Have a Nice Day!

The image and sentiment on this card are both by Judith. It pretty much sums up how I am feeling, after battling with the Christmas crowds in the shops. Not that shop assistants over here wish you a nice day very often - you are lucky if you get a word out of them. The chipboard button was found in a pack in the dollar bins at Michaels just before I left. What a great find. I do miss those $ bins when I am back home. Back to the card, the image was coloured with copic markers, and the papers are by SEI. The embossing was done with the argyle embossing folder.

A very, very happy new year to you all. Any resolutions? I am going to try and be more organised in my crafting and clear up as I go along, and to use up some of that mountain of supplies that I seem to have acquired before buying more. I also want to give back to the community in some way. I haven't worked out how yet.

A Storybook Butterfly for 2 Sketches 4 You

This card was made for the challenge this week over on Laura and Kazan's 2 sketches 4 you. I haven't had the time to do any challenges for almost a month now, so I enjoyed getting back into the swing. Lots of sewing and bling on this one, the papers are by SEI, making memories black chipboard swirl and the butterfly was cut with the 'hole' option at 3". I took a few liberties with the sketch (that's why I love sketches, they are such a great kick-start to your creativity).

I ventured down to the town centre today, here, in the UK, we usually only have sales twice a year, in January and July, unlike in the US when there are sales almost every weekend. So it's serious stuff here, especially when there is a huge credit crunch going on. The behaviour of people is always a source of great amusement to me, and never more so than watching two women having a tug-of-war with a cashmere sweater, seeing a wife turn to her husband and saying in withering tones 'Really Peter, you are SO naive!' Don't know what the poor guy had done, but he looked like a whipped puppy as he followed her out of the store. Then there were the ranks of men, sitting on chairs, waiting for their significant other to emerge out of the changing rooms, with glazed expressions on their faces. Boy, if those men had a 'beam me up' button, they would have used it. Does anybody else have the urge to go up to people who are trying stuff on and looking truly awful in it and say 'please don't do it, you will regret buying that for ever'. I don't of course, just think it. There was a woman trying on a plain, boring, navy blue anorak (a short waterproof jacket for US friends) who turned to me and asked if I thought it looked good (she obviously saw a woman of impeccable taste when she saw me :), she kept me there for at least five minutes, wittering on about the fit, the colour, the pockets. Oh please, it's not a designer jacket, it's a bloody anorak. Of course, I am too nice to say anything and stood there offering advice about the merits of buttons over zips.

'Hi' Card for Bitten by the Bug

This week the design team for Bitten By The Bug were asked to use the circle/dots cut from the mini monogram cartridge. This is what I came up with - I seem to be on a bit of a black and red craze at the moment. The letters are foam stickers called 'thickers' by american crafts. To see what the rest of the designers came up with click HERE

Shoe Card

This is the shoe from the Happily Ever After cartridge, cut at 4", I cut the base in red, then the layer in black which I ran through the swiss dots embossing folder to give a bit of texture and added a couple of prima flowers. The words were done on the computer and then chopped about a bit.

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you. We are going to be at home, here in Solihull, with our daughter and her boyfriend, then on Boxing Day (the 26th for US friends who have no idea what Boxing Day is) we go to London to see Max (well, his mum and dad as well, but of course he is the main attraction :). We have already been to London once since we got home, to take all of Kiki's presents down, she was so sweet, held my hand tight all day as if she was afraid that if she let go, I would disappear again. We went to see her singing 'Away in a Manger' with all the other under 5's at their church. She forgot the words and stood there with a tea towel all askew on her head (it was meant to make her look like a shepherd), but of course it was a tearful granny moment. Hearing children sweetly singing carols brings home the true meaning of Christmas, unlike the stores, where frantic shoppers are piling their carts high with enough food to feed the whole of Ethiopia for a month. Makes you think.

So have a wonderful time my friends, and I hope Santa brings you everything you wish for. Me? I have huge plans to turn a cupboard (closet) into the most amazing scrap space you have ever seen, so that will be my gift this year. I have a feeling that my grandiose ideas may not translate very well into a cupboard, watch this space...........................................................................

Have A Cool Birthday

Well, here I am back in the UK, with no travel anecdotes to regale you with - thank goodness. After all the angst about the suitcase weight, they didn't even bother to weigh them. It has taken me two days to unpack them though. Two days, cases unpacked, gifts wrapped and the house decorated for Christmas. Not bad going.

