Look what the postman brought me....

I feel very lucky this week as I have had my day brightened by super crafty deliveries all hand made and beautiful!

Firstly I have my prize that I came across on the Funky Fairies blog hop. This gorgeous card and papers (which also came with ribbons I forgot to put in the pic!) came from Lou over here. She made the fab Funky Fairy card and sent me enough supplies to make a minimum of 4 cards of my own using the cupcake range from Funky Fairies mmmm yummy! Thanks Lou xxx

I got a lovely card from Oonie thank you xxxI also received my ATC swop (plus a chrimbo card)from Flourgirl and I was stunned by the stitchwork it is amazing!! Molly wanted to know if she had made it with metal thread! I don't think the photo does it justice but it is beautiful and I hope she is not too disappointed with my sad effort that is as yet unsent!! (sorry and thanks Flourgirl xxx)Today I received my 'swing card' from Dragonllew. Again I am stunned as she has hand cut and crafted this amazing 3D card!! The picture is pretty appalling and I couldn't seem to catch it in the right light but it must have taken ages! Again I think Dragonllew has drawn the short straw having me as her swop partner especially as I haven't even started a scarey swing card yet!!!

stitch and creative craft show Sandown Park

On Saturday Molly and I headed off to Sandown Park for a craft show. It was an easy drive, free parking and entrance was just over £6 for the 2 of us. Previously I have been to the NEC and this show was similar but on a smaller scale and not quite as busy. There were numerous stalls, many had people demonstrating their products and there were a couple of crafty class areas. It was at one of these that I spotted Amanda Bateman.

Amanda Bateman is a full time paper crafter and has been on TV doing demo's and tours the country doing shows and creating cards for others to make at tutorials. What most people won't know is that Amanda used to be a nurse and we used to work together back 'in the day' when we were both in London. She is actually Molly's Godmother though this was the first time they had seen each other for over 7 years. Needless to say we were very excited to see her and Molly and I immediately signed up for a class 'magic in a box'.

that is Amanda showing us how to use the template to create the box.

Then Molly concentrating as she cuts it out, she was great and didn't need any help and followed the instructions well (unlike 2 other ladies at our table who kept cutting things wrong and asking for more card!!)

These are the coloured vellums and papers Mols chose to decorate her box with.

This is my box, the accordian bit to go in the middle and the papers to decorate it. No surprise I chose brown which is the colour I wear nearly everyday! Sadly we run out of time and haven't managed to finish our boxes yet so will be posting an update when they are done!

We also did a speed crafting session which was great fun and I will take some pics of what we made and show them to you also.

WOYWW

What's on your workdesk Wednesday????

I am always trawling through blogs and currently follow (read that as stalk!) over 100! No wonder I can never do anything with my own blog I am too busy trying to keep up with everyone elses!! So I am sorry if I haven't visited yours for a while or not left a comment recently but life is full (with work, family, home etc etc) at the moment and I am trying!

Anyway today I came across this blog for the first time. I have seen WOYWW on numerous other blogs in the past and now I know where it all came from! Now, my desk is actually the dining table, needless to say unused for sometime! I am now losing things (can anyone tell me where my notepad is with all the christmas/birthday presents listed???). So I thought I would shame myself into getting organised by posting a pic on my blog so everyone could see. The idea being I am then very embarrassed and will get on and sort it out...TODAY!

It is hard to see that there is a table underneath and the clutter extends to beyound that area as the photo clearly demonstrates. On there at this moment is my x cut guillotine, piles of papers and card, boxes of craft items to put away/sort through and several items I plan to alter (note wooden box/candles/polystyrene cone!!) Obviously there is actually no room to craft anywhere at the moment and the light is terrible so I also have a box of bits that I use all the time in the lounge!! Shame on me!

Growing in the garden

Hubby is in charge of the garden these days and this summer he did really well with growing tasty treats that we could/can pick and eat fresh on a daily basis.

We have had tomatoes (which only I eat and we get the young plants from my dad who grows loadsa veg/fruit in his huge garden). We grew the small French beans, potatoes and carrots for the first time. The beans were a huge sucess with a plentiful supply and everyone enjoying them, the potaotes were tasty but just not a bumper harvest and we are still hoping the carrots are going to grow larger than an inch (otherwise the rabbits may be having them!!)

