at me I think the long and short of was that no he wasn't going outside in the freezing cold, wind and rain to move the bin! Fortunately the wind blew harder and blew the bin further down the garden and I was able to drop back off to sleep. Other wise I would have to go and move the thing. I did leave it this morning for him to pick all the rubbish up...

Now can I have a few good thoughts for my girl Harry? Poor little chickie has a poorly tummy again. We've done the vets again (I reckon we're well up on shares in the place now) and fingers crossed we can get her sorted. It seems though that she gets over one bout of sickness and another is waiting for her almost straight away :(( Poor baby.

Now there's a new challenge over at Totally Gorjuss It a nice easy one too, well they're all easy because I set them and you know my hair colour right? This week its a Christmas theme in traditional colours.

Ta daaahhh!

Is'nt this little bear sweet? He's a Lili of the Valley cutie. Coloured of course with my Copics. The papers are Basic Grey 'Jovial' I LOVE LOVE LOVE these. The poinsettias are by Prima and the spacers are from my stash.

All in all this was a quick (ish) little card to put together.

We 've had quite a few challenges lately over at TG which have been Christmas themed so I'm actually ahead with my cards! That is a first!.

A first!

2010-11-08T14:11:00.003Z

Brrrr!!! Oh its manky! Absolutely, totally and utterly M A N K Y!!! Its raining, windy, freezing and nearly dark already! AWFUL! Oh I've got the heating on and its still not that warm.... one second..... ahhh! Should be better very soon, I've just turned it up!

Now you may have wondered at my choice of title.... if not why? ;))

Well I got a card order and the conversation went something like this;

'Can you do me a birthday card please?'

'Yes when and who for?'

'Oh its a girl I work with, its in two weeks' ~giggle giggle~

'Why are you laughing???'

~cackle cackle~

I'd now got that odd feeling....

'Well can you include something along one of her hobbies?' 'guffaw guffaw' (what a super under used word!)

'Er.... it depends what it is...'

'Oh it'll be easy for you' ~more cackling~

'Come on then what's the hobby?'

'It's pole dancing'

~thud~ That was my jaw hitting the floor!

Anyway after a bit of brain teasing and the loan of this fab stamp from my buddy Debbie This is what I made.

Taaa Dahhhhh!

I have to say I rather like her ;)) She did have a frou -frou skirt on. I cut that off as I thought a leotard look was more appropriate for pole dancing. I mean you couldn't pole dance in a big frou-frou could you? It'd cover your head when you went upside down! Which if I were doing it would only be a good thing! Hang on though that would mean my backside was showing though... I digress and I apologise for any nasty images the thought of me pole dancing has given you!

So she's been popped on a nestie and coloured with Copics, flowers a la Wild Orchid Crafts, a few blobs of Stickles, ribbon, lace, punching and pins and she was done.

Oh the arty shot for you fans out there.... there must be one surely?

Can I have a few good wishes for my Harry please? Little chickie is a bit poorly - again! I swear she wants me white haired and bankrupt.

Right off to turn that heating up a bit more I think!

Over at Totally Gorjuss...

2010-11-06T01:18:00.004Z

Yoohoo! How long till summer? I hope its not long because I'm fed up of these dark nights already! I HATE them! Something I've got in common with my dear old Mum. They're horrible, all dark and manky and just cold and depressing. So please let us have a summer!

Right enough whinging from me.... unless you want a bit more? Sure? I can do whinging really well... Oh for any none Yorkshire types let me explain what whinging is... its sort of a cross between whining and moaning...

Now a new challenge has just gone live over at Totally Gorjuss This week is an easy little sketch, its easy because I drew it and I can only do easy ;)) Blonde here remember? This week at TG we're honoured with a guest Gorjussette. None other than the lovely Kim Piggott She has made a beautiful card! I had to check it was my sketch its so lovely! (Oh it is by the way ;))

So here's the sketch...

Told you it was easy didn't I?

This is what I did. A cute as a nut Lili of the Valley bear. Isn't he sweet? The papers are Basic Grey 'Jovial', flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts, ribbon from Micheals ($1 a roll bargain), sentiment from Tim Holtz. Oh the bears been Copic'd and a spot of Stickles here and there. I decided to opt for traditional Christmas colours, deep reds with a touch of green So this also fits nicely into this weeks challenge at Wild Orchid Crafts Challenge which is for traditional colours, sorted there then.

Now this week the challenge over at TG is sponsored by Joanna Sheen, the lucky winner will receive a £10 spend in her shop - oh and its free p and p too. So well worth it.

