Normal Service Has Been Suspended

As you may have noticed I've been conspicuous in my absence.

I'm not coping well at the moment with life in general and especially with crafting....I haven't managed a LO or tag in weeks and I'm still making cards.

So, I'm taking a break from blogging. I'll try and visit your blogs ...even if I won't always leave a comment.

Normal service will be resumed in the New Year....when hopefully my mojo and I will be re-invigorated...

Merry Christmas to all of you....have a fabulous time. xx

At Jo's Request......

At Jo's request I'm showing all the pages from the baby word book that I made for Logan:

So there you have it in all its' glory!!

And finally......here's  what arrived in the post from France.....just in time to for my December Daily:

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!

Tag Tuesday...just a bit late..

Hopalong Cassidy here...well, that's who I feel like.....Dr thinks it's a trapped nerve...I'm not sure, I just know it hurts to walk...and my meds have been upped to deal with it...so I'm feeling like a Zombie Hopalong Cassidy.....sigh....just in time for our break in Devon and Cornwall next week..

But I digress. You're here to see my tag..

I kept it simple..two owls cut from textured card using a Sizzix die, a button owl and some fun owl ribbon (courtesy of John Lewis), finished off with strips from two old dictionaries...one French  (hibou) and one Bohemian (sova).

I'm currently working on a LO of Bristol Cathedral...it may well be finished but I keep looking at it thinking s'thing is missing...after the "white space" LO, I'm finding it difficult to get back into my groove..oh well, I can always make some more Christmas cards...:)

And on that cheery note...spotted on FB this week...there are less than 100 days until Christmas....eeek! The year has gone far too fast!

Christmas Card

A quick post to show my latest card...made for a sketch challenge on Cardabilities

I used a Nestabilities die with paper and card by My Paper Stash then added leaves, stick pins and bow from stash.

I have done more crafting over the weekend...but again I was working on a secret project!

White Space

Yes, white space...something I find difficult.....I literally had to sit on my hands for this challenge...they were itching to add more...

The challenge was set on Flying Unicorn....it was suggested that we could stamp/mist/use masks in the white space but I didn't dare start....

Papers are by Fabscraps and the flowers are Manor House.

This is all I've managed this week...I seem to have picked up a bug...:( 
Don't know whether I'll make the quiz tonight....:(

Tag Tuesday

Today sees the return of my tags.

I took a break as I really had issues with the last few themes...and life's too short etc. etc.


This week the theme is "Autumn Fruits and Berries"

I covered a manilla tag with paper and a die-cut by Daisy D's..then added an acorn, wooden apple and leaf from stash. I finished it off with berries fussy cut from an old Observer's book.

I also made next week's tag and have almost finished the one for the week after......a relaxing way to spend an afternoon!

My secret project is finished so I'll be back to doing LOs today.

A Round up of Recent Projects

In my last post I forgot to mention two things...

We won the quiz last week..after a tie-break

and...

Thanks to my neighbour Louise who passed on a yummy recipe for blueberry and soured cream loaf....first tried on the night of the Olympics opening ceremony and re-created by me last week....heaven!


Now on to the crafty stuff....

These two LOs were done for a challenge on Flying Unicorn..the challenge being that we had to use a line from a Creedence Clearwater Revival song....that certainly took me back!!

Papers are Bella "Vintage Chic", ribbon from John Lewis, chipboard owl by Twiddlybitz, tree and small owl are buttons from my stash.
The little watch was in a bag of goodies sent  to me by Virginia....thank you so much!
Sketch by Scrapbook Challenges

Pictures of the tubs in our back garden....sadly the Busy Lizzies have been attacked and eaten...by slugs I think!
I used texture paste and a TH mask for the "railings".
Sketch by Tiare Smith

This one was for a Nursery Rhyme challenge.
I chose "Mary, Mary quite contrary..."....I'd forgotten just how gruesome the origins of this rhyme were.
The "silver bells" and "cockle shells" were instruments of torture and the "maids" were maidens....an early form of guillotine...:(


And finally...a birthday card:

I think I'm up to date now!

I'm currently working on  a secret project....it's for another challenge..a collage this time ....

