Something a bit different ....

My fab blog buddy Tab has been giving me private lessons in jewellery making. I wanted something different for my 25th ... ahem ... birthday from Fae, something that i could keep. I thought it was about time i had a decent dressy watch seeing as i have 2 wedding's coming up soon and only have my trusty tigger watch with a black leather strap lol! So, thanks to Tab i sent Fae off with a shopping list and pointed her in the direction of a fabby online shop that Tab had told me about.

This afternoon whilst i had a few minutes to myself and not being bothered to make a card, i decided to make my watch. Fae's been asking me for a couple of weeks now if i've done it and it really needs to be made for when the Thai bride gets here .... long story ... will leave that for another day ... lets just say DH's family are weird!

So, this is how it arrived ... well it came in a jiffy bag not actually like that lol!

And, this is what i ended up with ... gosh aren't my wrists thin? I was gonna take a photo of it on but decided against it. I've got really hairy arms and didn't want to scare any of you! No, i'm not a werewolf lol! Let me know what you think. I need to go, Andy has just taken a leave of his senses and is preparing something for tea thats not even on the menu lol! You ask a man to do a simple task .... beyond him! Must be all the excitement of passing his theory test. God help me when he actually is given a license to drive unsupervised. Think i might learn to fly!

Friday Sketchers #54

I thought i'd get this sorted early this morning as i have a fairly busy day today. It's my Dad's 77th birthday today and i have to go visit him, Andy has his driving theory test this morning at 11am and Beth my niece passed her driving test yesterday so need to make 3 quicky cards, along with all my chores! I managed to make this card yesterday morning whilst Rylee was at nursery, inbetween my rocket launch at the Drs and my hair appointment ... why are my days so hectic?

Jacqueline from the Netherlands is this weeks host and the challenge is sponsored by Crafts 4 Eternity, it is a webshop that has digital stamps and monthly kits.

CS ~ Stash

DP's ~ PP and freebie download

Stitching ~ Sewing Machine

Eyelets & Raffia ~ Stash

Image ~ RAK from Tab, (waves) coloured with Whisper Markers and Sakura Glaze pens

The inside was decorated with the left over Pink Petticoat DP and a few punched flowers.

Well, here's hoping that today is a success for DH and that very soon he'll be able to take over the taxi driving duties ... yayyyy!

UPDATED: Andy passed his theory test ... first time!

Mojo Monday #88

Another great sketch to follow from Mojo Monday ....
CS ~ Stash
DP's ~ Shabby Princess freebie download Celebrate
Sentiment ~ freebie download
Image ~ High Hopes, coloured with Whisper Markers
Star Brads ~ Stash
Ribbon ~ Stash


I used another High Hopes image on the inside again coloured with Whisper Markers and Sakura Stardust pens. Star's are made using scrap card and Panduro stamps and then cut out by hand.

Did i update you all on my water feature? .... well just incase i forgot its all fixed ... along with the hole that they dug just outside the kitchen window! It only took 2 days ... i know, was totally shocked last week when i went out to peg the washing out expecting to have to do some sort of gymnastics to get down the garden ... only to find a nice clean rectangle of cement. I stood looking at it like an idiot for 5 minutes not quite believing what i was seeing, before i dare stand on it ... thought it could be some sort of mirage! I didn't have me specs on, so wasn't sure how much my eyesight could be trusted ... i know i only need em for driving, watching telly and pc work, but at my age lol ... my sight could be failing!

Sketch Saturday #52

Another fantabulous sketch and another Father's Day card ... this one is the last and i mean it this time .....
CS ~ Stash
DP's ~ Basic Grey Boxer
Buttons & Raffia ~ Stash
Image ~ Hanglar Stanglar, coloured with Whisper Markers and watercolour pencils
Stitching ~ Sewing Machine
Staples ~ Computer Desk
Sentiment ~ PC Generated


Once again I've decorated the inside with the left over papers and a button.

Hmmm ... been reading the post that you've left me for my other creations ... namely the Just Magnolia shaped card ... not sure what some of you mean by the "not surprised you used lips, etc" comments ... what you lot trying to say about me roflmao!!! Are you all implying my gob never stops? ...Careful Tab and Diane how you answer that question pmsl. I'm so pleased my VBF's in real life ... Suzie and Vicki (waves) haven't worked out how to comment on here lol ... i'd be done for!

Friday Sketchers #53

Heidi from Norway is this weeks host for the Friday Sketchers Challenge.

I don't quite know how it happened but i've ended up making another Father's Day card this time for one of Ellie's friends and I have another to do! Loved this weeks sketch and will definately be playing with it again.

