9 go mad in the Cotswolds

There is a lovely sketch challenge on Sarah's Cards' blog.

This is the sketch

 

And this is what I did by flipping the sketch round so that I could use one large landscape photograph and I substituted the space for a second photo with a journalling box.

I've recently had a fab weekend away with some of the girls from the UKS Twilight Addicts social group - this was the group photo that was taken on Sunday morning before we had to leave.  I am looking forward to getting together with these lovely ladies again next March for another weekend of madness!!

I used Sarah's Cards June 2010 kit - Pebbles Treehouse.  The photo mat was punched out using MS punch around the page Cherish and the butterflies were punched with an EK Success butterfly punch and embellished with The Hobby House self adhesive pearls.  The title is a mixture of AC thickers and MLS alphabet stickers.

There is still time to take part in the sketch challenge as it doesn't close until 7th March.

Say it with Flowers

This month's challenge on Penny Black at Allsorts is Say it with Flowers.


I have made a birthday card using a stamp that I borrowed from Dee on our Twilight weekend away

Supplies used


Happy Birthday sentiment - Cuddly Buddly
Other sentiment - Woodware
Flowers punched using Woodware daisy punches in two sizes and oakleaf punch, hole punch used for centres which were watercoloured yellow and glittered with stickles
Patterned paper - from scraps box


A close up of the image -

Only one month to go!!!!!

OMG I  just noticed my ticker - in a month's time we will be in Port Zelande, Holland at our very first Marillion convention.  I am just so excited that I just cannot contain myself.  Most people around us just don't understand and think we have gone a little bit bonkers, but this is my definition of heaven - to spend three days with other people who just get Marillion in the same way as us and don't roll their eyes everytime the M word is mentioned.  The three gigs over three nights are going to be just awesome if the bits of YouTube coverage of the 2009 convention is anything to go by.

This video is just a little taster of what happened two years ago -

And we have just heard that we have been picked to have an official photograph taken with the band during the weekend - I won't be able to wait to get home and scrapbook that photograph!!!!  It will have pride of place in my Marillion album!  Here's hoping that I don't develop a giant spot on my nose that weekend LOL!!

And after the convention we get to stay on in Holland to visit family friends - some of them I haven't seen since I was 13 years old.  I am going to pack a big box of tissues as I think I will be shedding a lot of tears of happiness that week.

Saturday Nights (and WOYWW)

Once again there is a great monthly challenge over on the Scrapology blog using this sketch

And this is my interpretation of the sketch

I used Sarah's Cards October 2010 kit - Crate 'Restoration'.  There was one sheet of paper which was done in different stripes and that jumped out at me as being ideal  for this sketch.  I used various Martha Stewart border punches on several of the stripes and mixed them up with the matching self adhesive borders that came with the set.  I couldn't bring myself to write on my photos so added My Little Shoebox alphabet stickers and stamped out a journalling circle.  Once again I have delved into my old photo box and found these three photos from 1985 - back when I was young, free and single and every weekend meant pubbing and clubbing LOL I don't think my liver or my aging joints could cope now!!

I had done the class that the sketch was based on at the Cardinal Colours Seaside retreat last year - this was the layout that I did in class -

There is still time to take part in the Scrapology challenge as it doesn't close until 5th March and there is a lovely prize on offer from Jill at Cardinal Colours

Sandra has been encouraging those in Red Ribbons House on UKS to take part in What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday?  I tried to wiggle out of joining in by saying that I didn't have a desk to work from and usually used one end of my dining room table at the weekends and a laptray and sofa during the week, but was told that I could still take a picture of wherever I worked LOL!!  So this is what my dining room table looked like on Sunday -

As you can see I work in chaos with stuff all over the place including my net book close by and always Peppermint tea in my Marillion mug.  I keep my BigKick out on the dining room table all the time so that I can use it easily (if it lived in a cupboard I would never bother getting it out. 

The two layouts on the table were both works in progress for my Marillion album.

And the table viewed from the other way with my boxes of punches and dies behind me

Flying by to wish you .....

This week's challenge on PBSC  is the dreaded make a man's card challenge.  I must admit that I don't like making male cards as I am always lost as to how to embellish the card as I love my flowers and butterflies.  But this is what I came up with as like it or not I do have to make quite a few male birthday cards each year.

