IDIC card making challenge 'Anything goes'

Unfortunately last week I failed in my IDIC DT challenge as I made completely the wrong card! I got very confused so I apologise to everyone, I was definitely having a bad week! This week is a really easy challenge to enter 'Anything goes'.

The DT got to work with images from Mizumedia Designs that are available here. I kept the card fairly simple and just used a set of 'manly' papers I already had at home that included everything on the card including the sentiment and star embellishments.

I really hope that you will find some time to join us this week in the challenge at IDIC.

Super Stressy

I have been feeling a bit down.......

so what has made me feel a bit better? Some really supportive friends and family, some who just knew from my status on FB that something was going on. I have had some 'virtual' counselling, some kind words and some brilliant texts.
Also I went out the house yesterday (though I didn't want to, I had to drop DD at a sleepover) and I saw a friend I hadn't seen for ages and we just chatted over a cuppa tea about things generally which stopped me worrying on my own!

I discovered I had won some candy in the Polkadoodles blog hop as someone hadn't claimed it, they picked another name and it was mine! Will look forward to it arriving though I have been unlucky with blog candy and have never received some in the past.... I also still haven't posted out the prizes to K and Mel from the blog hop, I have been really bad so I apologise and promise it will be sent asap!

Today I went to the Christingle service at Church with the children, I have never been to one before but have always liked the sound of the service and the symbolism. Also the gorgeous Jo talked about it on her blog here so I was inspired to go and it was totally worth it! A really family friendly service that we all felt part of and afterwards there was tea and cakes!

The good news is that I finish work on December 23rd and don't go back until January 6 so I will have some amazing time with the family hopefully celebrating the festive season. Also I passed my numeracy exam, sat the pharmacology exam and have until 31st Jan to get all my uni work in...... it will all work out in the end I'm sure!

(Yes I have just majorly edited this post as I decided I didn't want to record some of my feelings etc on my blog so if you are re reading it you are not as mad as you may have thought!!!)

Christmas films not to watch! # 18 + 19

I actually had to stop watching this film, 'a hobo's Christmas' as it was fairly awful, though I do think I've seen it before but I couldn't face watching it this time so no stars and 0/5!

I watched all of 'A Christmas without snow' but despite having the actress who played the mother in 'the Waltons' it was pretty dreadful so another with zero stars and 0/5

Christmas film review #17

Santa Jr is about the son of Santa who gets arrested when he is mistaken for the 'Christmas Bandit' (a burglar). This film is packed full of festive magic and DS and I really enjoyed it.

**** (4/5)

christmas film review #16

In 'Eve's Christmas', a woman has everything she wants, a great job, fantastic salary, and a luxurious life in a penthoues in NYC. But she has no-one to share it all with. She makes a wish on a Christmas star asking for the chance to go back in time and change things.

Enjoyable Christmas film about being able to right the wrongs, correcting the mistakes that you have made. *** (3/5)

IDIC card making challenge Vintage Christmas

I actually lost my card for last weeks challenge before I had a chance to take a photo so I failed completely! This week I made sure I took the photograph and put it on the IDIC photo uploading page (albeit at the last minute!) before it all went wrong again!

Over at I Did It Creations this week the challenge is Vintage Christmas and I have used a digi stamp from the talented Hope Jacare, she has a unique style that is perfectly suited to the vintage theme. The stamp is 'Christmas Pudding' which sums up Christmas in so many ways for me, as we always have homemade Christmas Pudding and also indulge in 'Stir Up Sunday' (see this post). Christmas Puddings have been traditional in England for many centuries so may have featured in many a Vintage Christmas!

I made this first card and tried to keep it simple with watercolour pens (I am not very good at using these as you can see!), vintage sheet music, kraft paper, gold ribbon and an old wooden button.

I loved the effect so much I made another slightly larger card as I printed out a bigger image and again kept it simple, with no bow or button. The image comes with the matching sentiment so it does make a really easy Christmas card which suits me as I have hardly made any!!!

Please come over to IDIC and join in with the challenge this week thanks xxx

Journal your Christmas day 3

I am determined not to get behind with blogging JYC or I'll never catch up with my pages either! Yesterday the prompt was all about Christmas Cards. The thoughts of others about handmade versus shop bought CHristmas cards rang a few bells.

