Harvest Festival and parcels .....

... it's been fun here today.  Not only have my decorators made huge progress on painting the house - only one room left to do tomorrow, but I had two special parcels delivered today.  The first was a large A4 envelope from Claire at Waltzingmouse - with all my lovely new stamps for the latest release - do check out her site - they are just super!  And the second was a large parcel from Vicky - with the goods I ordered from Stampin' Up!  I joined her Stampers 6 club - and I got the new "in-colours" which are just super, some stamps and Vicky put in a sweet little card and a lovely present of some butterscotch chocolate - which was delicious.  And as I hadn't had lunch before opening the parcel - was a much needed treat!  Thanks Vicky!





Before I opened my parcels I went to the local church for the School Harvest Festival.  Each year the school has a festival and the Year 5 students lead the service.  Kathryn is Year 5 this year, so it was our turn to attend the service. 




The children are all so calm and spoke so clearly.  We had two hymns, a play about the importance of water, some prayers and a collection for a water charity.  The children were brilliant - and I had my proud mum moment when Kathryn lead off the discussion about water :)  Here are a few photos from the service.

The start of the play about the importance of water.

Most of the class - singing for all they are worth!!

Kathryn - distributing bottles of water to the parents

The final part of the service was a little song and dance routine to "Singing in the Rain"

And you should have seen the rain we had today - I think they did a rain dance!!

There are only five boys in Kathryn's class - and this is by the food the children collected.



And here are the girls in the class!  I do feel a bit sorry for the boys!!

Tomorrow the children will distribute the food to some of the elderly people in the village.

That's all for now.  Jonathan and I have prepared the lounge to be painted, by that I mean we've removed all personal items such as pictures, books, bits and pieces, taken down the blind and curtains - generally it's ready to go.  And now I'm off down stairs to watch The Fades!  See you all tomorrow.

Cocktail time ....

.... it's happy hour over at Less is More - LIM37 - this week.  Chrissie and Mandi have given us the theme of COCKTAILS for this week's card - now we can interpret that as we like - be literal, take the colours of cocktails as the inspiration for your card or run with your imagination!

I did try to be creative and run with my imagination, but with all the decorating and tidying going on in my house at the moment, my mojo is a bit thin on the ground.  So I decided to go with a literal take on the challenge and I've made a birthday card.

I printed Lola Rose onto directly onto my card and then cut her out using my nesties.  I added some colour with distress inks and layered the image onto gold holographic card - which, amazingly, shows up really well in this photo!!!  I cut the sentiment out with my banner nestie and again layered onto holographic card.  I printed a second image of Lola Rose and coloured her clothes and bag using Promarkers, cut them out and attached them to the main image.  Finally, for a bit of glamour, I added some feathers behind the sentiment and a large cocktail to toast the birthday girl!

Image:  Pink Petticoat - Lola Rose (discontinued)
Spellbinders:  Wonky Rectangles (S4-306) # 6, Nested Lacey Pennants (S5-029)
Promarkers:  Denim Blue, Midnight Blue, Cerise, Pale Pink, Satin, Bright Green
Accessories:  Feathers, card and glitter from stash

Here's a close up of the sentiment - it's fun!

Today the decorators are painting my kitchen and family room - which means I can't get in there to do the ironing - great excuse not to do it!!  Later today I'm off to the school Harvest Festival - Year 5 (Kathryn's class) lead the service - so I think there may be a proud mum moment later today!! 

Finally, I decided to have a play with the cocktail personality quiz that Chrissie and Mandi shared with us - here's what it says today:

You Are Made Of Intuition, Compassion, and Brilliance

3 parts Intuition
2 parts Compassion
1 part Brilliance

And a Splash of Style

Serve over ice  

I like that one!  That's all for now.

Trick or treat ....

....  I've made this card for the current CAS-ual Fridays - CFC24 challenge.  They want us to make a Halloween card without any orange - not even a spot!!! 

