The Crafting Drought is Over! Yippee!

Inspiration struck prompted byVirginia who suggested watches for a masculine card. It just so happens that yesterday whilst at AMOM I'd bought some 7 Gypsies "Paddington" paper and a Hero Arts Cling stamp called "Timely Bird".Lucky or what?
Some matting and layering plus heat embossing resulted in this card for my brother:

The watch stamp was a freebie from Craft Stamper and the ribbon was the handle on a Sainsbury's pannetone.

Here is the card I made earlier in the week for my SIL (forgot I'd taken a photo of it! doh!). The stamp is a Clarity stamp and the papers etc are from my stash. Same techniques as I'm having fun with heat embossing at the moment.

The sentiment ,"Happy Birthday", is printed on the ribbon.



And now to the Collage Course.
Class 1 was to use a background as a foreground and add only one or two other elements.
This is the first one I came up with using an illustration from the remains of a book that I found at Dad's on the Franco-Prussian War (yes, I did only find the remains - weird):

This second one I did for fun (as I'm not sure it fits the criteria) using an illustration from a book bought on ebay:

I just really liked the picture.

Since I'm on a roll, Max will be having a power walk and then I'm planning on doing a challenge LO before the football.

Hope you're all having a great weekend.

Rocking My World Friday

Sadly no crafty stuff to show you - have hit a block as I've been concentrating on cards this week (I'm beginning to hate them!lol) and just can't come up with a masculine card for my brother (any suggestions gratefully received).


So...onto my gratefuls this week. As usual in no particular order, they are:

FEDEX for bringing me a parcel from Club Scrap (on Monday @ 08:45 when it had only been sent out on Friday) and for not charging me extra taxes - yay! This is unlike Royal Mail who have clobbered me four times in the last week .( Better lay off the USA online shopping for a while).

Amazon for their continuing recommendations for my Kindle. I can honestly say that I would never have read most of the books if they hadn't brought them to my attention. My mind has boggled, I've laughed and giggled and realised that I'm not as worldly as I thought (and I still think some of the things I've read are physically impossible! I obviously don't get out enough). They've also just delivered a large Moleskine notebook so I can start my collage course. :)

Waitrose and Delia Smith for the Cheese,potato and leek souffle recipe and the handy placing of all ingredients together. This was the first souffle I've ever made and it was wonderful - it didn't sink either.  Going to try chocolate next.

OMG I'm sooooo easily pleased these days. lol!

Dimitar Berbatov (and the rest of the team) for two matches that had me on the edge of my seat. Admittedly it was so I could swear at the TV during the first half on Tuesday, but all was well in the end.

Friends both in real life and online. Pat and I went up to A Maze of Memories for an hour this afternoon. Not to crop but just for coffee and a look round the shop...well, I say look, there was a certain amount of purchasing done too. She also lent me a book called "The Postmistress". Virginia recommended a new author for me to try which I'm looking forward to (and I will send you the best titles from my Amazon reading - I promise you'll know more about shapeshifters than you ever wanted to!lol)

OH for only complaining mildly at the lack of meat on the night we had the souffle (there was salad) and for generally putting up with me and my crafting and my lack of housewifely skills (apart from cooking).

Hope you've all had a good week.

Four Down,Four to Go.

Made this LO yesterday evening for a Sketchy Saturday challenge on WeScrap - I'm now halfway throught this month's challenges to date.

I used Sassafrass Lass papers, alpha,felties, flowers and journalling card - "Cherry Delicious" and "Vintage Yummy"

The photos are of my mother in the 1930's and the journalling is about how that decade formed her character and personality.

Rocking My World Friday

Where did that week go?
If all had gone to plan I would have been writing this tonight after a day shopping in Bristol and a meal out with DS and his girlfriend - alas the best laid plans etc... David's meeting was cancelled and rearranged for next Thursday. Shouldn't be a problem? Hah! My friend Audrey, who looks after Max when we're out all day, will be in Tenerife (hopefully soaking up some sun with Val, another friend) and Pat who may be able to do it is currently in Lanzarote.

But enough of the whining.. this is a positive look back on the week. My gratefuls this week are varied.

Still in love with my Kindle,still reading trashy novels (all I've felt like to be honest) although I have just re-read "The 39 Steps". Interesting -   it suddenly hit me how times and attitudes have changed. I must have read this book 5 or 6 times now and I'd never really noticed before. It wouldn't be published today but it's still a damn good adventure story. On film my favourite is the Robert Donat version followed by Robert Powell(can't stand the Kenneth More version).