This is my 3rd Christmas making cards, the first year I only made 2, last year I made quite a few, this year the only cards I have made have been in response to DT work, although I have made more than one with several of the gorgeous digi stamps we have been given to work with. (see previous posts and tomorrows post)

I tend to think that most people just put their cards in the recycling at the end of 12th night and I hate to think of my own work going in the 'rubbish'. So I only send homemade cards to those I think will appreciate them (or ask me where their special card from me is!!). This actually equates to a few of my family and a few crafty friends. I have never thrown away any handmade cards I have been given in the last few years as I just love them! So the majority of the 80+ people I send cards to will get shop bought cards, usually purchased in the January sales if I am to be completely honest with you!

This prompt also made me think about the old, hard covered, non festive, orange, A to Z book that I use to keep track of all my Christmas cards. A couple of years ago I bought a 'special' Christmas card book, but it remains unused. I hate the idea of discarding the book that goes back to the era pre kids, with names of people I have loved and lost, people who were part of my life back then but now I have lost addresses and lost touch. It is a historical document in my own life journey and as such is a treasured part of Christmas. I confess to having a rule that if I don't receive a card from someone for 2 years then I don't send them one the third year! I have been known to reinstate people!!

I look forward to hearing your take on this prompt about Christmas cards and have got to make my page (I have so far only made the page for Dec 1st!) but will be looking on the forums again soon as there is so much inspiration there though sometimes it makes me feel a bit inferior if I'm honest as I really don't have that talent but I am learning and loving it all!

Christmas film review #15

Home by Christmas is the story of a woman (starring Linda Hamilton) who has everything she could want, until out of the blue, her husband leaves her for a younger woman, divorces her and takes their daughter to live with them, she is mugged, loses all her money and is evicted, She ends up sleeping inher car and befreinds another 'homeless' woman and together they rebuild their lives.

This is a non-traditional Christmas film in many ways but I really enjoyed this one and it does pull at the heart strings ***1/2 (3.5/5)

Journal your Christmas day 2

Todays prompt from Shimelle is about the weather, perfect timing for all the snow that has blown into the UK in the past few days and is currently settling in Surrey. I loved Shimelle's page with the heading 'the weather outside is frightful' as this describes what was happening here last night! Bit this is about today....

I awoke this morning when DS jumped into bed with me promptly followed by a text from his school announcing it's closure for the next 2 days... it was 06.15!! Too early, but I couldn't sleep. Looking out the window there had easily been 30cm of snow overnight, the Close looked beautiful.

I started sending and receiving texts regarding work, who could get in? Was the clinic open? What was the plan? In the end I decided, as someone within walking distance, I should just head in.. on foot. There were actually several cars on the road (not sure if I would have got my car out!) and there were a few of us pedestrians braving the elements. It was lightly snowing, bright white snow lay all around and crunched underfoot and the day felt fresh and shiny. I enjoyed seeing all the local landmarks that I usually just whizz past in the car, adorned in all their snowy glory. I didn't take the camera with me but did snap a couple of pics on my camera phone which I will download/upload at some point.

I did manage to take some photographs at home before I set out, before all the virgin snow was spoilt by cats and children playing in it!

The view from the back door

The view from the front door

This was the house this morning before I left

Tomorrow is another day and I will see how the conditions are in the morning and might even attempt to drive into work... watch this space!

How is the weather where you are? I really look forward to hearing the stories and seeing the photographs about 'non cold' Christmas weather. It is completely alien to me having always been in the UK for the festivities. See you on a blog near you soon xxx

World Aids Day 2010

This is a day for me to reflect on the past, remember those I have loved and lost and to respond to the call to make changes for the future.

I have been involved in the care of people with HIV for as long as the disease has been around. I looked after my first 'AIDS' patient back in the 1980's when we really knew very little about the disease and many health care professionals were terrified as were the general public. At the time it was classed as a terminal illness and people, mostly young men, were struck down with mystery illnesses that ultimately resulted in death. At diagnosis there was little hope that could be offered to these men, women and children.

Things began to improve with increased knowledge about the disease, causative factors being found and with the discovery of anti-retroviral drugs things changed dramatically.

Currently there are 90,000 people living in the UK, though there are about a quarter of these remain unaware of their diagnosis. HIV is now seen as a chronic illness and there are a multitude of amazing drugs that can be used in combination to suppress the virus, boost the immune system and keep patients healthy and well for the foreseeable future.