I've made several Halloween cards this year and they have all included orange - so this is fun!  I've gone for a very clean and simple card - and it was actually quite quick to make too.  My friend, Kath, gave me a lovely tree image that she'd stamped and embossed in black sparkle.  I coloured the image with grey Promarkers, cut it out with my nesties and then added colour with Distress inks.  I layered the image onto a scalloped mat cut from some black and purple glittered card - it's very subtle, but looks super in real-life.  To add some atmosphere, I stamped small purple bats flying around the tree and added some bats, a simple sentiment and Winnie the Witch to the card - done! 

Stamps:  Tree image from Kath - (don't know the company); Waltzingmouse - Midnight Feast, Halloween Party
Inks:  Memento - Tuxedo Black; Distress - Black Soot, Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord
Spellbinders:  Petit Ovals Scalloped Lg (S4-139) #6, Petit Ovals Lg (S4-138) #6
Accessories:  Card from stash

Winne actually faces the other way when she is stamped.  I simply cut her out - very carefully using my scalpel - and then coloured the reverse side with a black Promarker to give a nice even colour. 

It's been a crazy busy day again.  I've taken another lot of curtains to the dry-cleaners (they must love us at the moment) and the decorators have finished the top floor and completed our dining room today.  There are only two more rooms left to do - both large!  We have arranged for them to do the office and my craft room when it's all been packed up (I couldn't bear the idea of packing up my craft room too early) - so likely to be sometime in January.  Now, I'm off to get dinner.  I'll be back tomorrow.

OLW68 - Get triangular ....

... this week's One Layer Wednesday - OLW68 is being hosted by Susan at Simplicity.  Susan has set us the task of using triangles in our cards.  They can be actual triangles or simply implied! 

I decided to use this as an opportunity to make another Christmas card for my 2011 Collection and have used a "triangular" Christmas tree for the focal image. 

I stamped the image in Tuxedo Black and coloured with three shades of red Promarkers.  And, as it's a Christmas card, I've added lots of sparkle too.  Simple, pretty - I really like this one!

Stamps:  Holly Ivy Mix - Chocolate Baroque; Stampin' Up! - Contempo Christmas
Inks:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Promarkers:  Poppy, Lipstick Red, Cocktail Pink, Chestnut, Terracotta, Warm Grey 1
Accessories:  Card and glitter from stash

I'm so pleased to be indoors at the moment - it's blowing a gale outside!  It's not raining - although I don't think it'll be long before it starts - but the wind is howling around the house - I'm sure my decorators are pleased they completed the outside yesterday when it was reasonably warm, dry and wind free!  That's all for now - I'm off to get dinner sorted out and then this evening I plan to play in my craft room for a while.

Thanksgiving Waltz ....

.... I'm late for the October Waltzingmouse Blog Waltz - the theme this month is Thanksgiving and Gratitude!

My excuse is that I was so busy getting more rooms ready to decorate that I ran out of crafting time!!  I did get my card finished, but the light was so awful last night - and it's not great now, but I've taken a picture and am posting now.   I'll edit this post later to include all the details - but I wanted to get the card up before 9.00am!  And I think I might just make it. 

Edited to add :  Well I'm back and I've taken a better photo and put that into the blog - it's not quite as orange!!  I had a good morning at craft class - I took some pictures and my Promarkers and spent the morning chatting and colouring.  Bliss!

So to my card for this month's blog Waltz - I started several times with lots of different ideas - they are all in the bin!! 

I mentioned last week that I'd borrowed some of my friend's Spellbinders dies - well this is one of hers (and I may well end up getting it too) - I cut the shape from some plain white card and added colour with my distress inks - Vintage Photo and a dash of Black Soot.  I stamped the basket of pumpkins directly into the centre of the doily.  I made several sets of the image and coloured them all with Promarkers, then cutting out the baskets and two layers for the pumpkins.  I cut out a few extra leaves and attached them falling from the basket.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Bountiful Baskets Additions, Say It Loud - Winter Holiday
Inks:  Memento - Rich Cocoa; Distress - Vintage Photo, Black Soot
Spellbinders:  Parisian Motifs (S5-035)
Promarkers:  Amber, Pumpkin, Pear Green, Marsh Green, Terracotta, Cinnamon
Accessories:  Card from stash

Now that I've added the stamp and ink information - I'm off to have a look around the Blog Waltz.  I will be back later - I've another card to share with you all.  See you soon.

CR84FN40 - Poinsettias ....

