Magnolia Get Well and some lies......

Just a little Tilda card today, I haven't used my Magnolia stamps for such a long time, and when I do make a card, I always like the result. They seem to be a bit like marmite, you either love them or hate them.

Scallop brown card - Papermania UK

Sentiment button - Craftwork Cards

Stamp - Magnolia

I was given this blog award yesterday by Glen - thank you Glen.

I am supposed to pass it on to seven people, but as always I can't single out any of you, and you can take this from me, and put it on your blog then pass it on, let me know if you have done it so that I can come and read your fibs.

The idea is that I have to tell you six truths and a lie, or six lies and a truth - you be the judge of which I am telling you

1. I once made 75 cards in one day - wedding invitations. After that marathon effort, the wedding was cancelled at the last minute. Life can be so stressful

2. I once bought an expensive birthday cake for my son's fourth birthday party and put it in the dining room. When I went to get it, it was covered with ants. I separated the layers, scraped all the ants off, and served it to the children. Peering nervously at them as they ate it, I was all geared up to say that any stray brown bits were chocolate, but nobody asked, I THINK I scraped them all off - sometimes life can be kind

3. My husband has only ever cooked Sunday lunch once in all the years we've been married. The yorkshire puddings rose so spectacularly that every single time I have cooked Sunday lunch for the family since, they sit there reminiscing 'Do you remember Dad's yorkshires'.............. it is sometimes really hard to stop yourself from committing murder

4. When I was a student nurse, I once flushed a patients false teeth down the toilet (a mistake on my part obviously). I jammed a whole roll of toilet paper down the pan, called the maintenance guy to unblock the loo, and handed the retrieved teeth back to the hapless patient (yes, I did sterilize them first)

5. I once drove to the supermarket, finished my shopping, went out to the car park and found that my bright blue little car had been stolen. Only after the manager, security men and various other people had been alerted, and we were waiting for the police to arrive, did I remember that the bright blue little car was in the driveway at home - I had driven my husband's car

6. I once lost 50lbs on a cabbage soup diet. It smelt revolting and I used to make a great vat of the stuff every day. It works though, with a few unfortunate side effects. People had to stay downwind of me if they had any sense

7. I have finished the first five chapters of a book. I finished the first five chapters about three years ago, haven't written a word since, I am too busy rabbiting on here about anty cakes and missing cars

So there you go - truth or lies? I leave you to decide :)

Today it is Tracey's turn to be in the spotlight on the Scrappy-go-Lucky international blog hop. Pop over to see what letter of the anagram she has for you, leave a comment and you are in with a chance to win some Cri-kit pens for your Cricut.

More Stamping and WOYWDW

Here's a couple more Anya stamped cards to show you - I seem to be on a stamping/colouring frenzy this week don't I? Looking back at the blog, I certainly go in cycles, either it's all Cricut, all stamping, or all some new thing that's caught my fancy.

Back to the card. I made the base card from Kraft cardstock (another current passion). The ribbon was slotted through slots made with the Martha ribbon slot punch. Image coloured with copics/promarkers

This one has papers by Heidi Grace. The ric-rac is a tape runner thingy that I have had for ages. Both sentiments are by Craftwork Cards
I am joining in with What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - if you have a blog, do think of joining in with this, it's such a good excuse to go and have a nosey around other peoples crafty spaces
Not exactly on my workdesk, but sitting in a corner of the garage here in Florida, is my new cropper hopper storage unit, destined to sit in my craft space at home in the UK. Now you see what my problem is - how on earth am I going to get it home. Luckily we are allowed two checked cases each, so I think it will just be bundled up in black sacks and lots of tape, and checked into the hold. I have already stuffed a load of 12 x 12 papers down the side of the box, and plan to fill every corner with stuff.

and on my desk is this TRAVEL Bo Bunny word book that I have just completed for a friends birthday (male, that's why I used sludgy colours). I just have the back page to do, and it will be finished, for that page, I have lots of photos of them at home, and plan to do a sort of 'there's no place like home' page
I love doing these books for friends, they take hours, but I find that everyone loves them, and they make a pretty unique gift

and just to prove that I have been working, honest, here's a sneak peek at something I have been working on today

Finally, don't forget to go to Diane's blog (you may know her as Capadia) to pick up your anagram letter for today, and see what she has come up with for the Scrappy-go-lucky international blog hop. Don't forget, the first prize this week is all four of the newest Cricut cartridges..

