Going to the Chapel

At the recent Littlegreen retreat, we had a goody bag on the table and there was a page kit and sketch included.  The sketch was Sue's monthly sketch challenge.

 And the papers are from Basic Grey 'Fresh Cut'

The title is cut with Sizzlet alphabet 'Naturally Serif' and the butterflies are an EK Success punch. The photographs are of the Little Chapel on Guernsey.

Thanks Sue for a lovely sketch - if you want to take part you will have to be quick as the challenge closes on 29th February.

Beat the Christmas Rush - the February Edition

Something a little bit different for this month's offering for Beat the Christmas Rush - when I was doing some tidying and sorting last weekend, I found a bag with some small cross stitch pieces in it. It was my travel bag that I take on holidays for stitching either on a long car journey or whilst relaxing on a cruise.

I used some double fold cards from Craft Creations and made these cards -

I used peel off sentiments and stars to decorate the cards.  The next cards didn't need any decorating as they already had sentiments printed on the blanks.

The patterns are all from Quick and Easy Cross Stitch magazine (no longer published) and are by Margaret Sherry who designs a lot of the critter stamps for Penny Black.

Well that is a few more Christmas cards sorted - if you would like to join in this month with Beat the Christmas Rush, just make a few cards to get ahead and then link your blog post in the linky below, you have until 24th March to join in.

Memorandum Monday - yes I know it is Tuesday and I'm Late LOL!!!!!!

I just ran out of day yesterday to report on my weekend and the week ahead.  So here I am a day late with no note from my Mum dropping by to wave to Sian over at From High in the Sky.

It was a pretty busy weekend, things kicked off on Friday with getting up at 5.50 am to pick Mum up nice and early to take her to the hospital for her second cataract op.  Whilst she was busy seeing doctors, having drops put in and the op itself, I busied myself with sewing up these cuties for our Easter fundraiser.

I did have more than this but one of the nurses took a fancy to them and bought a couple of them. Anyway Mum's op went well and she has had a good weekend, just counting down the weeks now till she can finally get some new glasses.

Saturday we went to visit a friend in her new home, we only got lost once trying to find it and then we took her to a nice restaurant to celebrate he 50th birthday which she had had earlier in the week.

On Sunday I was slightly bitten by the spring cleaning bug so did lots of sorting out and putting away of stuff  - whilst doing that I found a bag of cross stitched pieces that have been done on various holidays and cruises.  They are now all backed with interfacing and waiting for me to turn them into cards.

And this week finds me getting ready for our spring retreat in a barn conversion on the Welsh border, I need to start making my table gifts (or rather the packaging to put my gifts in)

There is more baking to be done - so far I have a coffee cake and mince pies in the freezer, I think I will make a Dundee cake next.   And I am still in the mood for Spring cleaning and organising, I did the main bedroom yesterday, today I am going to tackle the boxes where I store my ribbons.

Have a great week everyone!!

Memorandum Monday

Just a quick fly in to wave at Sian over at From High in the Sky.

It was a fairly quiet weekend - Mr P is on early turns, so he is early to bed and early to rise with me trying not to be the clumsy oaf fairy elephant that I usually am and be nice and quiet.   As we are busy getting ready for our Spring fundraiser, I spent Saturday evening with mum and dad.  We shared a bottle of wine, I stitched up a load of knitted ladybugs and bubble bees (will share when they are complete) and we generally put the world to rights as  there was nothing on TV.

Sunday was spent preparing a nice Valentines roast dinner to share with Mr P (before he went to bed early) and finishing an 18th birthday album for my youngest nephew.

It was made using clear CD wallets and papers from Fancy Pants 'Swagger' and Crate Paper 'Farmhouse Collection', plus odd stickers and alphabets left over from kits and classes.

Nothing very new happened at the weekend, apart from delivery of this -

Back in 2004 I was invested into the Order of St John as a Serving Sister, I have the full size version of this medal but I never realised that you could have a miniature of the medal to wear on evening dress.  A lovely lady on our evening dining table on the last cruise wore a medal on the formal nights and I was nosey curious enough to ask about it.  It was a MBE and after chatting she told me I must investigate and get myself a miniature of my medal as she said I should be proud of my achievement and wear it.  So here it is - I found a supplier in London who makes miniatures and got one ordered.  And now I need another cruise so that I can wear it on a Captain's formal night LOL!!!

Monday has brought with it all the usual laundry and planning for the week ahead, a fairly quiet week with a visit to the hairdressers and maybe a hospital visit at the end of week.  So time to get back to more planning and creating for the spring fundraiser!!

Have a great week everyone!!