CS ~ Stash

DP's ~ Basic Grey Boxer

Image ~ Hanglar Stanglar, coloured with watercolour pencils and Whisper Markers

Buttons ~ Stash

Stitching ~ Sewing Machine

Raffia ~ Stash

Sentiment ~ PC Generated

The inside has again been decorated with the left over papers and stitched.

Just Magnolia Week 6

The challenge this week is to make a shaped card - nothing square, lets see some shapes going on. This weeks prize is sponsored by The Cutting Cafe'. And the fabulous prize is two sets of your choice from the amazing selection at The Cutting Cafe.

I popped over to the Cutting Cafe to see what they had on offer and fell in love with this lip template. I've resized it cos i wanted it bigger than it originally printed out.

CS ~ Stash, DP's ~ Summer Driggs, Image ~ RAK from Tab coloured with Whisper Markers, Gems ~ Stash, Ribbon ~ off a box of chocolates, Sentiment ~ PC Generated, Eyelets ~ Stash.

I decorated the inside with left overs and a few flowers from stash. The sentiment is a stamp i picked up for 50p from Crafts Central when it was still open.

Hello

Just to let you know i'm still alive, but having fun in the garden with the hubby ... don't be rude! Generally, gardening is a bug bear of mine ... i hate it, but these past few days i've really enjoyed weeding and repairing the screening on our front garden. Today's job is sorting the pots on the side yard before starting tidying the back garden. As some of you know DH has some mobility issues and anything like this takes him ages to do, hence the 2 days on the front garden even with my help .... god i'm useless ... hate dirty hands thats my problem ... thats the OCD kicking in lol!

I'm hoping to have some cards or a least one card to show during the week ... Rylee is on earlies this week so will be gone by 4.45pm, so am hoping i have some inspiration then. I do have paper printed out and images coloured on my table, but thats as far as it goes!

Well, enjoy the sun whilst it lasts and have a fab bank holiday!

A Couple of Quickies ....

... and these were quick i can tell ya! Just hope they dont look quickies!

A family friend's daughter gave birth this evening, of course i had a couple of birth cards in my box ... which is looking very desperate at the minute! .... but neither of the cards were what i wanted. I wanted something a little different, so my Mum can have the others lol!

DP's ~ Stash ... had since before Rylee came in a scrapbook kit that i've only done 2 pages of!

Sentiments ~ top card ... freebie words art and bottom card ... PC generated

Lamb ~ I think it was RAK from Jill

Ribbons, string, button and charm ~ Stash

Papertake Weekly Challenge ~ Dawny's Sketch #15

This weeks PTW challenge is another fab sketch from Dawny.
CS ~ Stash
DP's ~ Freebie download called Express Yourself
Stitching ~ Sewing Machine
Image ~ High Hopes coloured with Whisper Markers and Sakura Glaze pens
Gems ~ some Tab sent me
Charm ~ from either Tab, Diane or Vicki ... thanks which ever one it was x
Sentiment ~ freebie wordart
Ribbon ~ Stash


The inside was decorated with some of the left overs and another High Hopes image. The flowers were a RAK from Diane (thank u x)

Water Feature Update.... the water appears to be coming out faster now! We had an inspector out from South Staffs Water and the Maintenance Officer from the council this morning. They both agreed that there was a burst mains, probably somewhere near my kitchen window. They then both said that they would put an order in for the work to be done ... the council with Pipeline and South Staffs Water with their contractors. I really dont care who does it lol ... too be continued ......

Happy Birthday by Rylee ....

I wanted to share this with you all and hope that by doing so i put a smile on at least some of your faces. This was taken yesterday shortly after nap time ...

Mojo Monday #87

Another fab sketch at Mojo Monday has helped me make my last June card! Yayyyyy!!!


CS ~ Stash

DP's ~ Birthday pressie off Linda (thank you x)

Image ~ my new purchase from Sketching Stamper, coloured with Whisper Markers

Stitching ~ Sewing Machine
Gems, Raffia & Eyelets ~ Stash
Dad ~ Hippie Chic Alpha Die




I used more papers and a smaller digi-image for the inside.

Ooooh and before i forget ... the water feature update .... i phoned the council at lunch yesterday (12.06pm) and was told that all the customer services advisors were busy on other calls and that as soon as one was available they would ring back as a matter of urgency!!! An hour later i'd still not heard anything, so i reported the repair online .... whooo, get me! By 3.30pm i'd still not heard anything so i rang again. I was told that the repair had been logged and that the inspector would be out to look at it tomorrow (as in today) I asked her if she knew when tomorrow and she replied "Tomorrow!" See how helpful they are?! I still have a water feature and am wondering if its left long enough if perhaps we're gonna end up with a swimming pool down there lol!

Water Feature!

Not sure if you can see the water coming out of the step very well on the photo, but you get the jist of it!