... it's week two for CR84FN40 and the our lovely colour palette of red, brown and kraft - to me they are just perfect for Christmas cards!  So I've made another - this time a much cleaner and simpler design!

Don't you just love those photos - the bowl of cherries looks so yummy!  Contact details are: cherries, toffee apple and a bunch of fab flowers - click on the links!

I started with a kraft card base and scored two lines about a third of the way from the top and again up from the bottom.   I cut some red and brown paper into strips, layered them together, and attached them in between the scored lines.  Next I stamped this little poinsettia flower six times and cut them all out - took ages!!  I cut three of the flowers out in full and on the other three I cut out the middle petals.  To give the flowers a glossy finish I sprayed them with Crafter's Companion Spray 'n' Shine.  Once dried I attached the flowers to the strip and added some gems.  The greeting is a peel off that was coloured with Promarkers to match the poinsettias.  I finished off with some bling - under the bottom score line.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Big Blooms: Poinsettias
Inks:  Memento - Rich Cocoa, Lady Bug
Accessories:  Crafter's Companion - Spray 'n' Shine; Card, peel offs and gems from stash

We have more inspiration for you from our Guest Designer Cheryl Lea at Ink Up  and also from some of the DT:

Stephanie
Andrea

Suzanne

Mona

We've had some wonderful submissions already, but there's still time to join in the fun - after all these colours are just fabulous! 

Thanks for stopping by.  See you later.

Birthday elegance ....

... I've made this card for my Mum's birthday which is next week, but I have to post it today to make sure it arrives on time.  It's based on two challenges - a lovely sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping - FTL161 and the lovely colours of the current Ribbon Reel - RR12 inspiration photo.

I've made quite a large card - well it's a special one for my Mum - it's A5 in size.  I started off by covering the base of the card with some pretty rose vellum in soft shades of yellow and peach.  In my stash I found this pretty gold flecked peach card (I got the card from QVC years ago) and I layered it onto some pale orange card.  I added some lovely cream lace with bright orange ribbon.  The rose image was stamped twice and coloured with Promarkers.  I very carefully cut out one of the images - I used my scalpel - so many very fiddly bits - but so worth it.  Then I cut out the three big roses and decoupaged them onto the image.  Finally, I added the orange flower button and birthday greeting.  The card is in the post and should get to Mum in plenty of time for her birthday.

Stamps:  Kanban - All Occasions; Personal Impressions - Wording Stamps
Inks: Memento - Rich Cocoa
Promarkers:  Various (I forgot to write down the names)
Accessories:  Card, vellum, lace, ribbon and button from stash

Now, time to check out what Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge and Less is More have in store for us this week!  See you later.

Let's hear it for the boys - take 2 ...

... our St Luke's Charity Card Challenge for October is themed "Let's hear it for the boys!".  Now I know that lots of people don't really like making cards for guys, but I sort of enjoy them.  I suspect it has a lot to do with having a teenage son and needing to make cards for him. 

The first card I made for this challenge was a more traditional card - in fact I attached a sentiment for Grandad!  So I decided that this card would be for Ben - I like to send him a card each week and I forgot to send one last week.  I've used the colours from this week's Colour Q - cQc106 challenge - they're so bright, so funky! 

I don't have crushed curry in my stash, so I've used Daffodil Delight.  I started with a plain white card and stamped some images in Versamark and clear embossed them all.  Then I added Daffodil Delight and Tangerine Tango - sponging them both onto the card - and I love the resist reveal when you do this.  Using Basic Grey I stamped some more of the small images randomly onto the card.  I stamped the guitar in black directly onto the card base and again onto some plain white card, this time I embossed the image with clear powder and cut it out.  I coloured the  guitar and attached it over the stamped image.  Finally, I stamped and embossed a sentiment, coloured the background and then cut it out and mounted with dimensional tape.  A really funky card for my boy!

Stamps:  Inkadinkadoo - Rock Star
Inks:  Stampin' Up! - Basic Grey, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories:  Card, clear embossing powder from stash

I've got another busy day lined up - my decorators will be back and hopefully they'll complete the family bathroom, utility room and guest bathroom.  And while they're doing that I'll be making a start on moving Kathryn's stuff out.  See you later!