Anya Card and Thinking of You

Here's a couple of card for you today. The first one is an Anya stamped image coloured with promarkers, I am enjoying using these, I find the fine tip easier to use for fine work than the copic brush tip. The papers are by Heidi Grace, and the punch is by E K Success, just to make a change from Martha. Sentiment button by Craftwork Cards

I have been delving into my supply of pre-stamped images, so this one is a mystery as well, I kept the card fairly plain. The base card is a really pretty dull gold, with a sheen to it.

Here is the link for today's anagram letter for the Scrappy-Go-Lucky international blog hop, pop over to see what Jane has been up to, and collect today's letter

Back to the (very steamy) garage now to work on some more mysterious stuff that I can share with you later in the week

Father's Day and a chance to win BIG............

What on earth do you put on a card for a man who has no particular hobbies/interests? I mean, if they don't golf, or fish, or like football, they can be so difficult to design for. I don't have anybody in mind for this card, it was just a personal challenge to see what I could come up with. This one came about by accident. My thursday craft group had set themselves a challenge to use 'buttons'. I had just bought this plaid paper, and thought it would be perfect for a bright and cheery Father's Day card.

The tree was cut at 3", and I used my distressed stripes embossing folder to add texture to the pinking shears circle.

The sentiment is by Craftwork Cards

the teensy buttons are by Dress-it-Up from Jo-anns


Now then, how would you Cricut owners like to win all four of the new Cricut releases?

Cindy Loo, Freshly Picked, Wall Decor and more, and Mini Monsters

That's the prize that's up for grabs over on the Scrappy-go-Lucky blog this week. We are having an International blog hop, each day a different member of the design team will be posting a creation inspired by her country, and a clue. Collect the letters from each blog daily, solve the anagram at the end of the week, and enter for the draw to win the cartridges. In addition, each of the design team will be giving away 10 Cri-kit gel pens and holder, to a random winner drawn from the comments left on her blog (the winners will be able to choose which set they want).
So there you have it. I am busy working on my card, which will be shown right at the end of the hop on Saturday, when it will be my turn to give away some pens. So start hopping, I would love it if one of my blog buddies won the grand prize
Good luck

Just a simple little card today, well, it is a day of rest............ I haven't a clue who makes the stamp, it is one that I got in a stamped image swap. The base card is Kraft cardstock, and the pattern papers are from a Martha Stewart stack.

Edited to say that Debe, who was in the Stamp swap, tells me that the stamp is by Dimension Fourth.

Also, if you popped by earlier to leave a comment, and can't see it, oops, I wiped out a whole bunch of comments by mistake today.

The sentiment and the spoons are from a Fiskars set. I stamped the spoons onto kraft cardstock, cut them out, then flooded them with clear glaze

I have done a crazy thing, bought a Cropper Hopper storage cart, that will be perfect for storing my papers - back in England! Quite how I am going to transport the very large box home I don't know - I have a vague idea involving lots of black plastic sacks and heavy duty tape. A bit too large (like three times too large) to stroll on with it as hand luggage that's for sure.
It reminds me of the very first time we came for a holiday to Florida, about 25 years ago. The plane home was filled with excited, suntanned Brits, most of them wearing Mickey and Minnie ears. At the end of the journey, back in London, a very snooty flight attendant held up a pair of plastic, pink flamingo legs (no flamingo, just the legs and feet), and asked 'can the owner of a pair of pink flamingo legs make himself known to the crew'. No lights went on that I could see, and as we filed off the plane, the same flight attendant stood there, with that smile that flight attendants are so brilliant at doing - you know, the gleaming 'thank you for flying with us, but thank heaven you won't be doing it again for another year' smile - holding these ridiculous plastic legs, offering them hopefully to everyone who shuffled past her. They are probably, even now, gathering dust in a forgotten corner of some left-luggage office.

Winner of the Blog Hop is.........................................

Thanks to all of you who joined in with us at BBTB2 for the blog hop this week. I entered 114 (I had a few email requests to be included) into Random.org (couldn't find my camera to take a clever photo that would make me look all professional and competent). I was astounded when the number came up

1

Now anybody who has a head for figures (including my accountant husband) would say quite reasonably that there is nothing astonishing about that. But to me, without a numerical gene in my body, it was quite amazing. I mean, the computer thingy had 114 numbers to choose from, and it came up with number one. I will never understand either randomness or computers

So our number one is

NANNIE FLASH

(Shirley)

Congrats Shirley, I will get your package in the mail to you as soon as you email me with your address

Look out soon for another blog hop (shhhh it's a secret) with some amazing giveaways

On to today's card.

