Beat the Christmas Rush - January 2016

Apologies that I am a bit late sharing this month - I will be on time in February!!

When I made this card I also coloured in a lot more images so that I could batch make more cards.

I cut the image out with a Stampin' Up framelit die, mounted it on a card covered with various patterned papers from Craft Creations, inked the edges with chalk ink and then decorated with snowflakes diecut from glitter or pearlescent cardstock.

I made seven which has got me off to a good start for this year.

The snowflakes are mixture of Cuttlebug and All Occasion Dies.  The flamingo digi-stamps are from Pink Petticoat which has sadly closed down.

If you would like to join in and get ahead with your Christmas cards then please make some cards, blog about them using the title Beat the Christmas Rush and then add your blog post to the linky below so that I can come along to see what you have been doing.

Memorandum Monday (or Tuesday as it has been a four day weekend!!)

I'm a bit late this week but it has been a nice long weekend so I have lots of things to report for Sian's Memorandum Monday.

The weekend kicked off early with a crafting retreat that started on Friday - it was a new retreat organised by Sue at a lovely hotel on the outskirts of Arundel.

The food was divine - I didn't get photographs but they had the biggest profiteroles I have ever seen (actually I think Wendy might have got a photograph - so I will try to remember to share once she sends them to me).  We had a lovely large crop room, with large tables so plenty of room to work, there was a shop provided by Cre8tive Online and lots of make & takes and challenges to take part in.

Katie from Cre8tive Online ran an optional class on distress inks - I have always struggled with using the blending tool so decided to give the class a go. I can proudly report that I have learnt new skills and can now blend - there will be no stopping me now and I didn't realise that you could do so much with the distress inks.  Once I have finished making all my samples I will have a nice little book to refer to.

I shared a table with Wendy

and Elizabeth and Amanda

The shop was right behind me

So no shock that some new stash came home with me!!!!

It was over all too quickly but the good news is that the same weekend has been booked for next year!!

And then the weekend carried on into Monday with a trip to Brighton - we met up with these guys at the Marina for drinks, chatter and a meal, before going onto the Dome that evening to see Steven Wilson in concert - another new thing for me this weekend, we have only recently started listening to his music and this was our first time seeing him live - it was absolutely brilliant!!

I'm absolutely shattered now - it is back to reality, getting on with the laundry, shopping, house stuff and slowly unpacking my retreat stuff.  I will try and share the stuff that I made over the weekend very soon!!

If you fancy sharing about your weekend, the new things that you did or new things that you learnt then hop over to see Sian at From High in the Sky and give her a wave!!

Beat the Christmas Rush - January 2016

I wasn't sure if I was going to carry on with Beat the Christmas Rush this year but have decided to as it helps me to keep on track with my Christmas card requirements.  I usually need about 100 for myself and then I also need about another 50 to sell later in the year at a couple of fundraisers.  So it would be lovely if some people would like to join me during the year and save ourselves a mad panic come the beginning of December, when we don't have enough cards.

You can make any amount of cards that you like each month and there will be a linky so that I can find your blog post and see what you have been up to.  I will share my favourites the following month.

And now for the confession - life has got in the way of me getting started with my Christmas cards so far this year - I have some toppers prepared but they haven't made it onto cards yet, so I will be a bit late posting January's cards.  I am hoping to have them done and blogged by 28th.  In the meantime I will share a Christmas card that I made last year for someone that loves flamingos.

 The flamingo is a digistamp from Pink Petticoat Boutique but sadly is no longer available to buy as Pink Petticoat has closed.

I used a Stampin Up thinlet to cut out the image and was coloured with Promarkers.   The die cut background is a Penny Black die and I used some Hobbycraft glitter cardstock.

I will be back in a few days time with my proper Beat the Christmas Rush post!!

Memorandum Monday

It is still just about Monday so I need to share what was new about my weekend.

It was a fairly quiet one with the usual Saturday visit to my parents - full of moans now there is no Strictly to watch and deciding that there is nothing but rubbish on tv on a Saturday.  Sadly none of us got any new DVDs at Christmas!!  I did get some excitement in the post - our new cruise loyalty cards.  We always cruise with Fred Olsen and during the last cruise we moved from Silver membership to Gold.  So we now have new Gold cards and luggage labels as well - not bad as we have only been cruising for 11 years and sometimes only do one cruise every 2 - 3 years - we have clocked up 116 cruise nights in total.

I christened a new stamp at the weekend - sssshhhhhh I have only had it in my stash for a year - a bargain in last year's sales and I have only just got it inky.

Now I know it is only January but I do need to start thinking about Christmas cards - I need over 100 for myself plus I will be making cards to sell for Children with Cancer Fund again.  I will be running Beat the Christmas Rush again on the blog so I need to think about making something to show on 25th.

So that was my weekend, I have a busy week ahead with a theatre trip to see Blood Brothers, seeing the local am-dram group's panto and a post-Christmas meal out with other volunteers from the charity.  And then on Friday I am off to Arundel on a new retreat - I had better start thinking about what to pack.

If you want to find out all about Memorandum Monday then pop over to From High in the Sky and give Sian a wave!!

Happy New Year and Memorandum Monday

Well hello, almost a month since my last blog post and the main thing I need to say (if I still have any blog readers left out there) is HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year cruise and I will blog more on that once I have sorted out all the photographs.

Sian has had a little shake up of Me on Monday and it is now Memorandum Monday where we share something we have done for the first time or something new we have learnt at the weekend.  I will probably a lot of weeks still do a little round up of the weekend and my week ahead as I did enjoy that and also my life isn't that exciting that I get to do many new things LOL!!

Well I have actually learnt something new this weekend - as usual I have post-cruise boat spin.  My body still feels like it is on the ship, I can't stop swaying, I can still feel the throb of the engines beneath my feet, my balance is so much worse than usual, I am really fatigued and I feel like I am standing still and everything is rushing past me, making my head spin.  I am usually like this for at least a month post cruise, sometimes it can last for up to 8 weeks.  I have found out that this is quite common and is called Mal De Debarquement Syndrome.  I am grateful, that for me this is usually a temporary thing, some poor people never recover from it.  I am also grateful that I don't get the nausea that some people have - but I have never suffered with sea sickness, even when it is really rough.  So in the next few weeks if you see me rocking from side to side, I haven't lost the plot - I am just trying to get my land legs back!!

If you get a chance pop along to wave at Sian over at From High in the Sky and tell her about anything new you did at the weekend or something new you have learnt.