I must thank so many of you for the really gorgeous handmade cards that were waiting here for me, from Australia, Japan, Netherlands, USA, Canada, Chile, France, Spain, and of course good old Blighty (UK) ...............so many cards and so greatly appreciated. I am sure that you understand that this year, my world was in disarray for three weeks, so you will have to forgive me for not returning the compliment.

This card is one of mine that is published in the Christmas issue of Papercraft Inspirations, I just managed to get the last copy at the book store, so I can share it with you. The footballs are by Paper Cellar, this would be a good card for a teenage footy fan (soccer for my US friends).

A sneaky peek at this month's commission

My commission was to make a series of cards, all based on punctuation marks. Here is a peek at one of them - see the others in this months Papercraft Inspirations magazine.

Okay, must fly.......................... :)

Live life in the deep end..................

I have combined two of my greatest crafting loves for this one, my Cricut and stamping. I cut the fishbowl out of white paper at 3" (animal kingdom), then cut the wavy edged layer also in white. I stamped the swimming cat onto this layer (great impressions), and coloured with copic markers, adding a bit of blue to the edges for a watery look. The seaweed was also from animal kingdom. I coated the whole thing in three layers of glossy accents, then wrapped a ribbon around the edge of the bowl. The papers are from DCWV nana's kids stack. The expression on the cat's face makes me smile, that's a wicked little grin he has.

There will now be a short intermission.................we fly back to the UK tomorrow, so all the cases are packed, two have been on an outing to Publix to be weighed and came in at 10lbs under the allowance, however, since then I have probably stuffed at least another 20 lbs into each of them. I even found myself saying to Mike 'you don't need to take more than one pair of trousers home with you' the poor guy is allowed just the clothes he is wearing. The craft stuff takes up the whole of one suitcase, then there are the Christmas presents, shed loads of them, oh and that darling pair of shoes I got on sale, and those cute ornaments for the tree.........I think I had better start practicing my wobbly voice again for when we check in at the airport.

Wildcard - Champagne Card

This was made using the bottle card cut on wildcard, I cut at 5". This is the first card that I have found difficult, and rather odd on this cartridge. I don't know what I did, but however I tried to fold it, it ended up with the fold on the 'wrong' side of the card, so that it would not open. I was pretty tired when I was doing it, so I am sure it was just me. But I decided that it would look good folded this way, with the bottle folded up from the bottom of the card. I handwrote some vaguely wine like words on the label and did a bit of doodling. The cork was run through the cuttlebug machine to give a bit of texture. I layered some real lace down the left hand side, and topped that with a punched border (martha stewart zigzag). The bottle had a good layer of glossy accents put on, so that it looks like glass. this would make a great wedding anniversary card I think.

Cricut Cartridge Storage Solution

When I am going home to the UK, I put my cartridges in ziplock baggies, but it is a very unsatisfactory way of doing things. I found this box in the storage aisle at Joannes and it is perfect. The cartridges fit snugly and at an angle so that it is easy to read the label. I also did dymo labels for the lid of the box in the corresponding positions. I have stored the books and overlays in a snaplid box - I only take the more complicated books with me, for those cartridges that have hidden icons and layers. (well, not hidden, as such, they are just not shown on the overlays)

Oh Happy Day - Wildcard

Another wildcard - this one took some doing, it was one of those cards that just wouldn't 'come together' whatever I did. The blank white looked flat and blank until I added black stitching, then ran through the cuttlebug using the paisley folder. The raised pattern came through on the back instead of the front, but it still added texture. Have you noticed that with the older cuttlebug folders, you put the paper in the folder with the black writing on top. with the newer ones this is reversed and the writing on the folder has to go on the back. Irritating, as I keep forgetting that, as in this card. I cut at 5". The paper on the back is by SEI, the phrase was also cut at 5", and the flowers are from a bunch I got from Michaels bridal aisle.

Michaelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and had time to go home for a shower before going down to the pub, in the time it took me to do this card (well, that's what it felt like). At long last, I am happy with it, and as it is for a special friend, I can finally tick this one off my 'to do' list.

Sweetest Mum Card

I made this using the new DCWV stack, pretty colours in this paper range, lots of yummy chocolate and pinks. I cut some 1" circles out of chocolate, cream and a tan colour with my cricut, and some small scallop circles with my nestabilities, which I sort of folded to look like sweet papers. The sentiment is computer generated and the ribbon is Martha Stewart. I scribbled on the chocolates with liquid pearls, and added a couple of little pearl gems. One of them looks a bit wonky in the photo, strange, it's fine in reality.

