Nothing much

Am on a few days working stint - nearly finished the night shift then back at 3 for another sleep over shift so not a lot of crafting to be seen Im afraid. Did manage to do the colour create challenge which I will post up tomorrow and of course the blog candy will be drawn tomorrow too!

Been busy with another little project lately too which I will share with you after the bank holiday - Im very excited about it as its given me the opportunity to craft with some of my favourite people even though they live far away - what a fabby place the WWW is :0)
Hope your day is good and not as hectic as mine will be! Janet x

Yay a blog from Jill at the Stampman!

This is a fabby shop which Im pleased to say is local to me! Jill and the other ladies that work there produce some fantastic creations. I was lucky enough to see some at Christmas using the Tim Holtz stamps and I was blown away they were sooo fabulous. Any way hop over there and take a look at the bits and bobs and then you can keep up as Jill adds more The Stampmans blog
Have a great day :0) Im having a crafty session and a chat with my fabby Aussie/Pom chum Jo on the damselflies community - isn't technology fantastic? Jo is on the other side of the world yet we can chat through the computer! Must get a webcam and skyp so we can do it on live camera link too!

Art from the Heart

Had a fantastic day at Art from the heart - my all time favourite craft shop! Infact I was chatting with the other ladies and we decided we could quite happily sleep over to wake up amongst all that yummy stash! When you go and visit its not so much what to put in your basket more a what to leave on the shelves LOL It is all gorgeous :0)
Today was a canvas day making a fabulous alternative family portrait on a long slim canvas (about 8" x 24"). Dys classes are always jam packed with tips and techniques so that you can go away and develop the idea yourself and today was no exception. I can see me making lots of these over the coming months for presents and would love to do one or two at work with the staff and children's pictures on. It is soooo bright and cheerful Im sure it will look fabulous if they will let me do it!!!
Dyan has also been extremely generous for the atc meet in May giving some fabby Blonde Moments products and an amazing mini book, signed, for the raffle. What a generous lady :0) Thanks for a fabby day xx Check out Dylans blog here

Crossburn Lady Katherine

Well here she is. She was born at 11-45pm last Wednesday so is still less than 3 days old here but already is in full tune with her mum and knows where to stand to be most protected! When we visited yesterday afternoon Uncle Rex warned us we may not get too close as the Mum, Bess, was very protective of her foal. Im not surprised after carrying her for so long and giving birth only hours earlier she would be! My Mum had been and bought fresh carrots for Bess and Uncle Rex managed to give her a couple but we stayed back so as not to worry either Mare or Foal. - Wow look at the size of the foal! Hard to think she was curled up inside Bess only hours ago - shes huge isnt she? Hes totally smitten with her and thinks he may keep her!

Atcs x

>


These are the ones I made yesterday for the atc meet in May. Ive used some new tiny acylic stamps from we are memory keepers.These are 3 of the sets I bought last Tuesday whilst crafting at the loacl shop. At £1-49 a set they are fab value too. Think I shall be using them alot over next few weeks. Papers are by SU from my paper share - fabby colours huh?

2 little projects

from our stampin up party last wednesday arent they sweet :0) I have been playing around with the measurements for the teabag holder to try and make it into an atc wallet! Think Ive cracked it but dont want to spoil the surprise for those attending the atc meet so will save it till then! The little box is just right for holding atcs of which I need to make a lot over the next few weeks!!!! Made a few last night which I will share tomorrow x
Off to work for 1pm and doing a sleep over then finish at 3pm tomorrow - Its a long one! Still hubby will be picking me up at 3 and we are going to see a newly born Shire horse named Lady Kate. My Godfather breeds Shires for showing at the local, and not so local sometimes, country shows - He has slept in a caravan next to the field for the last 3 and a half weeks waiting for her to arrive so he could be on hand to assist or call for the vet if necessary but all went well on Wednesday night and she is the filly he wanted with 4 white socks :0) Congratulations Auntie Ann and Uncle Rex at your new addition! Hopefully I will have pics to share tomorrow of her :0) Have a good day x

More new stash

Does the craving for new stash ever diminish? I think the need to "Buy" stash is as great as my need to craft which is not good for my bank balance thats for sure.
Bought these stamps and papers whilst at the craft session at the local shop. Stamps I think are by stampivity - love the girl sitting down though she is not the easiest to colour with promarkers may have to dust off one of my other must haves - prisma pencils - to do it next time! Papers are by We R memory keepers - tiffany range - my efforts at cutting down involved sharing the pad with a crafty pal so it only cost half as much LOL. Tried out my new nesties too - do like the shape lots x The with love sentiment is from blonde moments and the shopping one from the actual stamp set - which given all my moaning about stash was a good buy with 5 decent size images and 3 sentiments for £8-99. Must be good next month...............





