Off again

I'm off on my travels again, today I'm off to Norwich, ready for a demo I have there tomorrow at Hobbycraft.  I'm lucky enough to be visiting my lovely friend Annette and her gorgeous family.  From Norwich it's onto Reading and the lovely Harper Household and last but not least it's then onto Stroud to visit my lovely Anna.  I should be back on Tuesday, with news of any adventures I've had on my way!!

I'll leave you with a little floral number, that's inspired by the challenge at:

Cute Card Thursday - Floral frenzy



Supplies used

3 Birds - cardmaking by numbers

Have a great weekend.

xxx

A whirlwind weekend

I've had a fabulous weekend dancing in Toulouse, France. The little amount of sleep that I've had (all of my own doing!) since I got there has been more than made up for with such amazing classes, with great teachers, hanging out with some of my favourite friends and the late dance dance parties. The icing on the cake had to be watching Jo & Mel with the competition on Saturday night. I'm so proud to know you both, especially as I've been promoted to the team as the motivational coach. I still think we should have team tracksuits!

Congratulations

I'm so pleased that my lovely roomie Julie made it in from snowy Gatwick, even if she was delayed by a day. There were lots of travel tales about delays and cancellations and not to be out done, mine involved a missing suitcase. I made it to Toulouse on Friday but my bag decided not to join me until Saturday morning. A huge thank you to Jo, for tucking me under her wing and sorting me out until my case arrived. She even let be borrow a pair of her gorgeous shoes.  Now if only I could make them dance as beautifully as she does!

Now I'm home it's back to paper and glue and today I have a couple of cards to share with you.
This one I'm entering into challenges at:
Daring Cadrmakers - turquoise
ICS - sketch #94

Supplies used:
3 birds kit - cardmaking by numbers

This one I'm entering into challenges at:
Totally Gorjuss - sketch challenge
Creative Card Crew - Anything goes

Supplies used:

3 birds kit - cardmaking by numbers

I'm off to catch up on some sleep!
xxx

Die Cutting Madness

Well I made it to the office today, in fact I was there before 9, which means a very early start!  I felt like I was packing forever, as I'm not home until Sunday.  As well as my clothes I had to pack lots of craft bits and pieces, ready for Craftaganza :)

Talking of Craftaganza, Kamala and I sat last night and became die cutting queens.  Prepping for 80 delegates takes some arm power but we're getting there.  Why did I think it was a good idea to use so many die cuts!!

I also have to tell you about my fabulous dinner tonight, pancakes made from rice and lentils filled with potato curry - I love you Kamala.

Here's a couple of little cards I've made.  How great is this for a teenager.  It was inspired by challenges at:

A Spoonful of Sugar - Anything Goes

Fab 'n' Funky - go with the flow

Supplies used:

Stamps - clearly hand stamped

Inks - versamark, distress inks black soot and barn door.

Spray and sparkle - iridescent

This card was inspired by the challenge at:

Papertake Weekly - cut it out

Supplies used:

Stamps - clearly hand stamped

Paper-  SWALK CD2

Punch - Martha Stewart doily lace

Colouring medium - Copic Ciaos

Right I'm off to bed to rest my winding arm as there's more die cutting to be done tomorrow.

Good night.

xxx

A very Manic Monday

The plan for today was finish off my class for Craftaganza , then pack and go up to the office for around lunchtime.  The realisation is that packing for a week, planning a class, normal day job and an emergency trip to Hobbycraft, takes most of the day, so I'm going up to the office in the morning!

Seeing as I'm up in the office for the rest of the week, this may be the last you here from me for a couple of days - I'm sure I heard one of you shout "hurrah"!!

The good news is that the 135 sheets of card that needing printing are done, now it's just all the die cutting that needs prepping but that's a job for tomorrow night and the night after that!

So before I disappear into the ether here's a quick card.  This one was inspired by the challenges at:

2 sketches 4 you - Laura's sketch #66

Quirky crafts - recipe, black, white and one more colour plus punches

Supplies used:

Stamps - clearly hand stamped

Card - watercolour card

Ink - distress ink, soot black and barn door

Right I'd better get to bed as I have an early start.

xxx

Enjoy the ride

As you know if you've popped over to my blog before I love living life to the full and today was no exception.  So I took Miss Jean off to her dance class and as it was in Manchester I hit the shops for an hour or two.  Whilst in Boots I was drawn to their Origins section and a lovely girl called Claire told me all about their products and even did a mini facial on me.  I'll definitely be back to buy a few bits, I left feeling very looked after.

I then managed to pick up a couple of scrapbooking bits and pieces in TK Maxx, I love a bargain :)  Then I went to meet my dancing friends after their class.  They were in the earth cafe.  It's a great find and definitely worth knowing about if ever you're in Manchester.  The staff are so friendly and helpful and the food leaves you feeling all wholesome, as well as being incredibly tasty.