I have had some requests to put a followers button on the blog, so here it is. I have no idea what this does, but it would be nice if I had some followers I suppose, so click the button if you want to follow me. I feel like the Pied Piper of Hamelin!

A huge congrats to my fellow Funky Hand team mate and bloggy friend Kath, she has won the coveted title of Cardmaker of the Year 2008 in a contest run by Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine in the UK. She gets a place on their design team so look out for her work. They couldn't have given the title to a nicer person, so toot toot to you Kath, very well done x You can see Kath's blog HERE

Penny Black Frogs

This cute stamp is by Penny Black, as it's a 'busy' little image I kept the card quite simple, and immediately thought of this sentiment stamp that I have had for ages. The frogs were coloured with prisma pencils and a goo gone pen, and a layer of glossy accents to add shine. The background was cuttlebugged with swiss dots.

So we saw the doctor today, and have the all clear to fly home. Small problem, the airline said they couldn't fly us back (without a huge price hike) until, wait for it, December 25th. So I put on my well rehearsed wobbly 'oh no I'm going to burst into tears' voice, that I have perfected over the past ten days, and they relented and gave us a flight for next tuesday. Which brings me to the next little episode of having to unpack all my carefully stowed crafty stuff again, well, I can't sit around and do nothing for a week can I?

Friendship Card

These stamps by My Favourite Things are just up my street. I love the way you never see the faces of the people. I treated myself to four sets the other day, this is one of them. They are acrylic, so will be travelling home with me. The image was coloured with copics, I masked the main image to add some rain drops, and stamped the umbrella onto coloured paper. The umbrella, rain and puddle are all coated in glossy accents. Papers are Bo Bunny.

I spent hours yesterday packing up my stuff ready for the journey home (we still have no idea when that will be, but soon, very soon). You should see me with my stamps, I obviously can't take a load of wood mounted stamps back because of the weight, so I put them away with an anguished look on my face, as if I am abandoning a child for three months. I did hit on the bright idea of stamping a few images (well okay, a lot of images) onto cardstock to take back with me. I probably need to concentrate on acrylics in future, but then I see all these cute wood mounted stamps and can't resist. I will never go through the process of unmounting them either, I am so untidy when I work they would get lost forever in the tornado.

Golf Card

I am always on the lookout for stamps that will make a good 'man' card, and here is one I found called golf martini by Impression Obsession that would do for a man or woman golfer, and I know a few of those, so I snapped it up. I added some random type stitching (one of my favourites for a male card for some reason) and was going to straight stitch around the image in green, but got lazy and couldn't be bothered to change the thread, so I just ran it with no cotton. I got a bit carried away and carried on making holes all over the place, but I quite like the look. I coated the glass with glossy accents, love that stuff, it looks just like a real glass.

Another Pink Petticoat card...........

I am almost done with my Christmas cards now - did I hear a huge sigh of relief from you? I have a special one to do for Kiki, all the others are written and the envelopes addressed. Phew. I must admit I am a little tired of making them now, and quite look forward to getting back to birthdays and thank you cards

This is another Pink Petticoat one from the Christmas download. Click HERE to get to the site. The papers are by Martha Stewart, and the sentiment is studio g acrylic. I coloured the image with copic markers (decided to put her in a nice Christmassy outfit) and the flowers are by prima.

Pink Petticoat Contest

Over on Pink Petticoat, Liz Armstrong the owner is giving away a slice, and being a die-cut junkie I would love to own one (a slice is a small, portable die cutter, made by Making Memories). She asked for Pink Petticoat cards to be submitted, so here is one I made last week, using Lola and a sentiment stamp that was given to me by my friend Carol, I think the sentiment is hilarious, and totally suits Lola's personality! The background is embossed with the swiss dots folder.

It feels so good to be 'talking' to you all again. Of course, even a crisis doesn't happen in my life without something humorous happening. At the hospital, they had volunteers driving around in golf buggies to give visitors a ride from the car park to the main entrance. So on I hopped one day, and sat there while the guy fumbled and fumbled with the ignition key, he tried and tried to get it in the lock. Eventually he turned to me and said 'can you put the key in for me please, I don't see too good, I've just had eye surgery'. WHAAAAAAAAAAT? I did let him drive me back (all of 50 yards, I was being lazy) but had a good chuckle at the slightly surreal feeling of being driven about in a golf cart driven by an almost blind man.