I love this image of the sweet little girls from Lili of the Valley. Coloured with a mixture of Copics and Promarkers. The base card was made from core-dinations whitewash cardstock, the other papers are by Heidi Grace. The sentiment is by Stampin Up, and the embossing folder is a Cuttlebug one.

The chair was quite a big expanse of flat colour. I thought of paper piecing it in a small floral, but decided it would be very fiddly to cut around, so I simply used a slightly deeper marker to draw some stripes on the 'fabric'. I think it worked quite well
This letter, received today, made us laugh. For British readers, here in Florida we have a company that comes to pick up the rubbish twice a week, unlike the system at home where the local council empties the bins

IMPORTANT
CHANGES IN YOUR WEEKLY PICK-UP

Starting in June 2010 your weekly solid waste pick up days are going to remain the same. Please continue to have your items out the night before to ensure you do not miss your pick up

Oh, okay then, good job you wrote to us and told us that.

Thick and Thin and a bit of fabric......

First another Loralie card, love these golfers. I got the wide ric-rac on sale at Jo-anns, this is the first time I've used it, and now that I have, I wish I had bought more. The black and white check paper is by Making Memories.

The second card today is one I made for a challenge blog last week, where they were asking for a tag or label on the card, I think it might have been Allsorts challenge. Anyway, by the time I had made it, time had run out and it was time for the next challenge.

I made a base card from Kraft cardstock, and used a rather strange woodgrain rub-on that I got from Tuesday morning to make a background. The paw stamp and the image is by Great Impressions, coloured with copic markers. The script is a hero arts stamp that I stamped in coffee versamark ink onto coffee cardstock, and I stamped the same stamp onto some white prima flowers

Some of you suggested that I posted a photo of my new hairdo. Are you crazy? At the moment I am only venturing out after dark, and even then I have a brown paper bag over my head

Okay, you are an inventive lot of peeps, I need a bit of help. We have been invited to a lunchtime birthday party for a friend, in July - when we will be back in England. The dress code is 'The 1940's'. I am stumped and in need of EASY fancy dress ideas. The only thing I have thought of is to wear khaki trousers and shirt (which I don't possess), tie a headscarf around my head (which would solve another pressing problem), and go as a Land Army gal. Now you also have to consider Mike, who is quite, ermm............rotund I think is a nice word. No, he doesn't have a double breasted suit with a waistcoat, so I think Winston Churchill is out of the question. You have my permission to come up with ideas that will make us both look quite ridiculous if that makes you happy..............

Summer in Paris - for Allsorts

On Allsorts weekly challenge this week, they asked for a colour combo of black, white and one other colour

I reached for the red, and thought, no I can't do this after all the black/red/white ones last week, so went for yellow instead

The wine bottle and glass was cut from the Summer in Paris cartridge (from Scrappy-go-lucky) at 4". The bottom layer is actually a very pale lemon, I coloured the cork with E31 Copic marker. The base card measures 6 x 6" and was made from Core-dinations whitewash paper. The border punch is one of those huge ones by Martha. Sentiment is from a clear set by Fiskars

I used glossy accents on the bottle and glass to give a nice shiny finish
What happened about the hair? I went somewhere where a mature woman had made a reasonable job when I was last here. It wasn't until I was in the chair, hair shampooed and dripping wet, that they told me that she was off that day, and that the girl who shampooed me would cut it. I was too polite/British reserved/stupid/ to walk out, let's draw a veil over what happened next...............................................but I can tell you that two eyebrow rings, three nose studs, ten earrings and a ring through the upper lip are not necessarily the emblems of a good hairdresser
Still, let's look on the bright side of life, hair grows about 1/4" a month, by Christmas I should look quite normal again :)
See you tomorrow

Get Funky

The first of the month means a brand new challenge over at Get Funky this month it's Allison's turn to set the challenge and she chose a colour combo

Pink, Cream and Brown

which was fine by me, as it's one of my favourite colour combinations

All the papers were printed from the V. Funky CD, I liked the look of the Plantin Schoolbook scallops on my card yesterday, so I cut three layers for the top and bottom, cream, brown and pink. the flowers and stems were cut using the Gypsy Wandering cartridge, and the sentiment and card candy is by Craftwork Cards

I really like the little die cut holes around the centre of these flowers, I layered them up for dimension
As always, there is a £20 ($30 value) gift certificate for the winner of the monthly challenge, and the top five get a blinkie for their blogs
I realised with a sinking feeling today that my hair needs a cut. I just haven't found the right hairdresser here in Florida, despite all my friends here having great haircuts, I just can't get it right. I once went to one who, when she heard my accent, spent an hour and a half trying to make me look like the Queen. Honestly, she gave me those curl things each side of my forehead. The Queen is in her eighties for heaven's sake. Then there was the one who had me washed, cut and blow dried in fifteen minutes flat - they didn't even let me take my jacket off. I looked like a hedgehog that time. Mike does the husbandly thing always, when I go home distraught with another bad hair cut 'it looks fine darling' . The day of the 15 minute cut even he was heard to say 'it might look better after you've washed it'. So if you hear on the news that there was a hurricane in Florida today, take no notice, it will just be me blowing my top.