No quiz this week as DH will be in Manchester and I'm going to take advantage of being home alone .....a crafty evening with no interruptions!!

Mail Art, Olympic Dreams and Other Random Projects

It's Sunday..a day for watching two football matches, two motor races and George Gently.......well, three out of five ain't bad.
Arsenal are playing now..same time as F1...
United kick off at 4p.m.....
Indycar is at 1a.m. this week so won't see it live..
George is on at 8:30p.m.....more views of my beloved N.E....

In the midst of all this I'm going to blog hop, walk Max, do the "i" word (possibly) ,cook Sunday dinner and hopefully craft....who said Sunday was a day of rest?

First I have to say a big thank you to Valerie in Germany...this is the wonderful mail art I received from her last week...

It really cheered me up..as well as being gorgeous!

Now for the Olympics..... these three LOs were made for a challenge on Flying Unicorn:

The photos were scanned and printed from a Times souvenir supplement.
The papers were all freebies...from Simply Homemade, Creativity Magazine or downloads.
Ribbon was bought locally and the titles were either cut on my Cricut or printed on the PC.

And now....especially for Jo......

I made this last night using the kit from QVC....embellies and bow were my individual touches.

I'm going to save the rest of my projects for later in the week.


Saying of the month from my calendar:

"I'm usually gorgeous but today's my day off"

My luck with random number thingies continues...I've won several books for my Kindle recently along with some pretty stash.

I'm also grateful for the pages on FB that alert you to free books for Kindle...I've managed to download about a dozen in the last week alone.

I've also just finished (in physical book form) "Rapture" by Lauren Kate...the fourth and final book in her "Fallen" series....I think it was written for YA but it was a damned good read...and fallen angels make a change from vampires and shape shifters.

I now have a new month of challenges ahead of me ...in the crafty sense ...

The song "Ring me maybe" is apparently the most "spoofed" song ever...even the USA swimming team did a version....

these are my two favourites:



Hey, I just licked you,
And this is crazy,
But, here's my belly,
So rub it maybe?


And this one...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCOC1YwNwZw&sns=fb..is an absolute hoot!

And now for something completely different......

The last week has seen me challenging myself...yes, I've done some of my usual LOs (saving them for a future post), no, I haven't made any tags (not keen on this month's themes).....what I have been doing is working on canvas panels....four to be precise...

These are for an "Off the Page" challenge on Flying Unicorn.

The theme came about purely by chance...I wanted to try some larger gel medium transfers (the panels are 6ins x 8ins)and I was using "Home Words" 1883/84 as my source material.

The first really nice picture I found led to this..."Autumn"...

The picture was entitled "Autumn Fruits". I used gesso to tone it down and added some Anna Griffin embellishments, some Maple leaf brads and a flower.

Can you guess what the theme is???? 

#2 is...

This one is "Gathering Strawberries in Kent".
The embellishments are K&CO "Brianna" (been in my stash for years) and some strawberries I found on ebay ages ago.

#3 is...

This one is entitled "A Thornless Rose (for Christmas Day)".
Ribbon is by Toga (France) and flowers are Prima  and Wright's.

#4 is...

"An Artist's Spring Study".
The epoxy stickers and most of the other embellies were floating around in my stash (so, no idea who made them). I added a Petaloo willow vine and flowers from Manor House.


I'm hoping to find some small box frames so I can display them.

DH was on holiday last week but we didn't get out and about as planned..the weather was too variable.....we did however get the garden tidied up and we managed to come second in the pub quiz.
We are now officially just "The Ninjas"....the "ginger" was from the guy who started the team and as he no longer attends and none of the rest of us are ginger....well, it was confusing to say the least!

It's nauseous Wednesday again and ,since I only managed three hours sleep, I'm going back to bed!

Penny's ATC Challenge (bogof)

As promised in my last post I've caught up with the challenge...made the ATC's for both July and August.

For July I used a background from Crafty Individuals and various TH bits and pieces:

I chose the colours to represent our poor Buddleia that is no more.....the flowers and leaves have all gone and the branches have all been chopped/sawn in half.
At least Max had fun...grabbing sticks and running round the garden with them.