Christmas card of the day

Here I am, back in production - well, not really, as this is the card that was going to be put on the blog a week ago! These Inky Antics stamps are so sweet, I coloured with Copic markers. The paper is by DCWV. I added a couple of snowflake brads. I wanted the background colours to be delicate and pastel, so that the image really stands out. The oval was cut out with my coluzzle. The stamp is number P4-4003-4K and Inky Antics number is 1-800-945-3980

Update

Thank you all so much for all your good wishes and concern. The last week has been a roller coaster of drama/emotion/highs and lows, but I am happy to tell you that Mike is back home with me in Hudson. He has had a stent put in, so we won't be able to fly back to the UK for two weeks, so I may even get back to the crafting table later, although we are both pretty exhausted right now. Thank you all again, I was quite overwhelmed with all the messages I received and consider myself blessed to have such caring online buddies x

Just a quick post

To let you know that Mike my husband has been taken ill and is in hospital. Obviously everything else in my life is on hold until he is better and at home. We were due to fly back to the UK on thursday but I doubt that will happen just yet. If you believe in prayer, I would appreciate it if you can remember us for a moment.
Enfys x

Animal Kingdom Christmas Penguins

I thought I would make a Christmas card using the penguins from animal kingdom. I cut them in white at 5", then again for the layer in a spotty black and white paper. I gave the mummy penguin a gift to hold, decorated with a punched snowflake, the baby is sitting on a bed of punched pine branches that have been glittered. He is only sitting on these because there was a smudge that found it's way onto the card when I wasn't looking, so I had to cover it up somehow. I was too far down the line to start again! I am sure you all know this, but a great way of applying glitter to cuts like this is to run them backwards through your xyron machine, so that the front of the die cut is sticky, cover with glitter then run through again to make the back sticky. The animal faces were stamped using Peachy Keen stamps, the set gives faces for all the animals on this cartridge. Their expressions make me laugh, they look rather disdainful and a bit bored.

Funky Daze Word Book

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANICE

Anice, the very talented owner of Funky Hand is 40 today, she is the sweetest person and I am so happy to be on her design team. She has just released her new CD, called Funky Daze, with a fabulous range of printable papers, alphabets and, wow, wow, wow, the ability to print your own word book. I was really excited to get my demo CD and couldn't wait to see how it worked out. I printed out the word PLAY on a stiff white cardstock (the sort you get in a great big pack from the office supply aisle in Walmart), then printed out some coordinating papers, again on cardstock and backed the letters with those. With the two layers of card, it made a really substantial little book. I don't have a bind-it-all, so used key rings to hold it all together, then tied ribbons to them. The photos are all of Kiki playing in the park and with her doll. This word book has been sent to Anice as she will be showcasing her new line on Ideal World Create and Craft TV in the UK. The CD can be seen HERE - shipping is free to anywhere in the world.

Regular bloggy friends will remember the saga of the black pig which was snuffling around outside one dark night a few weeks ago? Suggestions were gently made that I was demented/drunk/mistaking an armadillo for a pig and so on, and on.................nobody really believed me. Well, I am totally vindicated. Guess what was spotted on US19 this week (a really busy highway about a mile away from our house) - not one, but TWO black pigs snuffling around on the verge. One of them was definitely mine I've decided, but if it hangs around US19 for any length of time it will be going to a piggy graveyard, there are some crazy drivers on that road.

Christmas card of the day

Here is another snowman, stamped with a friends stamp at a crop, so I am not totally sure who made it, but think it was by Stampendous. I decided to use the Martha Stewart star punch to cut a border out all around a white rectangle, bad mistake, huge, because of course when you get to the corners it all goes belly up. By this time I was tired, and the floor was littered with tiny punched out stars, so I gathered some of them up and stuck them on all over the place, including the corners to disguise the mess.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to send me birthday wishes, I really appreciated it. Today we went with friends (another British couple, very old friends John and Barbara) for lunch at a place called Tarpon Turtle, on the river in Tarpon Springs. It was a lovely setting for lunch, sitting there looking out at the little ducks and egrets. 'Oh look' said Barb brightly 'a baby crocodile' - a baby alligator actually Barb, wrong continent. He was about a foot long and stayed there for about an hour, sunning himself and looking thoughtfully at the ducks.