BBTB2 Blog Hop

Time for another BBTB2 blog hop. This week the team were asked to use the Bless this Nest cut from the Sweethearts cartridge. This is such a cute cut, I can't imagine why I haven't used it before, but that's the beauty of BBTB, you get to use cuts that you would otherwise have overlooked.

All the papers are by Heidi Grace, the scallop borders along the top and bottom were cut using the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. I added a bit of glitter to the heart and top hat

I thought she should have a little bow.................

What am I offering for a prize? This pack of 18 12 x 12 papers and lace cardstock by K I Memories, lovely zingy summer colours for your hot weather projects. I added a pack of Thickers vinyl alphas by American Crafts - love these, you can swipe them with an ink pad to totally coordinate with your project. As always, I will mail to anywhere in the world



What do you have to do? Simply leave a comment on this post, and I will draw a winner using random.org on Thursday evening, so be sure to pop back here on Friday to see if you have won
If you want to start at the beginning of the hop, go to BBTB2 and follow the links
If you want to go on from here, the lovely and talented Jeannie is next on the hop, so go over there to see her lovely nest project, and what is up for grabs and leave her a comment.
My timings might be a bit 'off', my computer still thinks it is in the UK, I am on EST (US) and I think BBTB is set for mountain time or central time, which I don't have a clue how to work out. I am joining the ranks of the senior bewildered, you will just have to pop back later if the hop isn't up and running...........Sorry about that
Good luck, and enjoy the hop

Happy Birthday Fashion Queen....................

I haven't really had a chance to use my Forever Young cartridge much, but I played around a bit today, here's what I came up with - this cartridge is a must if you make cards for girlfriends, full of really stylish cuts. I have experimented a bit, and the figures really do look best cut in black as a silhouette (in my opinion). The figure and layers were cut at 4.5", and the sentiment was cut at 1.5". The happy birthday button is by Craftwork Cards

Whilst I was cutting it, I thought very grumpily 'if I had legs like this I wouldn't have all this trouble finding a swimsuit'. At the risk of making myself bad tempered, I am going to experiment some more with Forever Young over the weekend. I am a bit behind with my visits to other blogs as well, I need to start hopping around a few........ see you there!

Musical Birthday

This card is for a fortieth birthday - a chap who is really into music. Still in my black/red/white period, maybe I will start pulling other colours out next week. I used the music note font from the Hannah Montana cartridge for the sentiment, and the guitar was cut at 2" from the same cartridge - this was one of those bizarre Cricut cuts that crop up from time to time. I set the machine to cut it at 4", and it was HUGE

I added some card candy from Craftwork Cards to dress the guitar up a bit...........
The swimsuit search goes on, how reassuring that so many of you have the same problems. It is a bank holiday weekend here in the US (Memorial Day) and also at home in the UK. So I hope wherever you are that the sun shines for you.

Polkadoodles - Stitching

On Polkadoodles this week, we were asked to use stitching - real or pretend, so right up my street. Out came my trusty Singer. I printed the papers out of the Floral Frenzy collection from the new All Around & Everywhere CD, and hand cut some of the flowers

the sentiment was from the CD as well, all I had to do was cut around the edges. Isn't it nice?

Not much time to chat today, we have a neighbourhood party this afternoon and I have to do some cooking, oh and some shopping for ingredients first, the pantry is bare.........

See you tomorrow

Eastern Inspired Cards

I promised you I would let you see the Eastern/Oriental themed cards I have been working on this week, I really am on a black and red groove at the moment, but it is the perfect colour palette for this type of card. All the cards were made using the Cricut, and Pagoda cartridge, For this first one, the dragon was cut at 3", with a gold mirri shadow, and the fans at 1 3/4". The sentiment is a Studio G

This one has two more fans, with a bronze shadow, the tag was cut at 2.5". I thought this would make an unusual wedding anniversary card - or even a wedding if you like to be different...........