Sketch Saturday #51 & Colour Create #16

This weeks sketch is sponsored by All That Scraps and this weeks Colour Create challenge has been set by Kim and is sky blue, tan and ecru ...
So here is my card ... i used this opportunity to make another of my June cards .... and the last Father's Day card on my list ... yayyyy ... only one more male card to do for June and thats my lot. I can then send out my July card request text and hope that i get some girly requests in there somewhere! I've been getting rather frustated when visiting your blogs and seeing you've made all these pretty girly cards for the challenges and i'm stuck with making the male versions! I'm clearly having pink, flowers and ribbon withdrawal lol!

CS ~ Stash

DP's ~ Birthday pressie from the lovely Linda (thanks x)

Stitching ~ Sewing machine

Image ~ Magnolia & i have no idea where the cute little dog comes from or the paw print, if my memory serves me well and we can never be too sure about that at my age .... eh Vicki! ... I believe i won it, but anyhow, they are both coloured with Whisper Markers and watercolour pencils, with a bit of paper piecing on the tie.

Sentiment ~ PC generated

Buttons & Raffia ~ Stash

The inside was decorated with the off cuts from the front and some more stitching.

Water feature update .... I've not ventured down the garden today, but Andy has and he reliably informs me that we still have water squirting out of the bottom step. The garden is beginning to become water logged, which isn't helped by all the rain we're having again today. I shall be ringing the council tomorrow to let them know that we have a leak as advised by "Leakline", and hopefully they will send the Maintenance officer to come and have a look-see. No doubt he'll stand there and say "Oh it looks like you have a burst mains pipe" much like he did when my bed went through the floor boards and he came and said "it looks like a case of woodworm" that was after he asked if i'd been having a good time when it happened .... how blooming rude is he?! I was not impressed to say the least. Clearly my sense of humour had left me that morning ... or perhaps it was due to sleep deprivation. Oh the joys of social housing pmsl! At least it wont cost us anything. If i get chance i shall start taking photos so that you can see the progress or lack of it. Last time this happened we had a huge hole in the side yard for weeks while they fixed it .... i use the word "fixed" loosely cos the outside loo has never worked since lol! and i feel sure they cemented up a hole that perhaps shouldn't have been! I just thank goodness we've not had the garden landscaped cos i'd be mighty p***** if we had!

Friday Sketchers #52

The prize for this weeks sketch challenge is sponsored by Elzybells Art Stamps.

The sketch has been designed by Claudia Rosa and is one that sent me into a panic at first glance. I did think "how the blazes am i gonna make a card using this sketch", but not one to be defeated and loving a "challenge" this is what i came up with ......

CS ~ Stash

DP's ~ left over from previous card

Image ~ High Hopes ~ kindly donated by Rach (thanx honey x) isn't he gorgeous! coloured with Whisper Markers.

Raffia ~ Stash

Embellies ~ HobbyCrap find whilst looking for a toggle clasp, that they didn't have! (now there's a surprise lol)

Sentiment ~ PC Generated

Stitching ~ Sewing Machine

I decorated the inside too with the paper i had left and just added another embellie and a flower that was RAK from Diane (mwah's)

I only have 2 more June cards left to make and they're both male cards .... oh joy! I hate doing them when so many of you doing the challenges are making girly versions. Obviously, making all these male cards does give me the opportunity to use green and orange, 2 of my fav colours! See every cloud does have a silver lining lol!

Talking of water ... ok well not literally but then some clouds do hold water dont they?! I was pegging the washing out this morning ... that was a waste of time too, but anyhow .... i could here water running, but couldn't understand where it was coming from. As i turned to walk up the garden steps back to the house i noticed we had a new water feature! I had water spraying out between little cracks in the cement and bricks. I did think initially that the garden looked a bit wet, but it had rained pretty bad yesterday. I phoned "Leakline" up cos its not the first time this has happened and was caused by a burst pipe under our side yard, but they weren't particularly interested, just said they'd send someone out the confirm it ... cos clearly i dont know what a water leak looks like and i could have the diagnosis wrong! Just waiting now for the neighbours to come home, cos they're turning there shed and outhouse into a bathroom and i'm wondering if thats caused the problem. So, if you dont hear from me for awhile its cos i'm busy building an ark!

Just Magnolia Week 5

This weeks Just Magnolia (using a Magnolia stamp ... note to self lol!) is a little sketch and is sponsored by "All That Scraps" and the prize is any C.C. Designs stamp set of your choice!!

Am loving this sketch, was such fun to work with and i think looks amazing!

CS ~ Stash

DP's ~ freebie download ~ Bee Happy

Eyelets ~ Stash

Sentiment ~ PC Generated

Stitching ~ Sewing Machine

Image ~ Magnolia ~ RAK from Diane, (thanks honey x) coloured with Whisper Markers

Buttons and Raffia ~ Stash.

