Summery sharing

This lovely award is from the gorgeously talented Susie of The Twilight Zone.

I love the picture on the award - so summery and yummy :0)

So what to do?

I have to share 7 things about myself so here goes

1) I love my house - those visiting and coming to do classes can vouch for it still needing lots of work - but I love living here - even if I won the lottery this is where I would stay :0)

(I would just buy my sons homes of their own LOL)

2) I don't have a favourite colour - Im fickle and flit about in the colour stakes but it does make life interesting!

3) I began crafting in the run up to my sons 18th birthday 6 years ago - scrapbooking was my thing now its anything!

4) I have Dyan Reavely to thank for encouraging me and supporting me to become confident to set up a craft group - She has always been my inspiration and I have never met a tutor quite like her - talented, witty, full of fun, nutty as fruit cake and ever so gorgeous!

5) this may be a cheat as I think some of you know this already LOl but I love Christmas! Actually its the preparation for Christmas I love - I am quite fed up with it by the 25th December however on the 26th the planning can begin again - Mad, weird but I love it!

6) I am a mad atc collector - I have files and files of them - I do have one special file for my favourites though - one day I may share that :0)

7) I love organising - I am the behind the scenes kind of girl and have organised big conferences, training events, Workshop events and retreats etc - but on the day I am happy being the tea girl. Thats what I am good at and there is no point trying to be something I am not - somebody has to organise and I don't mind being it but on the day let someone else shine :0) Maybe I just don't like being centre of attention!

now I have to pass this on to 8 folks but how to choose between my fab fav blogs?

So if you fancy sharing and passing on please accept this award and follow its rules. do leave me a comment if you do so I can visit and nosey about your 7 facts about yourself :0)

Happy 4th July x

Janet

The Stamp Man challenge and ATC swap

Time for a new challenge at the Stamp Man challenges so do hop on over to the blog and find out more. We are challenged to use a sketch and or alcohol inks. I decided to run free with the alcohol inks which are one of my fav products from Ranger. joining in the challenge is not just fun but a prize is up for grabs each time too - with so many gorgeous things in the shop who would not love spending this prize!

For this atc I have used espresso, caramel and pink sherbet. I don't own may of the lights collection but do love the lighter tomes they bring so I may have to invest in more. (any excuse for another shopping trip huh?) I have used a diecut butterfly my pal gave me in shrink plastic and coloured that in the same colours - look how different they look in concentrated form!

Some trusty Tim Holtz stamps and archival ink and a few alcohol inked buttons from the sale room at the stamp Man and its done. Quite pink for me I think!

Now onto the ATC swap too
This month is vintage so here I have used the vintage car from the aspects of design men's stamp plate. This is quite a recent purchase for me and I love how there is a mini version of each vehicle for you to add to an embelishment - in my case the tiny tag. More archival inks, a touch of distress and a coin from my stash and its nearly done. I decided it needed a bit of distressing so attacked it with the distress tool then mounted on some green card. So there it is my Vintage atc for this months swap. - Will you be joining in this month? I do hope so - co-ordinating the swap is such fun getting to see so many mini works of art - I feel very lucky. here is the blog

have a fabulous Friday x Janet

Rockin my world Friday!

Well what a week ! work, home, freecycle its been manic - I think thanks goodness its friday is a good way of describing how I feel! Still I am ready to rock with my fellow Rockettes and our Queen rocker Virginia at the celtic house.

First of all I am grateful to have my family and friends - I love them all dearly and without them my life would be so empty. I have particular friends on my mind this week who at the moment don't have much to be pleased about but as my focus is on Grateful - I am so pleased to have met them - you know who you are - special friendships are hard to find and sometimes hard to keep but with this pair its no effort at all. I simply love them to bits and am so glad they are in my life. Huge hugs special people.

The weather has been so lovely this week - especially the cooler ones towards Friday - I live in a beautiful place in our wonderful country and should take time to appreciate it much more.