Now a little confession ~sniggers~ I made my card photographed it, put it on the challenge blog..... looked at all the other cards and the sketch.... then the penny dropped.... I'd only used the wrong blinking sketch! I could have laughed.... well it I wasn't clenching my teeth and screaming I could have. Still seeing as the sketch is easy it didn't take me long to make another card. The joy of having some images ready coloured ;))

Whoopsi-Daisy blog hop

2010-10-31T01:20:00.005+01:00

I'd like to welcome you to the first ever Whoopsidaisy blog hop! We've decided to hold a blog hop to celebrate our return to weekly challenges!

If you've arrived here from the Whoopsi-Daisy blog you're in the right place! As you visit the DT blogs you will be in for a treat! Not only do you get to see the lovely sparkly creations but if you leave a comment you will enter a draw and may the sheet of digis that they've used to create the card they're showing. How cool is that? In addition each one will give you a letter. Now you need to save those letters as they make a phrase. After you've been to all the places on the hop you lastly end up back at Whoopsi-Daisy. Leave a comment that you've completed the hop but DO NOT write the phrase in your comments people ;)) Linnie will do a draw and pick a winner, they email her and they get their choice of 4 sheets of digis. So its a win win situation. Fab huh?

My letter is I

So here is what I've made. Now this little cutie has been made using one of the recent releases - isn't she pretty? She has been coloured with my trusty Copics (what else?)

For extra sparkle I went round the edge of the card with Stickles and did the flowers too.

My arty shot for all you fans ;))

Net - that's me!

So here is a list of all the hop stops - ooo I like that I must remember if for future hops!

Nataliya

Sande

Lilac Anglia

Cec

Rleen

Hippeaud

Linnie

Emma & Susan

Wanda

Sassy Lassy

Heike

Betty

So what are you still doing here? You should be hopping along to Nataliyas!

Sparkle and spiders!

2010-10-22T23:59:00.005+01:00

Howdy there Bloggettes, gosh its cold! I think that winter is most definitely well on its way! I've got my fingers crossed that none of that horrid white stuff is coming though. Roll on summer I say. Mind you I'm still waiting for this years summer! Somehow I don't rate the chance of that happening too high..... well a girl can dream can't see?

Well I thought I'd wet your whistles with a couple of cakey pictures this week. As you know (if you don't where have you been?) that its Halloween next week so I made a few Halloween cupcakes. Now check out the spiders! ;)) Don't worry they're chocolate so nice spiders with rather big eyes! the OM thought they were crabs! As I pointed out crabs have 6 legs and these clearly have 8.... men huh?

Now these ones have the most fantastic sprinkles! They're bones! Aren't they super? These came back with me from my recent holiday to America. Why can't we get them easily over here? If anyone sees any fun sprinkles please let me know!

Now while I was blog hopping I came across the Sweet Stampin Challenge. This week it was 'anything but a card'..... now these definitely aren't a card!

Now onto non edible treats!

A new challenge has just launched over at Totally Gorjuss This week we want to see some sparkle on your card. And its sponsored by Crafters Companion too, the winner gets a £10 spend in their on-line store.

So this little chap is a Magnolia snowman from last year. I think he's one of my favourites and super easy to colour, oh and super quick too.

Now he's had some Stickles on his snowflake which strangely enough doesn't show too well even with my class act photography..... You can see the Stickles round the edge though! And more surprisingly it was dry! Yes I think that's a first for me photographing a dry card.

This little guy with his die cut borders also fits in a new (to me) challenge blog I came across called Mark's Finest Papers, so I entered him in that too.

Oh and for a treat an arty shot!

Now I decided to take these in the conservatory..... I still had to contort myself into some bizarre stances. Trouble is this time the neighbours could see me! They probably thought I was doing some bizarre exercises or that I was waiting for the men in white coats to call....

Happy birthday Totally Gorjuss!

2010-10-16T17:51:00.003+01:00

Yay!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOTALLY GORJUSS!!!

Yes peeps believe it or not Totally Gorjuss is one year old! We've had a whole entire year of challenges! Wow! How on earth did that happen? I mean where has that last year gone to? Surely its only a few months since it began?.... Well seeing as its challenge 52 and there's been one a week.... well that's a year then. Flippin' heck! They do say time flies when you're having fun, and its certainly fun.

Now the first ever challenge we had was pink, so it seems right and proper that pink be revisited in honour of our birthday. So we wanna see tons of pink!