For August there was only one theme I could use:

I used scraps of the free papers from Simply Homemade plus Union Jack ribbon, a large brad (meant to be gold but think it's probably "bronze"), a floating flag cut from a photo and "London" cut on the Cricut.

I've started a series of LOs for the Olympics...but will save them for another day.

DH is on holiday this week...so I decided to give myself a week off too!
He's currently repairing my half of the wardrobe.....great clatter the other evening.....the top shelf had given way and brought down my hanging rail...my clothes are in the boy's room in a great heap and therefore difficult to get at.
All my fault apparently as the vac bags of winter stuff that I piled up on the shelf were much too heavy....sigh.
 At least no-one has said (yet) that I have too many clothes!

I'm hoping to catch up on my Blog hopping today. Fingers crossed the laptop behaves.
Carmen, thank Craig for his suggestion please...:)
I don't think it's the battery as I have it plugged into the wall most of the time. It does seem to be overheating though so I'm using it in short, sharp bursts and then putting it into hibernation. That has, so far, done the trick!

I spent yesterday afternoon with QVC on TV whilst reading and crafting. I was very good and only ordered the TSV (a card kit for...the word that Jo won't let me mention!) and some gold and silver leaves to use as embellishments...oh and 100 sheets of Bazzill in 25 colours.....that's to share with Pat though...it worked out at 25p per sheet compared to the normal 45/50p we pay....and I do use a lot of it!

Think it's time to cool the laptop down......

Mojo Monday

Firstly, an apology.....my laptop is poorly..it keeps switching itself off mid-print, mid-scan, mid e-mail checking...so I'm not able to do much blog hopping and commenting...sigh. I'm hoping it's not terminal....:(

This first LO was made using the Mojo Monday sketch for 6th August.

I used Kaisercraft "Lake House" papers and collectables plus flowers from Bazill, Prima and Petaloo, a ZVA swirl, stick pins from QVC and a silver butterfly.
One of this month's challenges was to use material on your LO..I trimmed some very fine pink mesh with lace.

The postcard is vintage (found at a flea market)...it had a brief message and was postmarked 1926.

Next we have a card made for a recipe challenge:

Yes...I managed to use pink on a Christmas card....it's amazing what you can find in your old stash!!

Friday I managed to get to Scrap Club for the first time since February....it was wonderful!

The technique was paper piecing...probably one of my least favourite...but I managed with the help of some stamps  (the butterflies, flower  and leaf were all freebies from Craft Stamper):

I'm going to quit now..before the 'puter switches itself off....

Tag Tuesday...only a day late!

The theme this week was "Theatre and Cinema":

I made a double tag  (using a TH die) as I had so many ideas on this theme.

The top tag was made using a sheet of K&CO "Cut'n'Paste" paper. I fussy cut the tickets and popcorn from the same sheet.

The second tag was cut from a film still of "Casablanca".....my all time favourite film...sigh. I typed the quote on the computer.

Not much crafting has been done over the last two weeks as I've been watching the Olympics.
I've been watching sports that I wouldn't normally watch...and enjoying them!

I have made a couple of cards though:

The first is a b'day card for my nephew's partner. I used papers, ribbon and Candi by Craftwork Cards and flowers from my stash.


Jo...you might want to look away now as the second is....yes, a Christmas card!

On both of these I was playing with a Marianne Creatables die....up to six layers can be made...I've seen some stunning examples on the net.


Just realised that I missed my July ATC ...oh, well, will just make two together.

Realisations from watching the Olympics....

I'm probably too old to take up Tae Kwon Do....much as I'd like to.

Who knew diving could be so interesting?

Funny how quickly we all become "experts"....the boy and I watched the synchronised diving together......comments such as..."No, too much splash on that entry.."   "Legs weren't straight enough"....had me laughing!

The rules of hockey have changed since I played on the right wing....and so has the kit...bottle green skirt, knickers and knee socks are not  (and never were) a good look!

Hard work and determination can achieve results as shown by Mo Farrah.

It was great to have some really positive role models instead of empty headed "celebrities" who've done nothing.

I still don't like Liam Gallagher .

The Spice Girls are soooooo over.