I'm alive

After a friend rang me this week to make sure I was still alive I thought it was about time I updated my blog!  It's been such a hectic but totally fabulous time what with the Christmas party, Christmas shopping (oh I did buy boots for me too!), Christmas, then going skiing for New Year and then straight back to work, I haven't crafted for a couple of weeks!  I know shock horror, I've nearly forgotten what to do!  But luckily I'm at Anna's this weekend and my crafting mojo is being nurtured back to life.  So before we get to some cards here's a quick round up of the last couple of weeks:

The Christmas do was at Hardwick Hall with Jamie "Afro" Archer.  He was amazing and as you can see I managed to get myself right to the front!   If you want to see all the gory details of our night out then they're on the Crafter's Companion Facebook page.

Sara & I having a great out

Christmas day, Ian & me with the big cracker

Happy Days with my favourite ski guide

And why wouldn't you want to be there?



Dave & Gill & the glorious mountains

Me ready to hit the pistes



 A little apres

Two very lovely people, Lady Sperring and Howard 

The A team ready to hit the slopes, Tupes, Charlotte, Howard, Sid and little me.  I look like such a titch in this photo!



 Right, back to the crafting then.  Here's some of what I've been up to today.  This first card was inspired by challenges at:
Stamp' 4 the weekend - new and blue
Chicken soup - recipe #2

Supplies used:
Card, patterned papers and brad - Scrap-a-gogo kit
Stamp - Papertrey Ink - round & round
Flowers - petaloo
Ink - Papertrey ink - Hawaiian shores

This card is just a little bit bolder and was inspired by challenges at:
Charisma cardz - Happy Birthday
Crafty Pad - Happy Birthday

Supplies used:
Paper - PTI in bloom
Stamp - PTI round & round
Ink - PTI pure poppy, true black

Punch - Stampin' Up

I know it's a little late, but a Happy New to everyone.  Let's hope there's lots of exciting adventures in store for this year, I'm sure there will be.
xxx

More Cheese Gromit

I've lived on cheese for the last week as we brought some home from last weekends cheese festival.  So when Anna brought a cheese board out after her fabulous Spanish supper did I so no!  Of course not I tucked in and had a little tipple of 20 year old port too.

I can't let a visit to Anna's pass without making a card or two and as it was a flying visit I have just two cards to share with you today.

I'm popping both of these into the special World Cardmaking Day challenge at Daring Cardmakers



All of the supplies are from a Stampin' Up scrapbooking kit I bought last year.

I've had a great weekend and met lots of lovely crafters and I'm looking forward to going out to Inpsirations at Cardcraft Plus tomorrow to meet some more.  Also the lovely Leonie Pujol is going, so it should be a great day.

xxx

A mini scream

Just one of those days where the internet decided not to be my friend.  So a mini grrrrr as it meant I didn't get as much done as I wanted to today.  So a deep breath and at the end of the day, paper and glue of course.  Although I did have some good news via the internet today.  I was included in an article titled 101 Lovely Craft Blogs 

 over at dotcomgiftshop :)

So here's what I made tonight.  Firstly inspired by the challenges at:

Papertake Weekly - stitches - I added some faux stitching to my card - I'm still trying to make friends with my sewing machine

My Time to Craft - zig zags - I just love the zig zags on this paper

This cute and rather bright birdie was inspired by the challenge at:

Spoonful of Sugar - Animals

Last but by no means least is a card inspired by the Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World.  This weeks trigger was a beautiful vase of flowers and included the colours, pink, turquiose,green and orange - just my cup of tea and perfect for the paper from Stampin' Up I've had out.

So that's it for today.  Not as exciting as Italy but I've got a few things to look forward to this week :)

xxx

Lazy Day

As it was our last day in Cortona a lazy day by the pool was called for.  The weather was perfect as the little bit of cloud that drifted across the sky always came just before I was about to melt.  I did venture into the pool today.  Mainly because I had a full blown Ginger moment and dropped my stepper in the pool.  I went in after it but as the water was too deep I couldn't get it.  However there's a pool scooper so I used that instead (why didn't I see that before getting in the pool) and rescued said stepper but I think this time I've soaked it once too often and this was it's last chance and now it's gone to stepper heaven!  I have another one at home, so I will be back stepping soon.

Once in the pool it was lovely and I managed to get in again later and do some swimming.  We then enjoyed our last dinner at the house of Spaghetti Carbonara before some last minute card making.