Though im going to the class at Art from the heart next Tuesday will my will power hold????






Nah ive already got a list!

Averils birthday

It was my craft club last night and one of its longest members celebrated her 50th birthday in March but we couldnt celebrate as she was away on a cruise! So we did it tonight :0) I made a cake and most people brought her a card and some a little pressie too. It was a surprise to her as we had done it all in secret and I think she was a little pleased. Turquoise and bling sum Averil up nicely which is why I chose these colours. so recipe :-
Image is from Inkadinkadoo - thanks Michelle x
Papers from stampin up - got a paper share wow ee fab papers!
Gems, brads and flower middles from my Easter bunny gift on Docrafts
Flower stamps stampin up
scallop circle nestabilities and wood ware punch sooper dooper circle punch

I did a little decorating inside the card but forgot to photograph it silly me x We also had a stampin up party last night with the lovely Ann and made some sweet little projects - may add those tomorrow. I do a monthly stampin up order with the lovely Emma and just when I think ive got enough I see more I can play with! Been really good this month though and stuck to card and inks - Love the colour ranges especially the names! anyway if you fancy a paper share then Emma has some spare hop on over and take a look http://emma-daye.blogspot.com/

Just Magnolia challenge

Thought id give this a whirl though i have only 4 magnolia stamps so my entries will be very samey :0)
Recipe
papers K and co is the patterned one, the background one is a SU one from the Olive collection and the circle from Rose red collection. Greeting is blonde moments, funky flowers wood ware punch, buttons and ribbons from stash. Used shabby shutters distress ink to soften the edges of the images and shock horror no Faux stitching LOL
Hope you like it x

Stampin chic meets colour create!

Thought I would give the stampin chic challenge a go this week and when the colour create colours came up as black, white and pink I thought yay I can combine the 2! Papers are by CCSR as is the stamped image and sentiment. flowers I dont know their origins as was sent them as an easter bunny surprise from a docrafter - cant even name her as it was a surprise. Not 100% happy with this one think I need to play more with the stamps but here it is!

Went to a crop at the local craft shop on Easter saturday and managed a few LO for my a-z of me. I began this last year starting with G for Graduation and I for I do in my typical style totally out of sequence. Managed 2 C pages. C for childminder - Ive had 3 stints at this!!! This pic was taken when i was first registered when my boys were little the little one sucking his fingers is James my youngest boy (now 19) and Tom is peeping through the trees. This was a teddy bears picnic indoors because of the rain and is a picture that went in the local rag promoting the childminding support group.
The other C is pics at the National scrapbooking event I organised last year and has my fabby scrap buddies on it. This is my blog pic too - def not my most flattering look (do I have one I wonder)but I am having fun crafting :0)
Both LO are done with basic Grey papers - cant remember which set but they are all in the same one. The funky flowers are a woodware punch and the other larger ones I drew around some craft work card ones to use the shape. Brads by basic grey and buttons by Papermaina. SU scallop punch for border and sticky ribbon I bought from stampman cant rmeber make. Thanks for stopping by xx

HUGE THANKS SASSY and NANASEASIDE

Brilliant! Thanks for your help and big thanks too to Emma I would love some blogging lessons LOL!



This is a card I made after doing a class with Katy (http://katysbloggeroo.bogspot.com/) (see still cant do the links!!)This one is for another colleague who had a bouncing baby boy on Good Friday. The stamp is forever friends. Coloured with promarkers. Gingham papers a download from a site I cant remember so If you know let me know :0)Sentiment pink petticoat tiny tags (love them one for Every occasion!) The little feet charm is one of the ones I bought at GNPE and ribbon from local shop in sale. I like this card the template can be found on splitcoast stampers http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/trifold_pocket_card/

Hope you like it x
Janet

Colour create

Colour create this week is Chocolate, cream and coffee. I decided to make an atc as I feel all carded out today my mojo has gone away so limiting the space seemed to be the key to getting something done!
All card from Knaban ribbon and buttons from stash - image Magnolia coloured with all the shades of browns and creams I own! Ran the white card through the cuttlebug and rubbed over with distress ink lightly - im afraid thats as near to being distressed as it got LOL. This also fills the challenge on Malham damselflies forum for our first challenge there so you damselflies out there will know Ive managed to do 2 in 1 atc!