New home ....

.... the decorators have been in today - and these guys are just brilliant!  They've finished Ben's room, my room and made a start on the upstairs landing.  And when they'd finished painting, they dusted, cleaned all the woodwork, hoovered and put back most of the furniture.  They are polite, on time, clean and tidy.  Did I say I was impressed with their work?  So nice to find workmen who are GOOD!

And I've been productive today too.  I've been phoning mortgage and insurance companies, getting quotes for work that we need to do and finally when I'd finished all that, I even managed to have an hour in my craft room this afternoon.

I have a notebook - a really pretty one that I got from WHSmith - and I keep all my notes about the house move in here.  I decided to make a pretty label for the cover.  And there really was only one set of stamps that I could use for this - the cottage from Waltzingmouse Stamps. I just love the colours on the notebook cover so I used them for the colour of the cottage.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - A Cottage Home
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Promarkers: Pastel Green, Turquoise, Cool Grey 1, Cool Grey 2, Soft Lime, Gold, Grass, Magenta

Now, I'm off to check that the paint has dried and move some bits back into our room.  That's all for today, I'll see you again tomorrow!

For Katie ....

... like many of you I've been following the blog hop "Swimming for Katie Renz".  I've been touched by the kindness and support that the Internet crafting community has shown.  If you haven't heard about Katie - her story is here.  There is so much creativity and love in this community and all the designers taking part are just fabulous.  Several designers have made stamps and images especially for Katie with 100% of the profits going to a fund for Katie and her family.

I've made a card for Katie and her family and it's in the post now.  Katie has inspired with me her strength, her determination, her obvious love of life and her family - and this is for Katie, Kevin and her boys.

Digi-image:  Keep Swimming Mermaid - designed by Marianne Walker
Promarkers:  A variety of colours
Spellbinders:  Floral Doily Motifs (S5-041), Standard Circles Sm (S4-116) #6
Accessories:  Fantasy film and card from stash

That's all for now - hope to be back later today, but that depends how the decorating goes!!  Don't forget to tell the people who matter to you how much you love them. 

Christmas bling ....

... I'm so far ahead with my Christmas cards this year - and it's a great feeling, especially as I have a feeling I'm not going to be crafting much in November!!!  Last year I left it all to the last minute and had an intense three week period of making Christmas cards - this year, it'll be lovely to be ahead.  I think I've got about 70 cards made - I need 150!!!  I'll do a count later.
Anyway, this is another towards my 2011 Christmas Card Collection and it's based on this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - WMSC68.

I started off with the idea of making a clean and simple card like the sketch.  And it's sort of CAS, but with added bling!!!  I love the colours here - really bright and fresh.

I've used one of my favourite sets - Festive Foliage - I think I've done too many berries around the border but I couldn't remove them once stamped!!!  I stamped the grid and layered it onto some red card, and it was only when I started to attach the gems I realised that it wasn't quite straight.  Actually, I quite like it - sort of jaunty!! 

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Festive Foliage; Prima Marketing - Grid Stamp (#541903) - from QVC
Inks:  Stampin' Up! - Real Red, Green Grass
Accessories:  Gems and card from stash

I've taken a quick break while sorting out room.  I've decided that the painters can do our bedroom tomorrow - it's going to be much easier to move things out of our room than Kathryn's!!  And tomorrow I can sort out Kathryn's room.

While I like freshly decorated rooms, I'm not so keen on the smell of paint!  Still, at least it'll be sorted quickly.  See you tomorrow.

A pink Christmas and a cure ....

... a quick one for this week's Jingle Belles - JB41 challenge which is to make a card with some pink on it.  The reason for the pink - well October is breast cancer awareness month - the ladies are very generously donating $1 each for every card submitted to the challenge - that's $2 per card to the Susan G Koman for the Cure.  Such a great idea and I had a snowflake left over from my card posted last Friday.  This is a very quick clean and simple card.
 

Spellbinders:  Create a Flake Three (S4-340)
Papers: DCWV - Rose-tinted Christmas papers
Accessories:  Card, silver mesh and gem from stash

We don't have the decorators in today, which is good, as it means I can get Kathryn's room ready to be painted.  Her room is a bit like a bomb site!!!  There are bits all over the place, but I should manage to clear it out this morning.  The decluttering and clearing out really is energising!!  I should feel absolutely shattered, but actually I'm full of beans and rearing to go!!  And I slept like a log last night.