Not a lot on TV this week so I've been very grateful for my crafting space (aka the dining room).
The fruits of my labours have been shown in previous posts but I'll share a Christmas LO that hasn't been seen at the end of this post.

Definitely grateful to Royal Mail for having the sense (finally!) to do something about the parcel backlog. Couldn't believe it when a post van turned up on SUNDAY with four of my parcels - Yay! Another one appeared on Tuesday so now I'm just waiting for bits and pieces from USA.

Grateful to my hairdresser who sorted me out yesterday - my hair has shape again and I had a wonderful head massage too. Bliss!

Especially grateful to my cyber buddies Maria and Joanna. Maria sent me a beautiful Christmas ATC - now safely stored in my folder.
Joanna offered me positive comments and some words of wisdom and introduced me to the Green Paper Collage Club. I've joined up for the year and am excited about starting something new. Hugs to both of you!

As always I'm grateful to David and Max for their company and for making me laugh.

This LO "Anatomy of a Cake" was done for fun (and my Christmas album) using Basic Grey "Wassail" papers,alpha and embellies. Sugar and Spice was in my stash. The recipe is tucked in behind the photos.

I hope all you fellow Rockettes and browsers have had a good week too.

And Another One Bites the Dust (Challenge that is!)

This LO is for another challenge on WeScrap. It was set by Ally who did a wonderful LO with the title "Be Mine" and challenged us to do the same.
I used:
Bazzill cardstock
Paper,brads,embellies,title and rub-ons are all Basic Grey "Marjolaine". Buttons and ribbons from stash.
Martha Stewart corner punch
I adapted the sketch from a 2009 Australian scrap mag. that I managed to get hold of recently- I combined one of their sketches and an advert in the same mag.
Photo is Panda. As you can see he's been well loved - he's very threadbare. He's only two months younger than me as he was a present for my first Christmas. For the past 30 years he's been keeping watch on my old bedroom and has welcomed me back when I visited. He's now with us in Thame and bossing the other cuddly toys around. :)

2 in 1

This LO has been done for two challenges - the Scrap Club Challenge for A Maze of Memories (we had to use the same sketch with very different papers) and the You Make Me Smile Challenge, set by Tara on WeScrap.
I used My Mind's Eye "Breaking Free" papers and embellies.
The stitching was done using a Bazill InStitchz template and stonewash thread.
The sub-title (You are my sunshine) was made using an American Crafts stamp and is mounted on foam dots for depth.

The photo is of DS at an 80's theme party. The jacket is vintage 80's silk and belongs to OH. To me the 80's is not vintage (vintage means Victorian/1920's/1930's) but according to ebay the 80's/70's/60's are now vintage.
Does that make me vintage too?

Rocking My World Friday

Friday again (where did that week go?) so hello my fellow Rockettes.

So what  have I been grateful for this weeK?

Firstly, time in the house on my own (apart from Max - but more of him later).
It was lovely to eat when I wanted, to craft without interruption and generally just please myself. David has been up in Edinburgh for three days - as we speak he is driving back down (last heard from 40 miles north of Birmingham).
I shall be pleased to see him.
Max for keeping me company and making me smile.
Kindle for letting me read cheap (and, I must admit, trashy novels!) at a click of my mouse. Haven't dared take it into the bath yet - that's where I do a lot of my reading - as some of you may remember I did actually drop a paperback into the water one day last year. Don't think insurance would cover me somehow.
The good news that David's job is safe as his company undergoes yet another "restructuring" - I think that's corporate speak for redundancies.
Strong coffee that helps me face the day - although the cup I've got now is a little too strong even for me (the packet was almost empty so I just tossed it all into my cafetiere for one - big mistake).
A Maze of Memories where Diane and I were at Scrap Club last Saturday morning (LO is in a previous post). We stayed to crop in the afternoon and I'll show you the results at the end of this post. Poor Pat was supposed to be with us but unfortunately is suffering her second bout of a nasty flu like bug. Get better soon partner in crime - I've had to take over crafty sales ordering on her behalf as well as my own - it's a hard job but someone's got to do it.
And that,as they say,is that for this week.