Im sorry I dont know how to keep the blog candy at the top of my blog so have gone into editing the one below so any comments will be combined with the scrapbook pages below. I moderate them all though so will see your much appreciated feedback x
Thanks for looking x
Janet















2 more side by side showing sights we saw on the bus tour. The weather was poor so I had to try and make the pics look more interesting. So I split one up and made 3 others into little tags. I do love the London bus tours you learn so much about the different landmarks and even things you would just walk by and not notice. Our James took this opportunity for a snooze and slept most of the tour! Aww bless well he was only 4!

My Fav pages

Again these pages would ideally sit side by side for maximum effect. The papers are Suet pudding from Blonde Moments and I love how my youngest son peeps through the B. My eldest son Tom loved the fact he could say Bloody and not get told off here so made the most of every opportunity to say Bloody tower hence the title. Ive used a Lil Davis stitching template to do the stitching - I also like the crossed over ribbons on the second page too. If you are wondering why Ronald Macdonald is there we visited the Macdonalds just outside the Tower of London so it was all in the day :0) Hope you like! Right am off to scrap at the local shop crop and pick up the last candy bits :0)

Pages 6 and 7

Now then ideally these should be viewed side by side as a double LO. Now we are getting to the pages I do like! I began with the twill ribbon for this LO with the little footprints on as we trekked from High street Kensington right the way through Kensington Gardens to the serpentine in Hyde Park looking for the Peter Pan statue! The journalling travels all the way round the page just like us trudging along - it says "Following the medicine spill on the train (will explain at end) we needed to see a doctor to get another prescription so we went to High Street Kensington to do it. After getting it we went into Kensington Gardens as Mum (me) said the peter pan statue was not far! Poor James his little legs were worn out from the hours in the Natural History Museum already. The not far turned out to be going on 2 miles - we finally found the peter pan statue hidden away at the end of the park. So far it was next to the serpentine in Hyde park. well was it?"

So the Journalling asks the title a question! The medicine story was that James was up all the night before the trip with ear ache so saw the emergency doctor just before we got the train to london. On the train I must not have put the lid on properly after giving him some as when we got to London it filled the plastic bag the bottle was nearly empty whoops!
Love the papers here too they are actually Christmas papers from Sandylion that I bought in the sale. This is def one of my fav LO along with pages 8 and 9 which I will upload tomorrow!

Have not forgotten my blog candy either - will add that on Easter Monday so keep an eye out for it!

pages 4 and 5

Okay next ones - Natural History museum - We had to wait for it opening they were beside themselves with excitement! The boys were totally fascinated in here we were there 6 hours and didnt see everything. These papers and the ones for 2 and 3 are Hot off the press "boys".

Pages 2 and 3

Sorry they are so dark think it must have clouded in and blocked the sun from the room LOL not my poor photography skills - oh no!
The boys enjoyed "testing the beds" so that had to be the title. These are the 2 pages Im not so keen on in the book and I think its because i tried doodling in the spaces - if you remember doodling was BIG in scrapbooking last year! The 2nd page is London by tube - the journalling tells the story of James my youngest son who thought there may have been a mole (like on Thunderbirds if any of you remember?) on the front of the train making the tunnels. It was rush hour and the train was full of students going to Uni and everyone fell about laughing at the thought of all these underground tunnels being drilled out daily!

Scrapbooking

Was my first love in this papercrafting lark so i thought over the next few days Id share some of my pages with you. The first is a page for my daughters album showing her with Santa. The papers are Anna Griffin. The one below is the first page in a London scrapbook I put together last year after finding lots of notes, tickets and pictures from our trip in 1994. This first page is simple using plain red card and adding the London title cut from a paper set I bought for the job - it also came with flat and epoxy stickers. Im not usually a fan of stickers but these did just what I wanted so I did it! I have also made a pouch from the family railcard wallet to hold the train tickets and seat reservations!
Will upload more later x

A sad day

My Favourite challenge blog is no more - tag your it was my first go at a challenge back in January and i have enjoyed doing the challenges ever since - even winning one :0)
I can fully understand the DT decision though our lives can change dramatically over the course of a year and it is a very brave decision to end something rather than try and limp on.
I think the job they have done and the tag inspiration they have given is amazing and I wish them all the very best for the future.