For this one, I cut the bridge, then threaded the stems of the flowers through it. The sentiment is by Craftwork Cards

I am trying to find a couple of new swimsuits. Shouldn't be too hard should it? I mean, I am in Florida at the moment. I just can't find any I like, there are loads of those tankini thingies about, the two piece ones designed for those of us who are past our bikini best. I have a couple, they look fine as long as you don't bend, stretch or do anything foolish like going into the water - then the top sort of inflates around you. So a well fitting swimsuit, without stupid additions like metal buckles that get hot enough to fry an egg on, that's all I am asking for. Why do swimwear manufacturers all put those little swing tags on their garments, they all have some lithe twenty year old beauty modelling it, laughing into the camera as she drapes herself around a palm tree. Do the manufacturers not realise that it is a crushing and devastating blow for women when they struggle into the swimsuit, adjust the straps and metal buckle, then look into the mirror of the changing room to see...............................................NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, where is the lithe body, gleaming smile, the palm tree. Life can be very cruel.

See you tomorrow

Sneak Peeks, a cute baby and what's on my desk...........

Here's a sweet little baby card I made using one of the printed die-cut images from Lili of the valley, the papers are Heidi Grace, and the sentiment is stampin up. The stitching without thread on the yellow strips was an accident, I was sewing away without realising that the bobbin had run out of thread, it looked okay, so I just left it that way

I used embroidery floss to make a bow..........


Here's a sneak peek at two cards I made with the Summer in Paris mini cartridge, they are over on Scrappy Go Lucky's blog today.



I was in a red and black sort of mood.............




I really enjoyed joining in with What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday last week, it was fun going to different blogs and getting a peek at people's crafting space, also reassuring that I am not the only hurricane crafter in the universe. So here's what's on mine today, I have been playing with the Pagoda cricut cartridge, now I have all these dragons and pagodas and haven't a clue what to do with them. I have made some oriental type cards this week, will show you later, but for some reason, the pagoda has me stumped at the moment. Maybe I will have a blinding flash of inspiration,,,,,,,,,,,or maybe not

One thing that is new this week is my very organised nestabilities. I bought some self adhesive magnet strips and put them on the wall, they hold the dies perfectly, although I will have to be careful taking one off, in case the others tumble down behind my table, that would be a disaster, I'd probably never find them again, which says a lot for my housekeeping skills. The silver coloured dies are samples that were sent for me to try by Go-Kreate, they work beautifully and are cheaper than the nesties.

There is no way it could be called a scientific sample, but I was amazed how many of us are left handed judging by yesterday's comments.

Thanks to all of you who said sweet things about the latest baby photos, my boys are very good about sending us lots of photos whilst we are here in the USA, and I love updating my blog, simply because it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling every time I see their little faces over on the sidebar. It's difficult to get a good one of Max though, that child won't stay still for a moment.

See you tomorrow

Shoes and handwriting..............................

This is another image by (I think) Stampendous, which my BBTB teamie Nikky sent me, don't you think these images are clever, I love the way the heel of the shoe is a fork. More of my favourite Making Memories black spotty paper, the pink and black spotty one is DCWV. Base card is a 6" scallop square by Craftwork Cards The punch is one of my new ones by Martha Stewart, I like this one, the tiny punched out daisy 'waste' from the punched out border are very useful to dress up a card

This next card is very simple for me, I do tend to throw a lot of stuff onto my cards, I always like the plain and simple ones just as much, but I don't often put them on the blog as they don't seem to photograph well. The base paper is by Heidi Grace, the letter N is Buck Naked chipboard, and the other letters I.............................WROTE MYSELF.

Now that is something of a miracle, I would love to have fabulous handwriting that I could scrawl across a card in a casual way, and have it looking good, but I don't. I am left handed, and my writing slopes to the left, not very pretty. After a few years of looking at fonts, I seem to be getting more confident though. Maybe one of these days I will be brave enough to write a whole sentiment, not just three little letters

It's a funny thing being left handed, although I can do most things with my right hand as well, apart from writing fluently and eating a boiled egg (I know, that sounds very random). Scissors can be a bit tricky too. Two of my three children are left handed, as was my mother. In her day, she was forced as a child to write with her right hand, and her M's and N's were written upside down, so that they looked like W's and U's for the rest of her life. If you leave a comment today, let us know if you are a lefty, they say creative people often are, it would be interesting to see if there are many of us about.

I have really faffed around today, I had such a list of cards I needed to make, and ended up making none of them, not one, nada, zilch, yet I was sitting there cutting and glueing for ages. How did that happen? It could have something to do with the fact that I was sitting there in bare feet, and a rather large, harmless but very unpleasant cockroach scuttled across the garage floor. It's really hard to make cards with your legs tucked up underneath you I discovered..............