I got to meet some new friends and hopefully I'll get to class soon.  The weekends go so fast though and it was soon time to say goodbye to friends returning to Reading, London and Scotland, but I'll see of you in Toulouse very soon.

So once home it was time to make a couple of cards.  This one was inspired by challenges at:

Crazy 4 challenges - circles

Card Patterns - sketch #91

Supplies used:

Stamps - Clearly hand stamped (3 birds)

Paper - CD SWALK 2

Die cuts - circle and circle lattice - Nestabilities

Colouring medium - Copic Ciao

I can't share the other cards with you just yet as they're for my class at Craftaganza, but I'll share them as soon as I can.

I hope you had even half as much fun as I did this weekend, because if you did, you had a blast!

xxx

Fabulous Friday

After a busy week at work it's great to have somefriends in the area this weekend.  So tonight I picked Miss Jean up from the train station and we've been out for dinner with my alter ego Scottish Jacqui.  We went up to the Red Lion at High Lane and as usual weren't disappointed.  I had breast of lamb with daupinoise potatoes, spiced chick peas and a roasted shallot - fabulous.

.We went up to the Red Lion at High Lane and as usual weren't disappointed. I had breast of lamb with daupinoise potatoes, spiced chick peas and a roasted shallot - fabulous.

 

For dessert, pavlova - yum!



Here's a card that was inspired by challenges at:

Chicken soup - recipe #21 - the pink got me going and the paint inspired the stamp sentiment with a glossy finish

Stamp Something - Thanks

Supplies used:

Stamps - Clearly hand stamped (3 birds)

Embossing powder - wow - sheena douglass

Flowers - pretty petals (3 birds)

Nestabilities

This second card was inspired by the challenge at:

Daring cardmakers - we three - I went for three panels

Supplies used:

Stamps - Clearly hand stamped (3 birds)
Embossing powder - wow - sheena douglass
Colouring medium - Copic Ciaos
What a fabulous start to the weekend.  I hope you have a great weekend too.
xxx

Muffin Tops

No not my muffin top, although it's creeping back!  But real muffins.  Tonight I've been baking and I've made mincemeat muffins.  Thank you so much to my lovely friend Debbie for the recipe and her advice whilst I was out shopping.  Yes she's on speed dial for when I'm making big decisions on sugar in Sainsburys!

I'm hoping the girls at crop on Saturday are going to like these:

I didn't add the frosting as I thought they might go soggy before Saturday, but they still passed my taste test.

Just one card to share with you today.  This one was inspired by the challenge at:

CRAFT - vellum - yes that really is vellum that I've printed on under the stamped flowers.

Suplies used:

Stamps - Clearly Hand stamped

Vellum

CD - SWALK - volume 2

Punch - Martha Stewart

xxx

Delivery Day

The postie has been 3 times today, OK one was only normal post, nothing exciting there, but number 2 was my Scrap-a-gogo greeting kit and number 3 was a delivery of gorgeous Papertrey Ink goodies.  A great start to the day, now all I need is some time to play with my new treasures!

More good news, I won the draw at Meljen Designs last week, so have 3 new digi stamps on their way - thanks girls.

I have a couple of cards to share with you today, this one was inspired by the challenge at:

Cupcake Craft Challenges - House Warming

  

Supplies used:

Clearly Hand Stamped Kit - 3 Birds/Crafter's Companion

Distress ink - broken china and black soot

Embossing folder - cuttlebug textile texture 

Ribbon and buttons - Papertrey Ink

Just one more for today.  This one was inspired by the challenge at:

Tuesday Taggers - Peace, love, joy

Supplies used:

Clearly Hand Stamped Kit - 3 Birds/Crafter's Companion

Distress ink - black soot

Patterned paper and ribbon slider - SWALK CD2

Can someone please sell me a couple of hours a day for the next week or so?

Thanks

xxx

Back to normal?

Well I'm at home today, which is a good job as I really do have washing to catch up with, but I'm not really sure what normal is any more.  So as I'm at home, Steve is away!  At present our next time spent together looks like it might be Christmas!  

As usual I have too many things to do in the day but I'm getting there, although I still need to get my class for Craftaganza finalised.  I have all the elements, they just need putting together.