I used the hedgehopper stamp that I had bought to make a Valentines card with and left off the trail of hearts

Supplies used

Happy Birthday sentiment - Cuddly Buddly
Just flying by sentiment - computer generated and used SU punches
Mats - nestabilities labels 11
White mat embossed with cuttlebug star folder
Patterned paper - unknown from scraps bag

A close up of the image -

Bedtime Stories

I have decided to do Shimelle's new monthly free class 4 x 6 photo love and this is the layout that I have done based on the first month's class.

I am trying to scrap more of my older photographs as well as recent stuff so found this photo from 1995.  I used Sarah's Cards May 2010 kit - Fancy Pants 'Roadshow', a sheet of MM noteworthy for the journalling, assorted blossoms and bling/pearls from my stash and the alpha is Echo Park 'Life is Good'.

There is still time to do the first class as the next class does not go live until 28th February.

January's Rudolph Day

For some time now I try to have one day each month where I make some Christmas cards to make life a little easier later on in the year.  I always call it Rudolph Day (after a challenge I took part in some years ago on UKS on 25th of each month). 

This year I haven't got off to the greatest start but did manage some cards for various challenges during January and these three cards.

I used some new Penny Black stamps, Marianne D dies and a crafters workshop template for the paper pricking.

And I dusted off a magnolia stamp that I haven't used in ages

All Dressed Up

There is a lovely sketch challenge on ATDML blog at the moment.

And this is my take on the sketch

I used Sarah's Cards August 2010 kit - Kaisercraft 'Peachy Keen' and various Martha Stewart border punches.  The bottom brown border is a felt trim from Pink Paislee.  The title was cut using a Sizzlet alpha - Naturally Serif.  The photo is of my niece Milly on her cruise last year.

Pretty in Pink

The challenge this week at Penny Black Saturday Challenge was Pretty in Pink which suited me nicely as pink is my fave colour.  I used an old favourite stamp 'Uplifting Occasion' - one of my earliest Penny Black purchases and made this birthday card.

A close up of the stamped image

And the paper flower which I made using this tutorial on Inspirational tips

 

I used a woodware scallop punch and a Stampin' Up script stamp.  The fern is a Leonne Em floral punchart punch.  I was very brave and used glimmer mists (those who know me well know that I hate messy crafts LOL!) - I bet the neighbours wondered what I was up to as I did the spraying out in the back garden wearing gloves and apron and with my circles inside a deep cardboard box to prevent the spray from going everywhere!!!

Cute teddy stamps

I recently took part in a blog hop organised by Penny Black @Allsorts, it was great fun with lots of inspiration on the way round all the blogs and then a few days later I got the news that I had won some stamps.

So I am now the owner of this sweet little teddy and a gorgeous sentiment to go with him.  Also included was a lovely little card from Brenda.    Thankyou Penny Black @Allsorts, I can't wait to get this little teddy all inky and make some cards with him.

Love is in the Air

This week's challenge at PBSC was to complete the phrase Love Is ....... either on the front or inside the card.

I treated myself to this stamp (Hedgehopper) last month when the new Valentine releases came out from Penny Black.

I try to get lots of use from my stamps and could easily use this for male birthdays by not stamping the string of hearts. 

This is the card that I have made to give to my DH for Valentine's Day

I used paper from Craft Creations Ltd, organza ribbon from my stash and some mini alphabet stamps (think they are Studio G) for the title.  The heart was cut from chipboard using a Sizzlet die, coloured with a red tombow marker pen and then covered with red glitter glue.  The image was watercoloured with Derwent pencils and the hearts were highlighted with glossy accents.

A close up of the image

I am sure he will like it and at least he won't get the sulks because I have given him a shop bought card LOL!!

Sorry for the picture quality - the weather is dire here at the moment for photography.

Anita's January Class

Our January class is usually a Christmas themed layout so that we can use one of our Christmas photographs.  This time we were using Basic Grey Jovial and you can see Anita's class page on her blog Inky Blossom.

I decided to do the layout without the origami tree on it, but I did take some scrap paper with me to have a go at making the tree and it was surprisingly easy.  I used a photograph of Richard opening his stocking presents on Christmas Day.

