Memorandum Monday

Another Monday has rolled around so it is time to hop on over to From High in the Sky and pay Sian a visit!!

It has been a pretty quiet weekend here as Mr P was working 12 hour night shifts all weekend.  I carried on quietly tackling the laundry monster - he has now been beaten into submission but that pesky ironing monster is taking a while to tame, the weather has just been so muggy it isn't comfortable to do more than an half an hour at a time.

Saturday evening I went to my parents and we watched The Hobbit part 1 whilst I busied myself sewing up soft toys that Mum has been knitting for our autumn fundraiser - I worked on some penguins this weekend, they are very fiddly with the wings, feet and beak and it takes quite a while just to sew one up.

Sunday I made sure I was parked on the sofa to watch the men's Wimbledon final with a glass of Pimms at the ready.

I wasn't disappointed with the result - well done Andy Murray and also a big well done to Heather Watson who won in the mixed doubles!!

I also made a good start on a wedding anniversary card - I need to get cracking with it as it is needed this week!!

Monday sees me looking forward to a busy week, a meal out with an old friend, a cinema visit and hopefully some time in the garden finishing off the tubs are all on the list for the week, plus a cyber crop by A Trip Down Memory Lane starting on Friday (so I definitely need to do some tidying in the boxroom so that I can get to all my stash easily!!)

One Layer Cards - Penny Black Saturday Challenge

The challenge this month over at Penny Black Saturday Challenge is One Layer cards.  I needed to make some quick thank you cards for Mr P after his birthday so came up with these, I made quite a few as you can never have too many thank you cards.

I stamped directly onto the card using a stamp from T for transparent set 'Sunny Days' and the sentiment is from a set called 'Critter Time'.

I coloured the image with Promarkers and used Stickles on the butterflies and the grass for a little sparkle.

Memorandum Monday

Helllllooooo Monday - have you missed me?  We got back from our Grand Scottish Road Trip last Monday but I discovered fairly soon after walking in that my laptop was dead!!  So I haven't so far been able to share much about the holiday - I am borrowing Mr P's PC to do today's post and hopefully fairly soon I might have a lovely new shiny laptop!!  The holiday was brilliant - I am having trouble adjusting to speeded up life - the pace is very slow on Orkney and even slower on Shetland - I am missing the simmer din, free range sheep all over the road and people who give you cheery waves when you pull over to let them pass you on the narrow single lane tracks - we had our cheery waves perfected by the end of the trip but they seem a little wasted down here in the deep south, people don't seem to appreciate them LOL!!

So this last week has seen me drowning under a pile of dirty washing - it was just too disheartening to photograph just how much washing two people generate in 15 days.  The good news is I have caught up with the washing and now the ironing monster has taken up residence - I will tame him slowly whilst I catch up with two weeks of recorded TV.  I had a break over the weekend from all the catching up with domestic stuff.  On Saturday I went to my parents to deliver little pressies and just have a catch up.  It was my turn to supply the wine so it seemed the ideal opportunity to try out the Orkney Raspberry liqueur that I had brought back - they did say in the shop that it went really nicely with fizz!!

The verdict - my Mum prefers her fizz plain but I really liked it!!

Sunday was a beautiful day - the sun was shining and we went out for the day with Mum and Dad as Mr P had a rare Sunday off (I made a bit of a boob when making plans for the weekend and completely forgot it was my crop weekend - can't believe I did that LOL but sometimes when the opportunity comes up to do family things you have to go with it!!).  Our first stop was Middle Farm near Firle for a light lunch and some retail therapy in the farm shop.  I got some lovely sausages - Wild Boar and Apple for me and Venison and Red Wine for Mr P - I think we will be having some sausage ploughman's for dinner.

Then we went on to Hadlow Down so that my grandparent's grave could be tidied up.  I went for a wander up to the little church - I was christened here and my parent's got married here almost 53 years ago.

A little drive round after that found us near Mayfield so we did an impromptu visit to an aunt and uncle and after a pleasant cup of tea in their garden we wended our way back home and had a meal out at a nearby pub.  A wonderful weekend and the perfect way to recharge our batteries ready to take on another week.

One of my main jobs this week is to sort the garden out - I had cleared out all the tubs before we went away and last week we managed to get a few bedding plants.  So today I have made a start making the back garden a little more colourful.

Hopefully next week I can share some photos of the finished garden.  The rest of this week involves a trip to town for some retail therapy, taming the ironing monster and my monthly scrap class.

Hope you all have a good week, I'm off to give Sian and the other Mondayers a wave over at From High in the Sky.  And a Happy 4th July to all my American blog readers xx

Beat the Christmas Rush - June Edition

Well that last month disappeared in the blink of an eye, can't believe it is time to share another batch of Christmas cards.

I delved into the bag of shame again (where I keep my new but unused stamps and dies) and found a lovely stamp and die set from Stampin' Up - Snow Place.  I just didn't get time last year to use them, but I am glad I have now used them, they are so lovely.

 I embossed the background (with a SU embossing folder) onto Pool Party cardstock.  The speech bubble and sentiment are also from Stampin' Up.

I then went round the outside of the background with Stardust Stickles to add a bit of sparkle.

If you would like to join in then all you have to do is make some Christmas cards and share them on your blog (put a link in the linky tool below)

Happy Father's Day

This is the card that I have made for my Dad this year - I thought the image was very appropriate for him as he is always whizzing around on his bike, even at the age of 77.

The stamp is from Penny Black T for transparent set 'You're Retro' and the little sentiment is also from that set.  The Father's Day sentiment is by Stamps Away.

Happy Birthday Mr P!!!

It's Mr P's birthday today so as usual I have rustled him up a card.  I used Penny Black stamp 'Double Decker'.

The papers are from Wild Rose Studio and the sentiments are by Woodware and Paper Smooches.  I coloured the image with Promarkers.

I hope Mr P has a lovely day, we have a nice meal out to look forward to later.

Memorandum Monday

Whoops a bit of a belated wave to Sian over at From High in the Sky for Memorandum Monday.

The best thing about the weekend was making a decision about a cruise for next year - we are going to go back to Iceland taking in The Faroes on route.  We have been to Iceland once before but most of our ports of call were cancelled as we got stuck in a huge storm off the coast of Greenland.  So we are hoping for better luck this time.

We had our monthly crop on Sunday but sadly I forgot to take my camera with me, I was reasonably productive and made three layouts.

Monday is a glorious day - it is so good to be able to get all the washing line dried.

The June birchbox was delivered

I started preparing my travel journal and an empty birchbox is perfect for carrying my crafting stuff - I want to keep my supplies to a minimum so if they don't fit into the box they can't go.

This week is all about getting ready for the holiday, there is lots of packing to do and appointments to attend.  Hope you all have a good week!!