A perfect view

Proof I was in the pool - don't you love the self-timer on your camera

My drowned stepper :( !!

A lot of the cards that I've made this week have been from a Stampin' Up kit I bought last year.  I love the bright colours.  This first card is inspired by the challenge at:
ABC Challenge - X is for Xtra dimension - I made my flower 3D overlapping layers of felt with paper flowers.

Here's a little gift tag for this weeks challenge at:

Meljen's Designs - bookmarks or tags

I love the slight Moroccan feel this card has - I think it's the colours and the geometric patterns.

This little hippo is for the challenge at:

CRAFT challenge - black, lime and lilac.  They're definitely in there.  Apologies for the turquoise ribbon but as I was on holiday with limited supplies please can I be forgiven :)

One of the things I took away with me was a Basic Grey card kit.  It was lovely but me being me I don't think I made one without some kind of alteration!  For this one I added the ribbon and the rub on. 

This card was not only inspired by the card above but I used the sheet I'd taken the die cuts out of to make my own template to make the bird, it's wing and the shape it's sitting on.  This in turn was inspired by the challenge at:
Cute Card Thursday - reuse, renew and recycle

Then finally in preparation to our trip to Rome here's a super scooter card, inspired by the challenge at:

Charisma Cards - for the boys

So I'm all packed up as we leave Cortona in the morning to go back to Rome.  I'll be sad to leave this lovely house but hope I'll get to visit again one day.

Happy Days

xxx

Firenze

Another train adventure today - we went off to Florence or as the Italians call it Firenze.  You need to know these things or you'll never find Florence!

We're glad we did find it as it's a beautiful city and we enjoyed our day there exploring the Duomo, Piazza della Signoria, the statue of David, the Fountain of Neptune and the Ponte Vecchio.  There's so much more to see and it's definitely a city that's on my must go back to list.
You get glimpses of the Duomo from all over the city and can't help but be drawn towards it.  For me the inside doesn't live up to the outside but I'm still glad I went in.

Can you imagine if it was this beautiful on the inside.

Michelangelo's David - well the replica that sits in Piazza della Signoria

Ponte Vecchio

Il Porcellino (Italian "piglet") is the local Florentine nickname for the bronze fountain of a boar.  You have to put a coin in his mouth and let it drop into the grating below for good luck and rub his snout (which is why it's so shiny) to ensure a return to Florence.

Ice cream - the way only the Italians can do it!

So after a day in Florence a relaxing evening of crafting was in order.  This first card was inspired by the challenge at:

Everybody art challenge - pink and green - and in my case a little bit of orange

This one was inspired by the challenge at:

Papertake Weekly - sketch challenge

This little one was inspired by the challenge at:

A Spoonful of Sugar - Good luck/Best wishes

I love making little best wishes cards just to send to friends to make them smile 

Lastly if a little unseasonal this one is for the challenge at:

My Time to Craft - Yuletide in June

I try to keep my Christmas cards quite simple as I make quite a few.

Let's hope this bit of Christmas doesn't scare away the sun.

xxx

Sweet Sunday

I treated myself with a lie in this morning.  No alarm clock set - woo hoo.  When I did wake up Steve got me a bacon buttie.  A bit of a disappointment as I'd bought the more expensive thick cut bacon from Tesco's and it was thinner than normal bacon and just fell apart in the pan!  Ah well onwards and upwards.

I dropped Steve off at the cricket club and decided to venture out even though it was raining.  So today the adventure was around Daisy Nook Country Park.  I do feel lucky to have so many nice places not too far away.  Talking of luck, the rain stopped and the swans and geese were on the canal.

So only 8,000 steps today but as I had my ankle weights on it was a good work out.

So home to do some homework but first a couple cards.

This first one was inpired by challenges at:

2sketches 4 you - sketch challenge - although I was too late to upload it!

Allsorts Challenge - strawberries and cream

The red of the strawberries just led me to the bright colours and the gingham is just perfect for any summer picnic.

This second card went texture crazy with the dry embossing and the ruched gingham ribbon.  It was inspired by challenges at:

Meljen's Designs - dry embossing

Tuesday Taggers - touchy feely texture

Moxie Fab World - Tesday Trigger - for me it was the colours and ruffled edges of the flowers that triggered me.

So back to my homework, which I can't share with you just yet, but as soon as I can, I will.  Enjoy the last few hours of your weekend

xxx