But sadly people still die. In my experience this is largely due to a very late diagnosis when the disease has seriously damaged the immune system and the patient succumbs to serious infections that may result in death. I have seen this first hand in the last couple of years, one patient refused an HIV test when offered and a year later was extremely sick, tested positive for HIV but passed away in hospital.

My wish for the future is that this does not continue to happen, I hope more people will have access to and be offered HIV tests. Make no mistake the ongoing research, the medical care, theoretical knowledge and amazing voluntary groups have altered the course of this disease. There is hope for the future but people are becoming infected everyday and I see teenagers diagnosed who don't seem to be aware of this disease anymore.

I would love to see another public campaign to raise awareness, some of us will always remember 'don't die of ignorance' (though it was a bit frightening) but what have young people seen?

HIV is not fussy it will infect anyone regardless of age (we see patients from teens to those in their 70's) race, religion, social standing and sexuality. We are in a hugely advantageous position in this country as we are able to access all these services and the medication, which is extrememly expensive, those in developing countries face a very different situation.

Please think about testing, in the UK in 2010 it is much better to know if you have the infection as you can stay well and access services and prevent advancement of the disease.

Journal Your Christmas (JYC 1)

Today is December 1st, the first day of the fabulous Journal your Christmas and my first year attempting this awesome project. I was up and reading the first prompt at 6.30 am this morning...partly as I was trying to find out if the children's schools were shut (the one 200 yards away was closed but the one up the hill and 20 mins walk on a non snow day was open!)

I love this printable manifesto and the colour red is perfect for my green and red album so I will be printing this off later (along with the journal cards they are fab too!) and it will form the basis of todays page along with some of my own thoughts! (I will take a pick and share soon promise!)

Are you taking this class? Or doing a December Daily type diary? Or just scrapping/journalling as you go? Would love to see what you are creating and for those joining in with JYC this newbie can't wait to see you in class! xxx

Christmas film review #14

In the film 'Holiday Wishes' two girls make a wish and end up swopping bodies. Danny makes a wish at the same time but her wish doesn't come true ...... or does it??? A really heartfelt film about what is really important ... you might need a tissue at the end (well I did!) ****/***** (4 out of 5)

Christmas film review #13

The most wonderful time of the year stars Henry (the Fonz) Winkler. A single mother is a busy career woman with the 'perfect' life (great job, house and a boyfriend). Her Uncle arrives for the Holidays and brings along a stranger he met at the airport (a cute young guy) and aks for him to stay. Guess what ?? There is romance and a happy ending! **1/2 (2.5 out of 5)

Christmas film review #12

His and Her Christmas is a film about two rival newspaper columnists competing to save their newspapers and jobs. In the process they fall in love! This is somewhat sickly sweet in places but quite amusing too, probably not one for the children as they wouldn't find it that interesting. **1/2 (2.5 out of 5)

Character Strengths

I have just been on Jessica Spragues blog and she is offering a free place for one of her classes if you complete the 'VIA Survey of character strengths'. Jessica explains how to register on the site and how to complete the 240 questions that make up the survey.

It sounds a lot of questions (well it is!) but it really doesn't take much time to go through them all, unless you keep pressing the previous button instead of the next button like I did!!

So my strengths are;-
1)Humour and playfullness (not sure if this is something to be proud of at my age and out of all the 0ther possible attributes I could have at the top of the list!)
2) Fairness, equity and justice (I think is totally true and has gotten me into trouble in the past! If I believed in star signs then I would put this down to the fact I'm a Libra!)
3) Honesty, authenticity and genuineness (quite like this strength)
4) Kindness and generosity (definitely one I am happy to have!)
5) Capacity to love and be loved (how sweet is that!)

I think it is really interesting and I hope to go back sometime in the future and take the test again as I am sure some of the answers will change depending on what has been happening in my life! It is also interesting to note that Jessica Sprague has completely different strengths to me.
Her top strength is creativity, ingenuity and originality, which doesn't even feature in my top 5.... does this actually mean anything?? I am not sure I am that original at the moment as it seems easier to follow rather than lead where I am now, but that hasn't always been the case and I am not sure it will be in the future either! In fact Jessica and I don't share any of our top 5 strengths!!
Jessica suggests tagging others to complete the survey and find out their strengths so I am gonna tag you! Yes whoever is reading this post, go on take some time out of your day and try it and see what you come up with. I would really love to see your answers please post them back here in the comments. Also if you complete it prior to Tuesday post the answers on Jessica's blog as you might win the class! The link to the test is here I would really love to see what it says about each of us and compare notes!!