I have finished my latest commission for Papercraft Inspirations, apart from playing around with the text a little, so they are all ready to mail, and looking good. The whole series of cards went really well, except for the last one which I made, tore up, reworked, tore up, reworked...............and so on, ad infinitum. Finally, I changed the paper I was using, and it all fell into place. So now I am a happy bunny, hope the Editor will be too.

Today is my Birthday, look what I got..............

Nothing crafty, just the most precious things in the world. The card is from Kiki, who sang Happy Birthday very loudly to me over the phone, and the photo is of course, little Max.

So whatever else happens today, I have this cozy warm happy feeling.

Wildcard Christmas House

Here is the house from wildcard, turned into something Christmasy. You must all be so tired of seeing all these festive cards by now, but I am a woman on a mission. I cut the house at 7" in red, then again in green and then cut the layers. The door wreath is from a pack I picked up in walmart, the little bell has a little clapper so it tinkles. The snow is white fabric paint sprinkled with glitter. The little door opens, so I stamped Seasons Greetings inside.

Baby Snow Christmas Card

The card was cut from Wildcard in ice blue, then again in a snowflake pattern paper by DCWV at 5 1/4". I cut a nestabilities scallop circle in ice blue for the centre and attached the stamped image to that. The snowman, from Sparkle n Stamp was stamped twice, once on white and once on the snowflake pattern paper and his hat and scarf cut out of that. A pompom, epoxy snowflake brad and a liberal sprinkling of Martha Stewart coarse snow glitter and he was done. The bow was made using a little gadget called the Bowdabara from Michaels, I stuck a silver sequin snowflake and a rhinestone brad in the centre. It's a glittery little card, and I really like the effect.

One thing I am learning about Wildcard, is that almost all the cards look better if you cut the base card out on blackout first, then layer on top of that. That way, you don't get all those little score marks showing on the inside of your card. It really does have the most hopeless instruction book, but the results are so cute I am just learning as I go along. If you just want a plain envelope that will fit your card, cut on 'blackout' and the tiny notches showing you where to fold will still be there. I wish they would abandon that as the notches show when you crease the folds, especially if the back of your paper is white. I swipe a coordinating ink pad around the edges and that disguises the notches.

Lola's Christmas Pudding!

This may not make much sense to readers outside the UK, but when someone is pregnant, we say 'she's in the pudding club'. Of course, the traditional dessert on Christmas day is the plum pudding (which is so rich and heavy that after stuffing themselves with turkey and all the trimmings nobody wants to eat. But tradition is tradition.) So here is Lola, bump and all, for a fun Christmas card. The sentiment was computer generated. I can't imagine who will be getting this one :) Image as before, from Pink Petticoat Oops, just noticed I have left the H out of Christmas. Back to the computer..........................

Expecting - Congrats

I made not one, but two of these cards. Why? You see my adorable Kiki on my sidebar? Well, she is having a new baby brother or sister in May. You see my little pickle Max on my sidebar? Well, he is having a new baby brother or sister in.........MAY! So I am doubling the number of my grandchildren within a week of each other (I'll have to get a longer sidebar). So these cards are winging their way across the Atlantic as I speak. I am so excited. My daughters-in-law have both had their 12 week scans, and are set to enjoy their pregnancies.

Trendy Christmas Cards

Ihave quite a few 'young women about town' to make Christmas cards for, including my daughter Alex, so when I saw this download from Pink Petticoat I bought it immediately. So here's Lola, doing what she does best, dressing up and shopping. All the images were coloured with copic markers and the papers are all by DCWV and Martha's Christmas stacks. Click HERE to go to the site, you just order the images which come as a zip file to your email address. Download, open the file and print. Easy peasy. For all of you in the US, the price works out at $7.50, no tax or shipping. It's a UK company (yeah!) and she is a very talented artist.

Bare Tree Christmas Card

The challenge that was given to the design team over on Bitten By The Bug this week, was to use the 'bare tree' from the stretch your imagination cartridge as a Christmas card. I cut the tree at 5", and ran it through the cuttlebug using the distressed stripes folder. Inked the edges in blue to give definition as it was going on a white background, and applied icicle stickles. The little blue stars are from a snowflake pack by Martha Stewart, as is the large snowflake on the organza bow. The card itself is pre-embossed snowflakes by DCWV. Click HERE to see the other ideas the rest of the team came up with, as always, there is such a great variety of cards to see.