There are no pics of the spuds sadly as I forgot to get the camera out! We also have a small cooking apple tree and it looks like there are plenty to pick to go with foraged blackberries from the hedgerows....

a supply of stewed fruit in the freezer goes down very well when made into crumble and served with custard yummy (shame I am back on the dieting wagon!!)

lost 3lbs last week, fat club on Thursday night will let you know how it goes (I am trying to be good!!)

First days at school

Yep finally blogging first days at school, better late than never for me yet again! Mols started secondary school so we had to go out and buy all the uniform.... blazer, tie, house polo top, pe top, pe shorts, pe socks, skirt etc etc....

it looks much better on ......

though she looks a bit wonky and nervous in this pic! She was much happier when her friends arrived and they all left for school together (but not got permission from the other mums to put the girls on here yet!)

Els on the other hand remains at the same junior school and the only new things for him are his teacher and a new back pack and pencil case!! He is as cool and relaxed as ever as you can see...

Spiders!

Well autumn is officially here and I have been finding rather large spiders in the house for a few weeks now.... yikes!! Currently I have a huge one living in the lounge that has escaped death on several occasions.

This is one of it's friends that sadly (or not!!) is no more....

do you like spiders???

Creative card crew challenge a recipe!

Just getting this card into the challenge by the skin of my teeth!

The recipe was 2 papers, 3 flowers, 2 brads, a button and a ribbon over on CCC blog.

I have used an image courtesy of Nikky over on her fab blog all cut out and decoupaged up! I thought it was just too cute not to use for a halloween card. I took inspiration from the recipe and think it has turned out ok!

56 brand new colours from Letraset Promarkers

I have just completed an amazing blog hop starting from and organised by Passion for Promarkers. They are very generously offering the 56 brand new colours of Letraset Promarkers (see the piccy above!) as the blog hop grand prize!! How fab is that!!!??? Take a lookie here.

The DT's blogs are worth a browse in themselves as there are so many talented team members and I am just learning about promarkers (I have had one to try from Rainmac and have requested some for my birthday!!) I think this is such an exciting prize and wish you all good luck in winning!!!

Promarker pack of 5 on offer!

Lil Paper Pixie is celebrating the opening of her local Hobbycraft store, guess what it is within walking distance!!! Look here to see the pack of 5 promarkers you can win (fingers crossed!)

Arthur's 18th

I have several 'grown up' Nephew and Neices and Arthur is now one of them having just turned 18. WE all got together for a family lunch (thank you Catherine!) and had a fantastic time. I traditionally give 18 presents for an 18th birthday so it is lots of fun and it keeps me busy searching for fun and useful mini gifts (the 18th present is always money so the most useful of all!) I worked out that I will have a neice or nephew turning 18 every year for 5 years, whereas my oldest has to wait 7 years before she reaches the same age!

Anyway I downloaded this fab kit from Funkyhand that is aimed at making wedding cards/books. I was uninspired as to what kind of card to make my nephew and thought using the book idea as an 18 card should work! I changed the colour to black and white to make it more masculine (??) and printed the second set of numbers out so I could make them pop using foam squares. I used a few dark grey adhesive stones on the front and a metal embellishment inside and out..... I think it worked what do you think??? I am entering it for the Funkyhand challenge, to make a boys card hope they like it!!

Here is the birthday boy himself....

Happy Birthday Arthur!!!!

Finally, my cards for the troops!

Long time no blog I hear you say!! I have so much to say and so many photos to share but have been so busy since September arrived but I will be back with updated pics and chat soon I hope.

Anyway the lovely Marg on MSE suggested that our current challenge be making Christmas cards to send on to soldiers oversees who are unable to get cards for their friends and family back at home. What a fabulously worthwhile course!! Thanks so much Marg for thinking of the idea (along with Hamish).

I started making the Christmas puddings a couple of weeks ago using a stamp and 4 different coloured lots of card, then pieced together. I added glossy accent to the berries to try and simulate the shiny roundness of fresh berries!

I sat down this afternoon and had to finish of the cards and I ended up making a few more. They are a real mixture of stash sent to me by Rainmac, embossing from the cuttlebug, pyramage from a Kanban sheet (first I have ever tried!) and some bits and bobs from a Christmas card set!

I hope someone will find them to their liking and I am keeping my fingers crossed that making these will further spur me on to start on my own Christmas cards!