The inside is decorated with some of the left over papers .... i should have enough to make another card!

While i sit and type this, it's absolutely p****** it down. Its raining so hard its bouncing back up off the yard at the side of the house! I can also see if lightening and the thunder is right above us .... thank goodness i've not got to venture out tonight!

Colour Create #15

This week's challenge has been created by Heather and is blue and green.

I decided tonight that i would make a card for my Auntie and Uncle to let them know that we're thinking of them also.

CS ~ Stash

DP's ~ freebie download ~ Cherry Limeade

Sentiment ~ from the same freebie digi kit

Images ~ Magnolia Spring stamp club. Masked and coloured with Whisper Markers and Sakura Glaze pens.

Gems ~ Stash

Ribbon ~ Stash (local market find)

Butterfly ~ birthday pressie from Tab (thanks honey x), didn't really want to use, but they are special people and i can't keep them forever lol!

Beads ~ Stash

Pin thingy ~ some jewellery findings that Tab sent me, not sure what they're supposed to be used for but it works for me.

I've also decorated the inside with leftover DP's and CS

Flowers and gems ~ Stash

Quote ~ found on brainyquote.com

I hope this will qualify for the Colour Create challenge cos i know it does have a little bit of yellow on it, but then i figured that yellow is sort of a very light green pmsl!

Sketch Saturday #50

Sssh .... Rylee's having his afternoon nap, so i thought i'd make a quick post whilst its still quiet here! Listen ...... not a sound! Heavenly isn't it? Especially since he's been a whingy bottom all morning .... its not his fault though, he has a viral infection and an ear infection and us being cruel grandparents keep giving him nasty medicine! Everytime i get the medicine bottle out he scarpers, shouting "no, no, no", its quite funny actually! Well, i have to get my kicks somehow. My girls are both grown up and no fun anymore. I can't torment them the same as i used too!

This weeks sketch is being sponsored by Simon Says Stamp!

I can show this card now, it being for Tab's birthday and presuming that she's safely got her package this week.

CS ~ Stash
DP's ~ Summer Driggs
Stitching ~ Sewing Machine
Crochet Flowers ~ done by ME!
Beadcaps ~ Stash
Pearls ~ Stash
Image ~ WOJ (birthday pressie from Jill, thanks honey x) coloured with Whisper Markers and paper pieced
Ribbon ~ Market Stall and printed with the same DP's
Flowers inside card ~ RAK from Diane (thanks honey x)

Gift Basket

I thought i would do a quick post before i'm off to fat club for my weekly weigh in to show you what i've been doing on in my Rylee free time!

My cousin started chemotherapy on Monday and my parents, sister and I wanted to show we are thinking of her. Now my Mum's first thoughts were either a bouquet or a basket of fruit delivered to the door. Unfortunately, i can't justify paying vast amounts of money for not a lot of anything, so that was the end of those 2 ideas lol! I decided to do some research and using various website information came up with some hopefully useful gift basket contents.

This is the completed basket. The contents include: A fleece blanket, 2 pairs of soft fluffy socks, 2 magazines, 2 lip balms, Aveeno moisturiser and bath/shower oil, chicken soup and bowl, cup and one cup coffee sachets, tissues, a tin of hard sweets, MP3 player with a selection of her favourite songs, headphones, sensitive toothbrush and toothpaste, a selection of fruit flavoured tea bags (see photos below)...

This is the little teabag holder that i've made to match the card in my previous post. I used the same papers and cardstock.


... and added the instructions on the back.

I just love making these gift baskets and fortunately this time i remember to take photo's before it leaves at the weekend. Right i suppose i better think about going to get weigh and see if those Revel i had the other weekend have done any lasting damage ... i escaped it last week, but i dont expect to be so lucky this week! Wish me luck lol!!!!

Friday Sketchers #51 & Just Magnolia #4

Carole from England is the host this week at Friday Sketchers and this weeks sponsors are Alota Rubber Stamps and Simon Says Stamp.

This week the challenge at Just Magnolia is Stitching . There is a fab prize this week sponsored by The Glitter Garden and the prize winner will also be the Guest Designer for June The prize is a Making Memories Funky Vintage - Lizzie Collection paper pad, a pack of Dovecraft Fibres and set of Terri Conrad Designs journaling cards.
The inside has been decorated with the left over papers and flowers from Diane (thanks honey). I've also made a pocket so i could add a gift voucher.


CS ~ Stash
DP's ~ Shabby Princess, freebie download
Image ~ Magnolia, Spring Stampclub Collection, coloured with Whisper Markers and Twinkling H2O's
Flower Soft ~ coloured with food colouring (i only have white)
Flowers and Butterfly ~ crocheted by ME!
Beadcaps and brads ~ Stash
Stitching ~ Sewing Machine
Gems and sequins ~ Stash