So in honour of this I made a birthday card, with one of my favouritest Magnolias - isn't she cute?
Naturally she has been coloured with Copics, E0000, E000, E00, E01, E53, E47, E59, RV000, RV00, RV02, RV10, BG11, BG13, Woo, W1 and W3 (no faint I remembered) papers from GCD, flowers from Wild Orchid and punching a la Martha, oh and a few swipes of Stickles.

Oh my arty shot ;)) You can just about make out the Stickles..... and yes they were wet when I took the photo. No change there then ;))

Oh to celebrate TG's birthday this week we're sponsored by Lili of the Valley and for every 50 entrants I'm going to add a prize to the winners pot. So the more the merrier.

Oh and there's more! There's a DT call out for a Guest Gorjussette - wanna come and play with the Gorjussettes? email me at totallygorjuss@gmail.com

Hey its Wednesday!

2010-10-13T00:09:00.002+01:00

Er now the ones of you who saw my previous post of my holiday stash haul might have noticed where I called it 'some of'.... well I just popped these little babies on my desk!

In my defence Jo-Ann's had 40% off.... like it would have made a difference if they hadn't ;)) I only wish I'd had more room in the cases. The OM said if I hadn't bought so much other stuff it would have been OK I could have got more hardware. Personally though I'm sure if hadn't bought that half a dozen shirts in Izod I could have got way more stuff in.....

~waves~

2010-10-10T19:18:00.004+01:00

Howdy Bloggettes!

Here I am back from me 'olidays. Lucky ol me has been to the beautiful sunny climes of Flo-Rida! Oh my it was F A B U L O U S!!! We had a week at the superb Clearwater Beach (we stay right on the beach!), then we go off to Kissimmee for a week. We rent a villa on a lake up there. This year we had a resident alligator! We called him Gary ;)) What with him and the turtles, ducks, ibises, egrets, herons, grackles etc we had a resident menagerie going.

Well anyway..... seeing as we were in America which is after all the craft shopping capital of the world it would have been rude not to indulge a teeny tiny bit of stash acquisition.... Wouldn't it?

Anyway I'd tried showing these somewhere else but that didn't work so I decided to blog them ;))

So in its entirety (almost). May I introduce The Stash! Da daaaahhhhhh!

See I said it was hardly anything didn't I? I mean you should have seen the stuff I could have had!

Now in one shop I went in called Posh Scraps in Palm Harbor, run by a lovely English lady, she had a new range of stamps. These are some of them - now I have no idea what to do with these at the moment! But they appealed.....

Oh and these ones had the same effect! So they leapt into my basket too, you know how it is don't you?

Oh and then I saw these babies in another shop! They're by the T!mster himself. I just think they're totally lush.

Oh and then.... while I was still swooning I spotted these little babies! As well as a couple of new Glimmer Mist colours for Christmas I spotted the new ones they do. They're chalky with a slight shimmer to them. Trust me they're fantastic and you DO need them.

So like I said hardly anything.....

Tinny tin tin!

2010-09-20T21:25:00.003+01:00

Howdy Bloggettes!

Me again ;)) I know in pretty quick succession to my last post - how did that happen?

I mean have I got organised all of a sudden or something? Nah like that is so NOT going to happen.

So when I was in Vegas ;)) I happened to find a little cigar tin, it was clean! So for some reason I picked it up with a little seed of an idea in my mind.... like they do you know?

So I decided to titivate or as the term is these days 'alter' it. Heck its still titivating in my book lol

So I decided to do it as a kiss in a tin for my OM - aren't I getting soppy! In my defence I have just had a new set of golf clubs....

So here's the lid.

Magnolia heart stamp which has been Copic'd and Glamour dusted, a little strip of lace and a few pearls.

The inside.... ~blushes~

The sentiment on the inner lid with just a touch of lace.

The 'bottom' of the lid with a Tilda and a few roses.

So there you have 'the' tin. The OM really liked it though ;)) I hope you do too.

I suppose you could adapt it for all sorts of soppy/sentimental things.

Oh no they're back!

2010-09-18T01:11:00.004+01:00

Howdy Bloggettes!

Well you'll never believe this! Its only happened again those wretched aliens have struck again! I mean three times now who'd believe it....

OK so really I've been away for a few days, yup I've been to Vegas with the girls! Erm that's Skeg-Vegas actually ;)) To the uninitiated among you its other name is Skegness. We had a few days golfing. It was fab! We didn't get too wet either which is always a bonus.