Happy Valentines x 3

I thought I had better share this year's Valentines offerings before it becomes the 15th.  As usual I started out with one idea and then came up with another and then ended up making three cards in the end LOL!!  Like a lot of crafters I always have doubts over whether a handmade card is as good as a large all singing and dancing shop bought one, hopefully three cards are!!

The first one is based on a jokey name I have for Mr P - my cash cow (a couple of years ago someone who knows nothing of our finances and my pension situation jibed that I treated Mr P like a cash cow - which we very quickly turned into one of our little jokes - I ask him for money and he moos at me in reply ROFL!!!!).  I have quite a few of these Penny Black cow stamps and I made my own sentiment using a Stampin' Up alphabet roller stamp.  (And I have already thought up a cow related sentiment for next year - I had better make a note of it as I have a brain like a sieve!!)

The paper is a magazine freebie and the gemstones are from Poundland, the stitched rectangle is a Memory Box die.

For card no 2 I used a free printable but sadly I haven't labelled where it came from and when the sheet was printed there was no clue on that - so if you recognise it please let me know and then I can give due credit.  Mr P loves hippos so I cut out the hippo and mounted him onto a heart embossed with a Stampin' Up folder.  Once again the sentiment was stamped with the Stampin' Up alpha' roller stamp and the paper is from Craft Creations.

I couldn't resist sticking some googly eyes on the hippo - I got a huge bag from Poundland in all different sizes and this is the first time I have thought about adding them to an image, they certainly make him look even cuter!!

And the third card is using a Digistamp Boutique digi-stamp which I then coloured in with Promarkers - I find that I have to be very careful with the colouring as we have an inkjet printer and it is very easy to smudge the ink if you aren't careful.

The papers are magazine freebies, the sentiments are from Stampin' Up 'Good Greetings' Hostess set and I coated the hearts with a layer of glossy accents to make them lovely and shiny.  The gem hearts are from Poundland.

Memorandum Monday

And so another Monday rolls around and it is time to go and wave to Sian at From High in the Sky and report on my weekend and anything new that I have done or learnt.

It was Dad's birthday on Saturday so I made him a card, I used a Penny Black stamp (...for a spin) that I haven't used in ages.  It is very appropriate for my Dad as he grew up on a dairy farm and he goes out on his bike every day - not bad for 77 years old.

There was nothing really new about the weekend - an evening spent with my parents, though we did watch a new to us film - Legend.  Mum has a new knitting pattern for our fundraising and has knitted loads of cute ladybirds - hopefully next week I might have some photos once I have finished stitching them and putting their faces on.  And on Sunday as it was the first Sunday of the month we had our usual crop at Cardinal Colours (where my camera sat in my handbag for the day and I forgot to take the usual photograph!!)

Today we went to the local Harvester for a meal for Dad's birthday

But the best bit of newness happened this afternoon - booking opened for some of the tour dates for Marillion and I have got tickets for Manchester and Cardiff.  As more venues go on sale we will add another couple of venues and spend a great week later this year whizzing round the UK following our favourite band.

So have a great week everyone, I am looking forward to seeing the new Dad's Army film later this week and getting down to some baking - we have our usual March crafty meet up in Herefordshire coming up and so far I haven't made a single cake for it!!

Challenge YOUrself #25 - Today is the Day

I've taken part in this month's Challenge YOUrself blog challenge - a nice easy theme of Anything Goes.  I used some photographs from my 50th Birthday last year, when I was lucky enough to be away on a Baltic cruise.

The papers are from Crate Paper ranges 'Notes & Things' and 'Craft Market'.  The chipboard title and butterflies are also from Crate Paper and the gold stickers are from Heidi Swapp.

Memorandum Monday

And so another Monday rolls around and it is time to give Sian a wave over at From High in the Sky and report on what was new at the weekend or anything new learnt.

It was actually a pretty quiet weekend which was good after a few very manic ones.  I spent most of the time crafting and did a visit to my parents.  Mum and I are planning a new fundraiser - we are going to do a little Easter sale at the home where they live, so she is busy knitting chicks and ducks for me to stuff and sew up and I am planning Easter cards to make.

I did get a package of new music to listen to and a new book to read -

The book is by my friend Travis Little and I am sure it will be every bit as good as his last book Entangled.  The music is by Steven Wilson, we enjoyed the gig so much last week that we now need to catch up with older music of his, plus he has a new album just out so that was added to the package.

And this Monday brings a brand new month -

I just love it when a new month starts on a Monday, it just feels right and proper!!

So I hope you all have a good week, pop over to Sian's blog if you want to see what the other Mondayers are all up to.  This week I will be working out what my card requirements for the Easter fundraiser are and getting ready for my monthly scrap class and crop that all happen this week - so it will be a week full of craftiness - one of the best kinds of week!!