Facebook - yet again I have found myself feeling happy to be there. This week my friends and oh so may acquaintances on there helped do something very very special. A project called Purple Patch Arts, which my sis Amy attends successfully secured funding of nearly £60,000 to set up a project called changing minds which will focus on giving people with dementia meaningful, artistic and creative opportunities. All my facebook friends helped this happen by voting for them on Wednesday. the power of friendship has meant this project will go ahead and I know in my heart that each person who can be part of this will have a wonderful experience. Purple Patch arts are a quality service provider. my sister has grown in confidence and abilities in the last 2 years because of them - I will always be grateful for that.

I have loved drinking sparkling water this week so am very grateful for that - delicious on a hot day and calorie free too!

I am going to round this up by saying this is the first day of lovin' inks new venture. Michelle and I are so pleased that we have managed to bring together our stamping Club and our disabled ladies group on a fortnightly basis. This will bring lots of new challenges for us but tremendous excitement too. The groups both focus on high quality stamping - our challenge is to break it down into simple yet manageable steps. I am so happy this has happened and I just know everyone attending will have lots of fun as well as improving skills at each session. The future is really rockin!

Happy friday folks xx

Dont you just love meeting new folks

especially when they share your passion for crafting! here is a super blog of a very talented lady I have had the pleasure of meeting twice in the last 6 weeks. Her name is Susan - I do hope you enjoy your visit :0)

Christmas at the Clarkes

Another Christmas card class last night where the theme of Tim Holtz spilled over into next months theme of trees! This lush colour combo was discovered by one of my regular attendees - Alison. We were using Stampin up inks and Alison played with these colours - crumb cake, old olive and rich razzleberry. When the class was over I had a play myself and made this quick card. Stamped on cream which has the edges distressed lightly then inked with crumb cake (such a lovely colour) its then mounted on rich razzleberry card stock and onto a Kraft card blank. The trees are Tim Holtz and the sentiment butterfly kisses.

This is thin enough to go through the post on an ordinary stamp to so an extra bonus!

Thanks for the inspiration Alison!

Janet x

Try it on Tuesday All boxed up!

First of all huge thanks for all your comments last week - Rebecca was thrilled - really excited and said she felt she was famous! One very happy little girl xx

Onto this weeks challenge where we are decorating a box - any box. I was given some past times boxes after Christmas to play with - they are great as they have a magnetic clasp and are also a pretty burgundy colour.

I have added black card to the sides and top, seven gypsies papers, paper lace (have had that since time began LOL) and added a gorgeous image from crafty individuals.

Here is the inside of the box waiting to be filled and I know just the thing!

Well the sun is still shining here in Yorkshire - I hope it doesn't get too hot as I have lots of the dreaded H*******k to do today!!!

Hope your day is far more interesting than mine!

Janet x

Rocking my world Frida

A bit of a late post but I was on nights last night and was not organised at all! this week has trickled by with not much happening so i will be digging deep for my grateful s. here goes

1) As always my loving family who bring me joy each day, safety and security- without them I would be lost.

2)Lovely folks x - Crafting at Embsay on Tuesday with lovely people and again on Thursday. Today pipped the post as my fabulous friend Bobs came with hugs a plenty and sparkles in her eyes - truly one of life's most wonderful and treasured people xx

3) Chinese - yum yum - i have been a lucky gal and had 2 chinese meals at a local restaurant this week - blessed with wonderful company too what better way to spend an evening x

4) Freecycle - having received items over the last few weeks it was wonderful to be able to give this week - another thing avoiding filling a landfill site!

5) Followers. thanks so much wonderful followers for commenting on my Niece Rebeccas sun project in my last post - she is thrilled to be "Famous" and very proud of all her comments.

I wish I could have added the weather in my gratefuls but its been a miserable week of weather in the Yorkshire dales. I also heard of someone very dear to me facing another huge hurdle in their life - I would be grateful if you could spare a positive vibe or two to head their way - life is so cruel sometimes. Although this is not a positive I can honestly say it has rocked my world in the last 24 hours and given me a gnawing feeling of helplessness in my gut. I hope they know how much I love them both and want to take away their anguish. You know who you are and you are both very much loved xx

Janet