And now for something completely different...

Many, many apologies for the long gap between posts and my failure to keep up to date with your blogs....I have been reading some posts but haven't always commented.

The past few weeks have been difficult for me. The two funerals in four days really knocked me for six and brought back lots of memories...not all of them positive ones.

I've not really done any crafting either...I finished some image transfers on canvas and made one tag.......no cards, no LOs.....nada......nuls points as they'd say on Eurovision.....my mojo has deserted me and I've felt too unsettled to look for it...or wrangle it into submission.

I can't actually show the canvases......they'll soon be winging their way to various points in the UK and Europe.

What I can show you is the last LO I made...and this is where the "different" comes in......I deviated (and you know how I like to deviate!) from 12 x 12 and used 8.5 x 11.......and made it look like a magazine cover by printing an acetate overlay......some of you have already seen this as I'm not convinced I like it....anywho....here it is:

  And I can now show you the word book I made for Carmen and baby Logan.

Bubba had the very good sense to prove me right and was born on 25th October...my birthday!

Front and back view only but I didn't want to bore you with lots of photos.

What else have I been up to??

Testing recipes for Christmas with a couple more to be tried next week......salmon en croute and passion fruit glazed gammon.....both are low fat.....the salmon uses filo pastry.....bought filo pastry which is a good thing as I can't make pastry...too heavy handed.......:(

Man Utd are back on top of the Premier League.....yay!!!

And a very unsettling thing has occurred...after 5/10 weeks of the Sky Clubhouse competition I'm in first place (along with 28 other people) as I've correctly predicted the results of five matches....including the draws.....this is seriously spooky,  as those of you who've been following the blog for a few years will remember the last World Cup when I had to apologise to various teams for supporting them as they ALL without fail lost....this is my special talent...making teams lose and I don't know what's gone wrong!!

I've met my latest great-nephew....he's gorgeous and chubby....:)
Despite the fact that he is the third grandchild for my younger brother.....I still maintain that I am much too young to be a grandma......keep telling the boy that there's lots of time yet.......:) I'm in no hurry...

Quiz results have not been brilliant but fingers crossed for tonight.

I've changed my radio listening from Smooth 70's  (made me search for my Moody Blues CD and also re-discover my love of disco...second only to heavy metal) to Smooth Christmas which is currently driving me nuts...I don't think it's going to last.....if it does I'll be brain dead well before Christmas.....or I'll be hunting down Wham! and it will be their last Christmas...

And finally....having run out of charity shop teacups and  old candles to melt down I've made some candles from scratch....well, I do love playing with wax....think perhaps I should a) have decorated the glass holders before filling them with wax b) done a better job of matching colour and scent......fuschia pink (not rampant hot pink this time Jo!!) and lavender.....??
Time will tell.......

Not Mojo Monday

No, my mojo hasn't deserted me, I just haven't used last week's sketch yet.

First up is a LO for the Rainbow Round Robin on Flying Unicorn.
Each team of four people was assigned a colour that had to be the predominant colour in our LOs.

I was week three for Maggi's team...can you guess which colour we were??

I used papers from Club Scrap..I think it was a Valentine kit. I coloured the doily with persimmon distress ink, used lots of punches from Woodware, EK success and Martha Stewart, then added bling and lots of flowers from my stash.


The next challenge was to do a time related LO using the Oct. kit.

I used Prima "Craftsman" papers and some gold embellies from the kit,then added some Prima bling ,a wooden clock  and a bottle cap trinket (all from the "Craftsman" range) then finished off with flowers and stick pins from stash.
I adapted a sketch by Tiare Smith.

I have done other crafting ...just forgot to to take a photo before I posted them....we're doing a Christmas Tag swap on Tag Tuesday...I was so happy making my tags for this (we had to make five) that I forgot all about my tag for Tuesday...the theme was "rust"...I thought I had a suitable photo for this but couldn't find it...:(

I spent yesterday evening making more Christmas tags...I found it quite relaxing and not too hard on my hands...they haven't recovered from last week when I was cutting chipboard for a secret project.

Had a good weekend...we went shopping in Aylesbury on Saturday and had a cream tea @ M&S courtesy of my birthday voucher. Home to walk Max and then we went out for an Indian meal and a couple of drinks..bumped into a friend of the boy..now working at Oxford Uni as a Lab Technician so using his Chemistry degree.

I really must do some of the "h" word...and the dreaded "i" word....see you later in the week!

Mojo Monday - a double helping.

Greetings from the computer room....for some reason I'm feeling giddy and silly...and, NO, I haven't been on the wine...I have to do an emergency dash to Waitrose soon....the cupboards are bare and Sainsbury's don't deliver until tomorrow...I also need to pick up s'thing for dinner....but what?

I have two LOs to show you, both for challenges on Flying Unicorn

First we have the sketch from 1st October - the challenge was to do a LO based on an artist. I chose Monet...because the Impressionists are my favourites.
I used papers by The Scrap Cake, then added a vine and flowers from stash.
The butterflies were fussy cut from a book on South African butterflies that I found in a second hand bookshop in Truro.