Christmas film review #11

Christmas do Over is the hilarious tale of a man who has to relive Christmas Day over and over and over again until he realises his past mistakes and makes amends.

I laughed out loud whilst watching and the children are big fans of this fantasticly, funny Christmas film. ****/***** (4/5)

Christmas film review #10

Deck the Halls is about a widow and her son Ben, moving back home so she can work in her Father's toy factory. Ben tries to set up his mother with their neighbour Nick, who Ben believes is the real Santa.

This film is packed full of the Christmas spirit and is the best Christmas film I have watched so far this season! ****/***** (4/5).

Please note there is another Christmas film with the same name that hopefully I will watch and review.

Christmas film review #9

If you believe is a film about Susan, who is far too busy for Christmas. She is totally caught up with work and seems very mean. She is visited by 'Suzie', her younger self (who only she can see) and through this child's eyes she learns to live and love again.

This film was ok but again lacked some of the Christmas sparkle that I look for so **/*** (2/5)

Christmas film review #8

A Golden Christmas is the tale of a single mother who plans on buying her parents home (that has remained unsold) as a surprise for them at Christmas. She is started to descover they have agreed to sell it to someone else and immediately takes a dislike to the buyer. The film features a Golden Lab (or is it a Retriever??) which I think is where the title comes from!

Although this was mostly a non festive style film the message of childhood friendships affecting our adult lifes was quite poignant. So rated ***/***** (3/5)

Christmas film review #7

Home for the holidays. The parents of 3 young children are killed in a car accident. Left with huge debts the bank seizes all their assets and they are going to be homeless (and sent to an orphanage) for Christmas.

Fairly sweet film in places but it just seemed to be lacking in something and not really very festive so only ** out of ***** (2/5)

Christmas film review #6

Chasing Christmas is a take on the great tale of a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I really like this style of story and this is a fairly good comedy version starring Tom Arnold. He is transformed from the grumpy guy to the good guy with lots of adventures on the way. I was disappointed in the ending as it didn't turn out how I wanted it to, but I still rate it *** (3 out of 5).

Christmas film review #5

I'll be home for Christmas is about the Bundy family in WW2 awaiting their sons return for the holidays. Despite having a young Courtnay Cox playing the soldier's pregnant wife, it just seemed dull. So I don't recommend watching this one so only * (1 out of 5) This film is from about 1997 and it was really difficult to find a decent image for the film but you get the idea!

Christmas film review #4

A Christmas Romance stars Olivia Newton John as asingle mum with 2 kids living in the mountains, when an eviction notice is served, in person, by the bank. He then has a car accident in the snow as he lives and ends up 'snowed in' and stuck in the cottage for a few days. There is lotsa snow, no running water, no electricity and no heating. He begins to appreciate the simple things in life and to develop a relationship with the family.

This film was enjoyable but didn't quite fufil my expectations so I rate it ** (2 * out of a possible 5*)

Christmas film review #3

The Man who Saved Christmas (Cert U) is a fact based film about AC Gilbert an American toy maker. In the film his toy factory is required to produce munitions instead of toys, to support World War 1. He stands up to the American Government when they suggest cancelling Christmas and he becomes known as 'the Man who saved Christmas'. Another heartwarming Christmas film, set in an interesting political era which I enjoyed though not sure that very young children would like this one as much. I rate it *** and a half stars! (3.5/5)

Christmas film review #2

The second Christmas film I watched this year was ' Booky and the Secret Santa' (certificate U). It is the tale of a family in Canada, I think set in the Depression, as there is no work and very little money. Booky (Beatrice) befriends an older gentleman Mr Eaton and believes he may be the real Santa. This is a sweet film about a family coming together when all the odds are stacked against them. Another feel good film that I rate as *** (3 out of 5).

IDIC card making challenge 'Wings'

This week over at IDIC the challenge is to create a card with the theme 'Wings', this could be anything with wings, birds, butterflies, fairies, angels even aeroplanes!