That's all for now.

Less is more 36 .....

... this week the challenge at Less is More - LIM36 - is a one layer card challenge and the theme is

"The ♥ can be singular, multiple, any colour, but, MUST be a one layer card, with no additional layers stuck on, apart from the odd embellishment or ribbon!" - those are our instructions from Chrissie and Mandi.  This week's challenge is already proving to be quite popular with nearly 150 submissions already!

I think my card is about as clean and simple as you can get.  I used a stamp that came free with one of the magazines (can't remember which one) but it's actually rather sweet.  I got some of the inspiration for my card from Vicky's lovely card. 

I did a test run on some scrap paper and used my stamp-a-ma-jig to position the heart.  I coloured the image with Promarkers.  I stamped a single leaf and then drew the stem by hand.  I added a large gem to the centre of the flower.

Stamps:  Dawn Bibby - Love Always; Love stamp free with a magazine
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black
Promarkers: Magenta, Cerise, Baby Pink
Accessories:  Gem and card from stash

And that's all for today.  My day started really early and I'm beginning to feel the effects!  See you tomorrow!

Everyone smiles ....

.... and for Julie Ranae that's a bit tough at the moment as, following emergency surgery her front teeth have been removed - you can read all about it here.  Julie was was told that repair work and replacement dentures would be covered by insurance - but that's where it all fell apart.  No insurance coverage and no front teeth - so Julie is finding it hard to smile at the moment.  It's times like this that I'm so grateful for the British NHS - it might be a bit slow at times, a bit clunky and we might swear at it, but for something like this - it's brilliant. 

I first came across Julie when I played in The Play Date Cafe challenge, still one that I try to do each week.  So this week's CAS-ual Friday's - CFC23 is a special challenge inspired by Julie - we need to make a clean and simple card either using the quote "Everyday you spend without a smile, is a lost day" or simply taking it as the inspiration for your card.

I decided to take the quote as the inspiration for my card - and the free stamp with this month's Craft Stamper magazine is a super quirky smiley face!  Perfect for this challenge.  I stamped the image on to some plain white card, coloured it with Promarkers and cut it out with my square nestie - I added some definition to the edge of the image with a black Promarker.  I borrowed some nesties from my crafty friend yesterday and used one for this card - the mat is in red to coordinate with the bright red lipstick and I shaded the embossed dots with black ink.  Finally I stamped this sentiment - which works perfectly for the challenge - highlighting the word "smiles" in red.

Stamps:  Hero Arts - Words of Wisdom; Crafty Notions - Quirky Face (free with Craft Stamper)
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Stampin' Up! - Real Red
Spellbinders: Fair Isle Pendant (S40270), Standard Squares Lg (S4-126) #4
Promarkers: Blush, Satin, Ivory, Black, Berry Red, Tea Green, Ice Grey 1, Ice Grey 2
Accessories:  Card from stash

Nicole Rixon owner of Sweet Stamp shop has organised a blog hop for Operation Julie's Smile and there's a Paypal donation button on CAS-ual Friday's page if you would like to help Julie - she needs over $4,000 in total.  Have fun following the hop!

That's all for now - I'm off to do a bit more decluttering!!  See you later.

Up early ....

... Jonathan has had to go to London this morning for work, and that means getting up really early.  The alarm was set for 5.00am, but my body clock is more efficient and I was awake at 4.55am!!!  I know I didn't have to get up with Jonathan, but I was so wide awake that I thought I'd make good use of the time. 

I've finished my ironing!!!  Yea!  I did the marathon ironing session last week to get it all out of the way, and with all that's going on in the house, I've decided that I really need to keep on top of the housework stuff.  So, the ironing is all done and I've put away some of the clothes.  Kathryn is still sleeping - well, it's only just gone 7.00am, I'll wake her for 7.30am.  She doesn't like it when Jonathan goes away, still we'll chat later.

That's all for now - I do have some cards to share with you - but I haven't taken any pictures yet!  I'll be back later.