Now while I was there I decided to visit the National Parrot Zoo cum sanctuary. Now I've read lots of things about this place. Not all of them good I have to say. However on the other hand where and what would have happened to all these birds if they hadn't took them? There is much controversy that they charge people to go in and see them, yes I agree they should charge something. I know from first hand experience parrots are not a cheap pet! I just found it quite sad that at one time these birds had spent time in peoples homes and now here they were in aviaries full of other birds. Plus the part of the country they're in gets mighty cold in winter.... some of them aren't fully clothed with feathers either :(( Then they said they don't take all of those ones in in the winter either. They do sell peanuts in shells for visitors to feed them. Now I don't give these to my girls because of the risk of fungal spores. Instead I took a couple of kilos of grapes!

So a few photos

This is one of the aviaries containing African Greys. Lots of these were coming and saying things like 'hello baby', it was actaully quite upsetting, but they all loved a grape. I wish I'd taken more.

Now look at this little guy without his feathers on! He should really be inside. The staff tell people that if your parrot plucks it will stop when it moves into a flock situation. Well sorry but I don't believe it as there's lots there which are plucked.

There was a couple of aviaries full of cockatoos. Now this little darling really really wanted a grape. He couldn't eat one though as he has a metal ring stuck on his beak! A rusty old thing it looks too, the staff had no idea until I told them. I also told the owner Steve Nichols - I intend to phone and see if its been removed. Poor chickie

So if you're passing and you call please don't buy the peanuts, take grapes instead! As many as you can the birds love them and they're much better for them. If you see something not right - tell the staff!

Phew!

Now a new challenge has just launched over at Totally Gorjuss This week we want to see something wild! And what's wilder than a bear? OK so this specimen is a particularly cute teddy bear but hey its a bear! And bears are wild.... Oh this week its sponsored by Crafters Companion.

So this little beastie has been Copic'd and the lush Wild Orchid Crafts gardenias have been given the sparkle treatment.

A little close up to show the hint of a sparkle on the flowers. I'm pretty pleased with my bow too! I'm getting pretty good at them now..... I only had to tie it about 20 times.....

Oh my its like buses!

2010-09-04T00:34:00.004+01:00

Howdy there bloggettes!

You know how we, well in the UK at any rate, say that things are like buses? You know you wait ages and then three come along at once? Well that's like this blog post! It seems to have been ages (again) since I posted and here I am with three, yes three cards all at once!

I thought I'd treat you.... but is treat the right word though?

So I'll dive right in, on second thoughts no! I can remember a very painful belly flop...

Over at Totally Gorjuss a new challenge has just been launched, I make it sound like a rocket! Anyways the theme this week is a sketch, super easy peasy as its one of mine. I only do easy You all know I take being technically challenged to whole new levels. As usual lately I've used a Lili of the Valley stamp. I just love them! They're so cute and super easy to colour.

This little sweetie is getting her Christmas ready! Papers are some of last years MME ones. Talking of tree trimming I noticed a house near me still has all its Christmas lights on it. Pretty bizarre huh?

Right the next er... treat is this funky Momma! She is one of the fabulous Rock Squad available from Kenny K.

Now lastly a little Tilda! I dug her out the other day and applied Copics (natch), a few holly leaves and I repeat stamped a Magnolia greeting. The pink frame is from Which Crafts and is called a 'frame it'. I think Tilda looks sweet sat in the corner. I think the frame needs a little 'something'.... just not sure what exactly. I did think of a snowflake stamp.... but I couldn't find it! Those of you who saw my desk on WOYWDW will understand what I mean ;))

I rather like the layered effect though. This is one of my fave Tildas too. I think the later ones are much nicer than the earlier ones. I always thought they looked a bit like hippos!

Now I've entered this in the challenge over at Just Magnolia where the theme is 'Anything goes'

The DT have done cards with a 'cracked glass' technique. Now there's a few funny stories on there about what they've been up to. I'll add mine! Many years ago I was trying this out and had just done my last layer of embossing. I picked the image up without thinking that it might be hot! I dropped it, very quickly. I then learnt a few things;

1. Like toast it will land sticky side down

2. It stays very hot for a good while

3. Don't do this while you're wearing shorts

4. It will take your skin off!

Yes the hot thing landed on my bare thigh! Burnt a big square on it and nicely removed the top layer of skin.... it was stuck to! But on a good point further embossing removes skin debris! Thinking about it I've not tried it since then. I can't think why.... Oh it was a week before we went on holiday too.

Have a fabby weekend - I hope I've not bored you to bits!