This week the DT had a chance to use a digi stamp fro Eiglas and I chose to use the image Britney Fairy described as 'the UK's first chav fairy, check out the Uggs and the Burberry kilt'! I used the image to create a birthday card for DD's friend as I think it is perfect for a teenager.

I have used another Craftwork Cards scalloped card as a base, with one of their sentiments, I coloured the image with Promarkers and a couple of sparkly Sakura pens. The background card is DCWV with some added bling.

Please come over to IDIC to see all the other cards from the DT and don't forget to enter for your chance to win this weeks prize.

Children in Need 2010

Yesterday was Children in Need here in the UK. It is a televised event on one of the main UK channels, BBC1 and is a massive fundraiser. This annual telethon is now in it's third decade and has raised millions of pounds to help disadvantaged children and young people across the United Kingdom (the total in 2009 was over £39 million!).

We watched some of the show with the children and recorded the rest (over 6 hours in total) but we could fast forward through parts of it. The show is a mixture of entertainment with singing from pop stars like Cheryl Cole, Take That, extracts form West End shows and amusing sketches/dances from non singers/dancers!.

The highlights for me were the ladies from Loose Women performning the Girls Aloud hit 'Promise' and the news readers paying homage to Lady Gaga. But my favourite was a surprise .... from the 80's, I love so much of the music from that era plus I can remember all the lyrics, so I was really excited to see Heaven 17 perform 'Temptation' (but they, like me, have aged somewhat in the last 20 plus years!). I was amused by several other 'acts' including East Street ( a meeting of Eastenders and Coronation Street) and the take on Strictly Come Dancing. Did anyone else watch any of the show (or was it just me!!??) What do you think of Children in Need??

There are nationwide events around the country in aid of this worthy charity and DS's school was no exception. They had a cake sale and I could not resist these Pudsey cakes (he is the yellow cuddly bear mascot) so the children (and their 2 friends) had one each.... yummy!

How cute is that cake??!!

If Christmas is here I can indulge....

In light of the premature (in my opinion!) arrival of Christmas in my house, I felt obligated to start embracing the season in my usual favourite fashion......

watching a Christmas film! I don't usually start quite as early as this but if I can have Christmas cards through my letterbox I can have Christmas films on the TV!!

I love watching Christmas films and every year I record as many as I can on the Sky plus box and then I work my way through them..... it's great and really make sme feel festive! It drives my hubby slightly crazy as he says all the films have similar stories eg boy meets girl, girl already has a boyfriend but by the end of the film she realises the new boy is her true love and they all live happily ever after. Another example is the family tale, all upset and/or apart at Thanksgiving but all together and happy at Christmas! Etc etc you get the picture.

Christmas film review number 1 'A Christmas Angel'

An elderly man recruits a lonely young woman to help with festive acts of good will. A feel good film about helping others, friendship and thoughtfulness. ****/***** (4* out of5*)

Look out for more of my reviews as I work my way through the films currently showing on the Movie Channels!!

Christmas has arrived.....

Christmas has arrived! How do I know?? I got my first Christmas card through my door over a week ago! My aunt is obviously a lot more organised for the holidays than I am, but I am feeling behind with many things including crafting, housework and Uni assignments!! I'll get there in the end just need to start writing my lists and getting into gear!

I haven't actually started writing any cards yet this year but I will have to start soon. I must confess that I don't actually send many handmade cards. I usually just send them to close family and friends, plus a few crafty friends ie those who will appreciate them lol! The majority of my cards are bought, usually in the January sales and all sent second class so I can save some money!

I did use the fab Snowman image from this post again and made three more cards.

I actually prefer these 3 simple cards to the one that I made for the challenge. I made them at the weekend when all my plans went awry and I didn't get to my girlie weekend away due to bad trains, sickness and general complications (sorry girls I missed you all xxx)

Rememberance Sunday

DS and I went to Church today for the Rememberance Sunday Parade with cubs. He did an excellent reading from Luke 6: 27-36 which really struck me, it speaks of doing good to your enemies. I don't have enemies as such, but there are a few people I have ''issues'' with and would rather avoid them at all costs as opposed to actually going out of my way to help them..... mmmm food for thought.