This double LO is for my little brother and was made using his old school photos. For some reason when we were at primary school the photos used to be taken just before Christmas and they would always be in a folder with a Christmas picture on it - I know ours were often sent out to relatives with the Christmas cards. I used papers by Bo Bunny (Winter Joy)  from the WeScrap December kit. Buttons and grommets/gromlets were from stash.

Tag Challenge 2011

I  made this tag for  January  (theme: Valentines) for the Tag Challenge 2011 being run by Helen aka Rumtruffle on her blog.

The tag is from the American Tag Company and is coloured using various TH distress inks - barn door, tattered rose,spun sugar. The metal heart and swivel clasp are also by TH and I also used his Heart and Wings Sizzix die. All other bits and pieces came from my stash.

Letter To Me

This LO was made at Scrap Club yesterday using a kit  and sketch provided by Christina. All the kits were different so we all had very different LOs by the end of the session. We also had to use stitching and make some flower embellies using stamps and patterned paper. The other 2 flowers are by Bo Bunny and Prima.

The LO is for a challenge on WeScrap where we were asked to write a letter to our younger self, with the benefit of hindsight. My letter is on a tag,hidden behind the photo.
Here is the text:

Dear Me,
Here you are in 1965 on holiday in Blackpool. You have just left Primary School and are about to start Secondary School. You will do well at Secondary School and will achieve the dream of being the first person in the family to go to University. You will not study your first love,History, as planned, but will choose French instead. You start travelling in 1969 and fall in love with France. French Literature and being paid to spend a year in France will change your long term plans.

You will continue to travel, in Europe and California, but always during school holidays as you follow Dad into teaching.

You will wait a long time to meet your future husband (you get married the day before your 28th birthday) and  even longer to have your only child (age 35).You will move away from your family which will cause some heartache, especially when Mum dies, before her time, at the age of 71.

You will have problems and regrets but know that your husband and son support you through difficult times.

As I write you are still not reconciled to losing Dad but at least you were with him at the end, holding his hand.

This has been a difficult letter to write as the only changes I would make, with hindsight, would lead to you not meeting your husband and all that follows.

A BLOG AWARD! (or better late than never!)

Hi all! I've just found out that the lovely Val  gave me this award in December (sorry for taking so long Val!).

The rules are that I must list eight things about myself and pass the award on to four other bloggers.

So....here goes:

1.I spent my year in France in Le Mans and went to the 24 Hour race (in the press box no less!).
2. I was taken to see the inner workings of the lifts on the Eiffel Tower while on a "romantic" visit to Paris (thanks OH!) and still have the postcard to prove it.
3. I used to be an examiner for the NEAB G.C.S.E. in French.
4. Touch wood I have never broken a bone in my body.
5. I was "conned" into going on the Space Mountain ride @Disney World - DS said the best thing about the ride was hearing me scream (I don't "do" roller coasters).
6. As children my brother and I were only allowed a tortoise as a pet. We both now have dogs.
7. I was a bridesmaid three times (2 cousins and my little brother).
8. My A level English teacher said that I was the best producer of red herrings he'd ever met.

And now I would like to pass this award to (in no particular order):

Joanna

Virginia

Janet

Jacquelin

Do visit their blogs - they are all inspirational crafters.

Happy New Year!

Would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year - may all your wishes for 2011 come true.
I know I should have posted this yesterday but I got a little distracted.

Two football matches to watch - both United and Arsenal were on TV and they both won so the family is happy. My SIL is very happy as Liverpool managed to win too.

My Kindle - I'm in love with this gadget and keep sitting down for a quick read..2 hours later I've read a whole book. Admittedly I'm reading very light stuff at the moment (and Christmassy light stuff at that) but I found some M&B books on Amazon for only £1 (or free!). Back to normal next week with murder and mayhem and some classics - mainly John Buchan.

Scrapbooking - yes, I managed some "me" time in my craft area. I made a LO for a scraplift challenge on WeScrap.
I actually used (oh the pain!) some of my Tim Holtz goodies - paper,tape,ribbon and star.
The rest was from my stash: the jewel tree is a fridge magnet,the wooden heart is a tree decoration, the silver and red embellie was the bow on a Christmas present from my SIL & brother, the other flowers were bought from ebay at least two years ago and the bingo number is from a very old  Lotto game that I found at Dad's.
Pictures are of Max wearing his Christmas bandanna - he doesn't mind wearing it but DS refused to take him out with it!

Hope you're all enjoying the first weekend of the year.
Hugs and sparkles.xx