Colour create challenge duck egg blue and rose

Now when i saw the colours for this challenge I was worried I did not have any duck egg blue! On doing a search I came acoss a double sided sheet with both colours on hurrah! I think it is from American crafts. So thats the matting and layering paper. The patterned paper is from Stampin up Rose designer collection - love the colour and the pattern is so gentle. Used my stitching template from papermania for the sentiment - I love to see stitching on cards or scrapbook pages :0) Edges inked with distress ink tattered rose, brads from basic grey and flowers made from woodware punches. Buttons and threads from stash. A lovely colour combination thanks Colour create :0)

Fantastic!

Hurrah! Having missed the preview weekend for Art from the heart I have managed to book on the Flower Garden Canvas workshop on the 28th April. Im am sooo happy! Dyan teased us with sneaky peaks of this workshop on her blog (http://dyan-reaveley.blogspot.com/ )and I have 2 out of the 3 sets of stamps for it anyway I was desperate to do it. Thank you Ben or He who must be obeyed for taking my order over the phone :0)Now will I be able to resist the 3rd of the stamp sets? or will i be wanting it to add to my growing collection of BM stamps LOL I think we all know the answer to that! Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the Art from the Heart link then go to workshops. Some great ones in there as well as ones with the lovely Kirsty Wiseman. Better do it quick though as there is bound to be a stampede!!!

Happy Birthday Tag Your it!

Over at Tag your it theres a party going on to celebrate its 1st Birthday so thats the theme for this weeks tag.
I was desperate to use my new labels nesties so everything worked around that!! Backgound brown paper is by basic grey - unsure which 6x6 pad it came from but it was next to some infuse papers so maybe that. cake papers from dovecraft.

SU scallop circle punch used with woodware cirle and little scallop. Birthday round from pink petticoat. Stamped image from Dimension fourth - how cute is that mouse awww? Brads from basic grey. The 3 scallops at the bottom and held on with ribbon and jump rings and the circles in the middle punched out of another dovecraft paper.
A little felt flower and button added as the space just needed something. I took all night to decide what LOL. The little clip at the top is from Tim Holtz ideology range - not usually found on such cutsie stuff lol.
Am working at 2-30pm and doing another sleepover duty so not home till after 3 tomorrow so no more crafting till Tuesday when I go play with my pals up at embsay mills :0)

Dareu2digistamp challenge

Well me Pal Michelle has joined the DT team at the Dareu2digistamp blog so I gotta enter because she will be sooo disappointed if I dont! Here's my offering for the first challenge it was a freebie offered from charmed cards and crafts sooo cute!!
This little girl is so like my niece Rebecca - "hows your hair today Rebecca?" "its wild" comes the reply!! Bless shes only 3 with bad hair days most days because of her fine and curly locks.
Stamp coloured in with promarkers to match the papers which are Friends Junction by Blonde Moments designed by Jay. Ribbon from stash and brad from basic grey. Added glossy accents to the puddle and splashes so it has a sheen you cant see with the camera. I have left off the sentiment only to leave the card open for occasion hope its ok I quite like it.

Congratulations Midnight Crafter

2 things to celebrate for Midnight Crafter this week. Firstly a first DT job with Dare u 2 digi stamp. Then a Winner of the ATC of the Month in Mays Craft Stamper! Well done pal! Michelle's work can be viewed at http://midnight-crafter.blogspot.com/

Easter cards

I couldnt resist this cute little girl with her curly locks who reminds me of my daughter Meghan. She is from pink gem designs and coloured in using promarkers. Papers from Papermania daisy and dandelion collection, greeting also from papermania. Martha Stewart punch again and ribbon from stash.
The cross card is more a true reflection of Easter as although spring, chicks, eggs and bunnies have taken over the cross is the symbol that reminds us of why we celebrate Easter and the joy that Christ is risen and walking with us everyday. The cross stamp is from Dimension fourth, one my Mum bought last year from the GNPE and I had my first go at paper piecing the largest flower. The smaller flowers are coloured using gold promarker and papers by papermania the colossal range from 3/4 years ago with the Martha Stewart punch again. I have added glossy accents to the smaller flowers which you cant really see. Ribbon from my stash.