The service was very moving, especially as people from the congregation shared some personal experiences of life in the services, including one man whose best friend died in his arms in the midst of a conflict. I thought back to....... the Falklands, where my friend Simon was onboard a ship, the Gulf war when I wrote to several guys I met in REME, my Grandad whose battleship sunk in WW2 he survived, helped others and got a medal for his efforts (subsequently stolen from my Uncles house... why??!!)

We stood outside in the rain listening to the 'last Post' followed by a retired serviceman reading

'they shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them. We will remember them.

When you go home tell them of us and say For your tomorrow we gave our today'

IDIC card making challenge traditional Christmas

This week over at IDIC it's an easy Christmas challenge using traditional colours, which for me are green and red with a touch of gold.




I have used the really cute 'Bella the Snowlady' image by Robyn's Fetish which I totally adore and have 'paper pieced' it together (which is useful as my colouring is not great!) I am going to be making a few more cards using that gorgeous snowman.

Please visit I Did It Creations Challenge Blog here to see some great cards from the Design Team and to enter this weeks challenge... you can do it!!

Winners of the celebrating friendships blog hop prize

For a part of the fantastically brilliant Celebrating Friendships Blog Hop I set everyone a little challenge to identify the 7 blog friends I described. See this post

The answers are:-
1. Mel
2. Jo
3. Jackie (though sadly she couldn't make it on the blog hop)
4. Kate
5. Cal
6. Sian
7. Amy

Do pop over and visit their blogs as they are really great!

So, there were only 3 entries to my competition and of these 2 were correct so I have decided to send them both some stash to play with. Congrats to K and Mel. Please let me know your snail mail addresses so I can get something in the post for you both xxx

Advice on 'should I get an iphone'???

So blogging friends, I value your opinions greatly and hope you are able to share some of your wisdom with me in regard to my next mobile phone contract.

I regularly read on blogs (quite possibly your blog!) about great applications on the iphone that can be used in relation to scrapbooking ie different photo apps like hipstamatic, pin hole camera or even bazzil colour matching!!! Obviously there are scrapbooking apps too but many of these extras cost money so not sure I would be spending out on that many of them anyway!

Is the iphone 4 much better than the 3??? Is the iphone really just a fashion accessory that I feel I have to have as so many of the cool kids have it (ie all my big neices and nephews!!)?? Will I get just as much out of say an HTC phone?? The cost difference is pretty big between an iphone and an HTC android one so I would save about £19 a month with a better package if I go android!! How do the cameras compare ...any ideas??Decisions decisions!!??**!

So what mobile do you have? Are you even bothered about the latest apps available? Would you or do you use any of the scrapbook related ones??

Thanks so much for taking time to read this and I will really be grateful for any views at all! Hubby has spent a while researching for me as my current contract ends soon and he fell in love with the ideal android phone and ordered himself one today!!!

Look forward to reading your top tips/pros and cons/for and againsts etc etc in this debate that is ongoing inside my head!!

Free class with Jessica Sprague

I have just received an email inviting me to join the talented Jessica Sprague in a freebie class!

The class is free to everyone and Jessica says that the 10 day class will cover 5 different paths to inspiration... words, music, art, tools and play. Each theme will have projects and different techniques to use no matter what your art form is.

Like other online classes it will be archived for you to use in the future should you not have time to follow it now or complete it. So what have you got to lose?? Going sign up for 'Inspiration Everywhere' here and join in. I might even see you there!!!

IDIC card making challenge Holiday Colour Mix Up

I am sad to say that Scrapping with IDIC challenge blog has closed down so I will no longer be part of that DT and will miss the challenges. However, every cloud has a silver lining and I have been invited to join IDIC card making challenge ! It is very exciting to be part of the DT but also rather nerve wracking as they are all so talented.

The first challenge I have done is Holiday Colour Mix Up. The object of the challenge is to make a holiday card but use a non-traditional colour combination of another Holiday. For example, I have made a Christmas card using the pastel and white colour range, more asscoiated with Easter. But you could use Valentines Day colours in red and pink, Halloween orange and black or another holiday colour combo.

I have used Sammi Snowman a digital stamp by Lexi Creations available from Stitchy Bear Stamps. The weekly winner will receive a $5 coupon to use with Lexi Creations if they use a Lexi Creations image otherwise the winner will receive a free digi image.

