At last.......

Very short post....but here it is!! March all ready to go xx

Not sure where the last two weeks have gone to......

  

....oh, my goodness...where does time go to??? Have had a manic couple of weeks with very little time for crafting at all!! The picture above is of my lovely children. Bethany was 18 in November and for one reason and another we were unable to celebrate properly at the time so we secretly planned a trip to Heston Blumenthal's restaurant, The Fat Duck, during half term. They were very excited and thoroughly enjoyed eating a whole range of fantastic dishes! My personal favourite was the Mock Turtle soup served as though it was part of the Mad Hatters Tea Party.We were given a cup with a gold watch hanging in it....

                                     

......then the bowl of soup arrived...it just looked too pretty to eat......

...the waitress arrived and poured hot water into the tea cup, which we then had to stir until the watch had dissolved and pour into the bowl...

...and here's the finished product!!! It looked amazing.....and tasted divine!!!

The day before all this I was lucky enough to go to a workshop with Suze Weinberg!! What a lovely lady....I had such a good day and now I actually know how to use my melt pot properly I will definitely be getting it out more often!!! Here are a couple of the things I made....

.....totally coincidentally, an Alice in Wonderland beeswax collage!!!

This was so simple, but very effective....we covered the glass from a memory frame with red line tape, then stuck a couple of pieces of torn book page to it. We then applied some foil and finished off with gold UTEE and Bedazzled jewels. Attached to the bottom is one of Tim's tokens. It was a lovely day and I met some really nice people....again!!

The following week was Sam's 16th birthday and this is the card I made for him! I used my Stampin' Up All in the Family stamps to make the little 'Sams'......and my new Copic markers to do most of the colouring!!!

And finally, better late than never....my February diary pages!!! WAHEEEYYYYY!!!!!

...have to report that March is still in production....well it's ONLY 6 days to catch up on!!!

See you all soon......ooohhhh.......Artsycrafts next weekend.....very excited.....xxxx

Whoops!!!

Well the motto of the story is "Preview before you publish"!!!! Don't know what happened there in my previous post because the photo was the right way round when I was typing!! Hey ho!!! Anyway, as I was apologising once again for my technical incompetence, I thought I may as well put another couple of pictures on.

The first one is Ian's birthday card...I saw this card in Craft Stamper and thought I'd give the whole photo tinting thing a go. I used Distress Inks and Paperartsy stamps for the background. The watch face has Crackle Accents on it. The gorgeous baby is my lovely husband aged 6 months. His mum was a great believer in the great outdoors and getting as much fresh air to babies as possible....but only she would have sat him on the potty under a sunshade!!!!!

The second card is a get well card I made for my friend Ann, who has been so poorly....am pleased to report that she is, at last, starting to make a recovery....have certainly missed her wonderful blogging!!! I made the background with Distress Inks, then overstamped it with a Stamping Up stamp. The little house is absolutely one of my favourites and is by Home Impressions...again painted with Distress Inks xxx

Hope everything stays the right way up this time...fingers crossed x

Belated Valentines!!!!

Here are the card and picture I made for Valentines Day...they were well received, as all my hand made offerings are. It is nice to have such an appreciative family! I sometimes think they wonder what I do upstairs in my craft room for hours on end, but they certainly love to receive the things I make them!!

The card was made using a stamp I downloaded and then painted using Distress Inks. I embossed the hearts on the tree and attached to the card using brads.

The picture was a straight lift from a magazine called Simply Handmade and was designed by Emily Spahn. I loved it as soon as I saw it...it's really simple, but very eye catching and effective.

Some Cards.....

Ooops!! Forgot to put my 'title page' on yesterday...I thought the calendar deserved one....and I was getting carried away with my paints and stamps!!

Here are a couple of cards I made last week for a work colleague. One is for her dad and the other for her grandson.

She really liked them and I hope the recipients enjoy them too!!

...and finally...my lovely friend Helen has just had a beautiful baby girl, Georgie and this is the card I made to welcome her. This one was slightly traumatic for me as Helen is a very talented paper crafter who has worked for Sizzix and had loads of stuff published in mags, so I wanted it to be 'just right'!! Thankfully she loved it....

Am getting frustrated with this blogger thing cos I can't get my pictures and text where I want them to go...obviously doing something wrong so will have to check it out with the kids later!! In the meantime apologies for my random placements!!!

January calendar page...DONE!!!

Well I never thought I would...but I DID!!!! Here is my completed January page. I have never done anything like this before, but have to say I have absolutely loved it!! Seeing it develop each day has been great....now February is ready to go and it looks SO bland and boring next to Jan!!! Can't wait to get on with this one now!!

WOW!!! Tidy room....

Well the book was a huge success with Bethany...I am so pleased with it, it was certainly worth all the hard work.I have been busy getting my craft room into an area that is actually pleasurable to work in. Just before Christmas I ordered another Really Useful Storage Unit from Storage4Crafts and have spent the last week having a good clear out. The snow came in useful for this as I couldn't move my car off the drive and school was closed!!I have now, rather belatedly, started on my 2010 diary a la Kate at The Kathryn Wheel. I have been writing my snippets down in a book all ready to transfer to my finished pages....watch this space!!

Well, I had a delivery (2 months worth, cos of the weather!) from my lovely Stampin' Up lady, Maria yesterday...oh, and one from Sizzix, too...I really must stop...so i'm off to put that away, and get to work on that diary. ......And, back to Weight Watchers tonight, before I go POP!!!!