Little Angelique for Crafty Muse

I found a brand new challenge blog called Crafty Muse and for their very first challenge they are giving this sweet little Angelique image away FREE. Just click HERE to download her and start playing. I love downloaded images, you can colour them in without worrying about the ink bleeding, and of course the image is always perfect, unlike some of my stamping where I have to have two or three tries sometimes to get it right. I printed her twice, once onto pattern paper and cut the dress out of that. There is a teensy bit of glitter on the wings, done with a clear stardust pen. The stars are Martha Stewarts new border punch, and the sentiment circle is a wood mount studio G. Ribbon is fabulous Martha Stewart twill, I love this and it has been discontinued. I should have bought it all up when I had the chance.

Christmas Card of the Day

And here's one I made earlier............................ this is the trifold card from the wildcard cartridge, the JOY letters were cut from plantin schoolbood at 4". The branches are Martha Stewart branch punch. The double sided paper of the card is Bo Bunny, the other papers are by Basic Grey (Wassail collection). There is quite a lot of sparkle on the card which doesn't show at all in the photo. One of those cards that is prettier in real life.

Happy Birthday

I do love Penny Black stamps, they are always such fun to colour. I played with my prismacolour pencils, and the sentiment stamp is one I got free from a magazine.

My mojo has gone missing, has anybody seen it? I have some magazine commissions to do, and a deadline to meet and I have just wasted a whole evening messing around with a card that is just not good enough. I tidied my scrap area so that tomorrow everything will be tidy and nice for me to start work, I'll let you know how it goes. Lots of you have asked me how magazine designing works, do I just make the cards and send them in? The answer to that is a definite no. You are given very specific guidelines on what they want, it has to fit in with the whole issue, supplies have to be current and available, and you write the text as well, including a list of materials used and suppliers, plus of course deadlines to meet. My goal is to give every card a 'I would never have thought of that' reaction from the readers. It's fun, challenging and very rewarding to see your work in print. My deadlines are shortened by a week when I am in the USA to allow for the airmail times. So with all this going on, there may be just a slight hiccup in my 'christmas card of the day' project.

Christmas Card of the Day

These jolly little penguins are by great Impressions, I stamped them three times so that they were in a row. I cut the card on an angle and matted it at an angle as well. The border is doodled and the papers are by DCWV

WildCard Candles

Another simple little Wild Card effort. These are the Hanukah candles, but I thought they would be fine for birthday candles too. The button is a cosmo cricket chipboard one, covered, and the sentiment is handwritten with an Inkessentials white pen

Christmas Card of the Day

This is another fun image that I borrowed from a friend at a crop, although I think the snowmen look as if they have been enjoying a little too much Christmas cheer and all look drunk. The stamp is by Stampendous, Martha Stewart papers and Hero Arts sentiment. The scarves were cut from pattern paper.

Two Cards For Men

Yes, one of the most difficult tasks in the world is to produce cards for men who don't golf, sail, enjoy soccer or any other sport, but I think either of these would fit the bill, because of the colours I chose. They are both made with stampin up images, and the papers are Daisy D's. I must say, although they are a challenge to make, they are not as much fun as making cards for girlfriends, no pretty flowers, no sparkles or bling.

We went to friends for a fabulous lobster dinner on Sunday night. Carol and Alicia had made a trip on Saturday to the guy who sells the live lobsters, and had very specific instructions from him as to their care until they made that headlong dive into a pot of boiling water. So they returned home and carefully put them in the laundry sink/washbasin with ice. The lobsters were heard skittering around at about 11pm. The next morning, Carol went to walk her dog to be confronted by Alicia on her drive. 'They're DEAD' she said tragically. Yes, the ice had melted, and they had drowned during the night. No I didn't know that lobsters could drown in fresh water either. A frantic dash to the computer produced the information that they were quite safe to eat. So we did, and jolly delicious they were too, although we did ask each other 'Are you feeling okay?' rather a lot during the course of the evening, and were all quite relieved that we woke up feeling good on Monday morning!

Fabric Card

Have you ever tried using fabric on a card? It's so easy, all you do is find a fabric with clear simple images, you only need a little remnant, swipe the back all over with a glue stick, and stick onto cardstock. Iron out any creases with your bone folder and allow to dry. When it is ready, cut around the image and attach to your card in the usual way. This little tiger is for a child's birthday. I will put the age of the child on the animal print button (in black I think) before sending the card. In this card, the tiger and the grass are cut from fabric.