Next up is a Halloween LO  using Pink Paislee "Hocus Pocus" papers and embellies. I'd forgotten all about these photos...they're from 1993 when we had a street party for the children as Halloween was a Saturday.


Now for a photo of my table as it was last Wednesday...

Notice what's missing?   There's no jigsaw...!! Sadly this didn't last...


And now for a Christmas card for the " 50 Shades of White" challenge:

I couldn't resist the embossing (or Triboss as it's called) folder.


DH has just phoned to say he'll be back in Thame in half an hour....so will pick me up from Waitrose....off I go!

Tag Tuesday

Yes, it's already Tuesday again...sigh...

This week's theme is "Rainy Day"...something which we in England know a LOT about.

On Sunday DH thought I'd really gone nuts as I took a photo of my wellies...

Here they are in all their glory...yep, my wellies are covered in red tulips.
I covered a tag in "Rain Showers" paper by Provocraft, stamped some clouds in sepia, added my fussy cut wellies and then some stamped and cut images.
A quote from Bob Dylan (1963) finishes it off.

I'm working on a Mojo Monday LO and have finished another secret project - my mojo is home from her holidays!

Tag Tuesday (four days late) and Random Projects

OK...so we're back from Devon and Cornwall, apart from my mojo which seems to need a longer break....sigh

I managed to make my tag on Thursday evening...DH wasn't feeling too good so we didn't go the quiz.

I covered a tag with sparkly leaf paper by Best Creations Inc and added random embellies (chipboard, paper, vellum) from my stash:

I did manage two holiday LOs last weekend:

This is the hotel we stayed in in Devon. I used Bo Bunny "Weekend Market" papers and added flowers by Bazzill, Prima and Manor House.

It was once a working farm and the room we stayed in was the Hayloft - fantastic views over Dartmoor.

This is the statue at the Eden Project.
It's made from approx 3 tonnes of electrical and electronic waste. That is, apparently, the amount of such waste one person produces in a lifetime.

Last night I made two cards for the "50 Shades of White" challenge on Flying Unicorn...and, yes, lots of us have read the book.....:D

Both are Christmas cards as a) you get extra points for that and b) it's two more cards made...:)

Only the image and sentiment were allowed to have colour - all the papers and embellies had to be white.

The first image is by My Paper Stash and the second is from Crafty Individuals.
I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the mats and then added white spotty ribbon,flowers by Manor House, leaves and stick pins from QVC.

We enjoyed our break even though the weather wasn't perfect...and Max had a wonderful time at his Auntie Judy's.

I found a wonderful art shop in Truro so did some Christmas shopping..:)
 and then in Tavistock there was a wonderful covered market which had a craft stall......I think DH was a bit bored!

Sad moment of the week:

A friend lent me a walking stick for the holiday as my trapped nerve was showing no signs of improving. At the Eden Project the lady on the till saw the stick and immediately classified me as disabled and in need of support (she'll never know how near the truth she was)..I had to pay to get in but DH was allowed in free as my "carer"....:(

On the way home we stopped off in Bristol to see the boy....he seemed a bit down as no work in prospect and he and his girlfriend split up three weeks ago. All we can do is be there for him....

Right...enough doom and gloom...I'm off to catch up on your blogs.

p.s. I won an apron (one of only two in existence) in a blog draw. The picture on it is an image transfer of a book cover. 
Here's the link if you'd like to see the picture.....:)

Tag Tuesday

This week's theme is "Clocks":

I coloured a cream tag with dried marigold distress ink then stamped clocks with Versamark and heat embossed them in gold.
I have this stamp courtesy of my Secret Santa.......thanks Virginia!!
Tempus Fugit was a freebie from Craft Stamper magazine.
I then added some TH tape, a clock face and token....brads and "hand" from stash, ribbon from QVC.

Sketchabilities Challenge

This month Flying Unicorn is sponsoring a challenge on the Sketchabilities site.

The sketch was a real pleasure to work with ...here's the result:

I love these papers - Club Scrap "A Study in Red"....they've been in my stash for a couple of years.....:)
The borders are Anna Griffin, courtesy of QVC along with the stick pins and ribbon.
Flowers are Maya Road, Bazzill,American Crafts..and the black one is a feltable from a RAK I recently won.

This will be my last crafty post of the week (unless I manage to figure out how to schedule my Tag Tuesday post).

Max has been safely delivered to his Aunt Judy and was quite happy following his cousin Kibo around.
Tomorrow DH and I are off to Cornwall and Devon for a break.....staying in hotels so no "h" or "i" words for me this week and no cooking.....:)

We may be back Friday or we may stop in Bristol to see the boy and come home Saturday...we'll see.

I hope you all have a great week....I may be able to check in as I'm taking my laptop......so that I don't miss any free books for Kindle on FB!