There was a lot of handcutting involved which I quite enjoy and it was also a layout to go to town with the Stickles.  Thanks Anita for another lovely class.

Twilight Addicts weekend away

I have just returned from a lovely weekend away with some dear friends from the Twilight Addicts social group on UKS.  We had a fab weekend consisting mainly of chattering, eating and a bit of crafting thrown into the mix.  It may surprise some people that we didn't watch any of the movies whilst away!!!

The cupcakes that I had featured earlier on the blog went down really well with everyone and my friend Anita aka The Inky Blossom challenged me before going to get piccies of the girls eating them and to do a layout about them called Love at First Bite.  So with that in mind I took these piccies of everyone filling their faces -

The lovely Lisa who organised our weekend away

Heather

Gemma

Dee (fiddly-dee potatoes!!)

Carin and Jill

And me trying to see if I could fit a whole cupcake in

We had a stowaway smuggled onto our weekend - meet Vern!!

He belongs to Jess and goes everywhere with her so he couldn't resist a weekend away in the Cotswolds (not that he saw much of the Cotswolds but I think he enjoyed all the Pepsi Max and cakes!!)

Here he is with Jess -

We all had our photo taken with Vern over the weekend -

You can see the rest on Jess' blog

And finally a group piccie of us all minus our jackets that do up at the back

I suspect in the next few days more incriminating photographs will be flying around the interweb!!

Dizzy Dots set the weekly challenge on UKS

This week it is my team's turn to set the weekly challenge on UKScrappers.  Whilst we were on our team weekend away back in November we had discussed what to do for a challenge when it was our turn to set one.  One idea suggested was that we all used the same photograph for our layout so it was decided that we would all use the group photograph from the weekend.

The elements for our challenge are -

Use the sketch provided
Use a photograph of a group of people, objects or animals
Use some pink and stitching to feature on the layout

This was the sketch that we used from Page Maps

And this is my take on the sketch

I used Sarah's Cards October kit - Crate Paper 'Restoration', MLS alphabet stickers, Martha Stewart butterfly punch and The Hobby House pearls.

A close up of my stitched element

It has been really interesting to see how all our layouts have differed even though we have all used the same sketch and photograph.

Twilight cupcakes

I wanted to take some home baked goodies on our Twilight Addicts weekend away but wanted to do something new, so volunteered to supply cupcakes.  I found this lovely recipe and they suggested that they would be good for a Halloween or twilight themed party.  The test batch was tested on my DH and other family members - they went down very well and were given a 9 out of 10 nom nom rating.  So I set about making a full batch to share at the weekend

Pre-oven

Just baked

Centres injected with raspberry jam - these have been done as described in the recipe and the only fault that my taste testers could find with the cupcakes was that there should be more jam in the centres.  So for my second batch I actually scooped out a small well in the top of the cake and was able to add a lot more jam and once the icing is added you cannot see the hole in the top of the cake.

Iced (sadly my icing skills are not up to much, I tried to pipe the icing on so that they looked like the ones in the original recipe but they looked disgusting so I resorted to just slathering the topping on with a spatula).  I really wanted to decorate the cakes with a red apple but could not find anything suitable that was edible so had to settle for jelly hearts.  In future and time allowing I could always make some from fondant icing.

Afternoon treat

Going

Going

Gone

They were very yummy but very sweet and sickly, I would be surprised if anyone would eat two of these in one sitting.  I hope the girls like them this weekend.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge Week 136

This week's challenge at PBSC was to use this lovely sketch

I needed to do something quick and easy as this week has been a really manic one so I grabbed a stamped image that had already been watercoloured and matted.   It just so happens to be a Christmas image -  so I now have 6 cards done towards the minimum of 150 that I will be needing.

Papers are from a Dovecraft paper set from a couple of years ago, Martha Stewart snowflake punches and a liberal dose of crystal Stickles.

Right gotta dash as have a class this evening with the lovely Anita M at Cardinal Colours and then tomorrow I am off to the Cotswolds to spend the weekend with some of the Twilight Addicts from UKS.  We are supposed to be spending the weekend crafting but I think we will mainly be watching DVDs, eating cupcakes & chocolate and doing rather a lot of chattering LOL!!!!