In the meantime I have a couple of cards to share with you.  This one was inspired by challenges at:

Stamp with fun - square

2 sketches 4 you - Kazan's #66

Meljen's designs - food

 Supplies used:

Stamps - clearly hand stamped kit - 3 birds/Crafter's Companion

Papers - SWALK CD2

Stamping card - Neenah Classic Solar Crest

Nestabilities - labels 4

Ink - Momento Tuxedo Black

Colouring medium - Copic Ciaos

Flowers - perfectly pretty petals 

This next card was inspired by the challenges at:

Papertake Weekly - Autumn Skies

A Spoonful of sugar - distressing

Supplies used:

 Stamps - clearly hand stamped kit - 3 birds/Crafter's Companion

Card - core'dinations and watercolour card

Embossing powder - Sheena Douglass Copper

Distress inks - barn door, spiced marmalade, crushed olive, vintage photo

Embossing ink - versamark

Nestabilities - labels 11

Twine - Papertrey Ink

A quick how to for the background on this one:

Stamp the leaves with versamark

Sprinkle on the embossing powder and gently tap of the excess

Use you heat gun to set the powder, until it goes shiny.

Use cut and dry foam to apply you distress inks.

Use several colours to build up your mottled background

Right I'm off to bed as I've got another extremely busy day tomorrow.

xxx

Checking Back In

Phew, what a fabulous but manic week or so.  I’ve got so much to share with you I’m going to back post, so that this isn't the longest post in Blog history.  Also it's a great way for me to remember where I've been and what I've been doing.  In summary since my post on the 5th November I've been at the Hobbycraft Show in Birmingham, met up with a friend for dinner, come home for one night, travelled to Durham, had the most amazing adventure in London with my friend Debbie and Ainsley Harriott, spent the rest of the week in the office in Durham, learned about great plans at work for next year, made emergency cards for a last minute TV show, had lots of cuddles, collected Steve from the station, been to see Peter Kay, feasted on curry and tapas, thought about our heroes and today I've come home to come up for air!
Would I change a single moment of this craziness, never.  Anyone that meets me knows that I live in the moment and love life to the extreme.

I'll leave you with a couple of cards that have been made with the Clearly Hand Stamped kit that is Pick of the Week on Create and Craft this week.  This card was inspired by challenges at:
Creative Card Crew - give thanks
Fab 'n' funky - going around in circles

Supplies used:
Stamps - Clearly hand stamped
Ink - distress ink crushed olive, memento tuxedo black
Copics
Paper - SWALK2 Cd
Ribbon - PTI

This next one was inspired by challenges at:
Cute Card Thursday - anything goes
The secret crafter - #109, sparkly & shine

Supplies used:
Stamps - Clearly hand stamped
Ink - memento tuxedo black
Copics
Paper - SWALK2 Cd
Ribbon - PTI
Chipboard - 3 Birds life's little treasures

Hopefully I'll be back soon, but then again who knows what adventures are around the next corner!
xxx

Peter Kay

Tonight we've been to see Peter Kay, it was a bit of an outing - 24 of us!  I'm just glad Steve made it to the North East on the train today!  As most of the people I work with have never met him (I've been there 3 years), they were starting to think he was my imaginary boyfriend!

 We headed off on a coach up to Newcastle and to La Tasca, where we had a mighty feast of fabulous Tapas, I think we had one of everything off the menu.  Even so I managed dessert of Ice Cream with Baileys over it.  We then finished the meal with Licor 43, which Steve introduced us to.  I think we may now need to go on holiday to Spain to get a bottle of it!

As for Peter Kay, he was side-splittingly funny.  I swear he must have been at our table earlier in the night with some of the things he came out with!  Too funny.

Just one card to share with you today that I made earlier in the day.  This one was inspired by the challenge at:

Chicken soup - recipe #20

 Supplies used:

Clearly hand stamped kit - 3 Birds/Crafter's Companion

Sheena Douglass white embossing powder

Patterned paper - SWALK CD2

Ink - distress ink crushed olive
Nestabilities - half moon squares
Border punch - Martha Stewart - two dot punch

Still giggling on my way to bed.

xxx

Sunny Sunday

So I'm back off holiday and straight back to work!  It's good that I love my job.  So I set off at 6:30 in the morning to get to Coleman's Craft Warehouse for the 2nd day of their Summer Spectacular.  They had some great offers which meant as well as demoing all day I did manage to pick up a couple of new sets of Nestabilities!

Whilst I was at Coleman's Sara was down at Ideal World/Create & Craft launching a brand new kit from 3 Birds.  It's called Overstuffed and trust me it really is - there's card blanks, some patterned and some plain, envelopes, stickers, bling, paper flowers and the most amazing rub-offs.  There's also a set of paper flowers on the show and the most amazing die cut chipboard set - lots of it is glittered and foiled and it's all self adhesive and yes it really does stick.  I'd done some samples a few weeks ago but still had some (well loads) bits left so I made a couple of cards when I got in.

This first one is inspired by challenges at:

Daring Cardmakers - ice and snow.  There's icy snow on Santa's hat.

Twisted sketches - sketch 13 with the twist of a flourish - so I went for a glittery flourish

This second card was inspired by the challenge at:

Clean & Simple - sketch challenge

I love pink and turquoise together.

xxx