I really look forward to seeing what everyone creates for this challenge. Remember it is less than 7 weeks to Christmas Day (this was my first handmade Christmas card this year!!!)

Celebrating Blog Friendships

Welcome and Thank you so much for visiting my blog on the way from Nat's blog here, on this exciting blog hop that started with Liz and travels transatlantic, crossing the hemispheres, circumnavigating the globe!!!

I am sooo honoured to be a part of this event and kind of gatecrashed as I wasn't actually part of the class that inspired this all. I have been lucky enough to meet several of the wonderful bloggers in this hop as I have surfed through blogland and sometimes just stumbled across their blog homes. I haven't actually met 'anyone in the flesh' but that hasn't stopped me feeling part of their lives and I have truely made some great friends along the way.

I thought I would set you a little quiz this evening to put your little grey cells to some work, if you choose to accept this challenge there will be a little prize (not sure what exactly but will be some stash probably as easy to post to anywhere!)

I want you to guess who the 7 people are that I am describing below, they are all on this blog tour so hopefully it won't be too difficult! I do normally follow their blogs but have temporarily stopped so you can't cheat!!!

1. This person has wonderful weekly wordles and scrummy recipes. I love her thoughtfulness and the way she shares insights into her daily life, a true inspiration.

2. A fellow nurse and a lover of owls and a hostess. I find her honesty and openess really refreshing and she makes me smile.

3. This person can turn her hand to all sorts of crafts whilst living with 3 furries. Her vintage photos, family memories and layered cards are amazing.

4. A newly wed with a keen eye for home crafting ideas. I enjoy her sense of humour, her excellent taste in TV programmes and the fact that she is living in domesticated bliss!

5. This blogger lives in a prickly patch! Her yearbooks and LO's are so creative I love to look at them all and get ideas, I dream of creating such items.

6. This person likes to pass books from her tall house. For me, her ability to think outside the box (eg on the Lets eat blog hop) is a brilliant accomplishment I aspire to.

7. A blogger from down under host of Lets eat blog hop. I am constantly in awe at the photographs she takes and then makes into fantastic LO's.

Please email me at furrypig3(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk with your answers by 8pm (GMT) on Monday 8th November with the answers from 1 to 7and I will select a random correct answer to win my prize! Have fun!

I am sorry that I haven't created anything to share with you all today but I am typing this away from home so I am limited to what I have. I do need to give you my word/phrase for the blog hop... do you have any idea what it might be??? Okay I will tell you it is simply 'I'!

Please go over to Nancy's blog across the pond in Colarado here to find the next phrase and enjoy the rest of your worldwide travels. You should end up at the fabulous blog that belongs to our hostess with the mostest Jo here. She will explain how to email the phrases/words you have collected to be in with a chance of winning a grand prize!

I can't wait to go on the blog hop myself and see what everyone has done. Thanks to everyone who brightens my world with the thoughts and crafts they share on their blogs and not just those on this adventure. Thank you Jo for inviting me it's been a blast!xxx

I am editing this at 22.40 as realised that my number 3 was unable to join in the blog hop due to illness. It was Scrappy Jacky so would just like to wish her well. Sorry for confusing you all xxx

Scrapping with IDIC challenge 10 'Layers'

The latest challenge for Scrapping with IDIC is Layers. We were given really gorgeous digi papers to use by JLJ designs who are also sponsoring the challenge this week, with the winner getting $5 to spend on their products.




The Zen Papers we were given are all glorious shades of purple and mauve, some patterned and some plain and I really loved them! I used 2 photographs of the old shed in my parents garden back in the spring when there were copious amounts of lilac blossom.

I used one sheet of paper as the backgound, more paper for matting and layering the photographs and pieces of the funky geometric prints as borders. My favourite part was somewhat time consuming, I took the geometric pattern (used as the border at the top) and cut out 4 leaved flower shapes, layed them up (3 flower pieces together) then joined them together with a purple jewel brad. I really loved the affect and tried to highlight my focal points (the photos) with the flowers attached with foam to give more of a 3D layered affect. I made the title really quickly but I don't like it so it isn't actually stuck down yet and it there isn't any journalling yet so this is still a work in progress but you get the general idea!

Please stop by Scrapping with IDIC to browse all the fabulous DT work and don't forget to join in with your version of 'Layers' thanks xxx