A bit of this and a bit of that......

There has been a lot of this going on here...........

The removal people coming to give quotes for the move look very bemused when they open the doors of the craft cupboard - I think they expect to see a few coats hanging up, instead of which they are confronted with (rather a lot) of bewildering craft supplies. 'will all this be going?' they ask politely, and promptly up the quote when I say yes....

I need to pick a winner for the Flexmarkers, but as I have been skidding around by the seat of my pants, I left it a bit late, so will do it when we get back from holiday - we leave tomorrow

Then we had a family wedding - my niece got married on Friday, it was a lovely day, congratulations Mr and Mrs Haden!

and here I am (on the right in the cream jacket) with my sister, the brides mother......

So now that you are up to date with all my hectic schedule, I'm signing off to finish the last of the holiday packing, but I will be back to share some photos with you all and regale you with some holiday adventures.....

So much to do, so little time.........

Here is a little burlap canvas that I made. The flowers were cut from a Sissix die using thin cork paper, I wound string around to make leaves and stems. The sentiment was cut using the Cricut Explore. I rather like the earthy natural look of this.......

 Frankly, I don't know whether I am coming or going at the moment,  and certainly haven't had much time to craft. After spending days and days house hunting, until we finally found one to fall in love with, we now seem to be on a treadmill of legal forms to fill in, and just as I think it's okay to get a bit messy in the house, along comes the surveyor. Now common sense tells me that he is not going to take marks away from this house just because a craft cupboard looks as though a hurricane has swept through the house, but the idiot side of me can't help but have yet another crazy tidying up session.

Add to this mix the fact that we go on holiday next Monday for eleven days and I have yet to pull out any summer clothes......I may well be swanning around on a cruise ship sailing around the Italian coast wearing black sacks. Where on earth did I put my flip flops?

So you may well have to make do with photos of Italian scenery and maybe a few observations that I am sure to make from the comfort of a deckchair after this week - I usually make all sorts of stuff to schedule posts whilst I am on holiday, but this year, I think I am going to hold up my hands and admit defeat on that score. Am I going to relax on holiday? I think not, my mind works pretty much like that of a dog chasing a rabbit - if I am fixated on everything I need to do at home, I will sit fretting, but at least I will be fretting in the sunshine with lovely scenery to look at! 

Win some FlexMarkers....

Have you tried Flexmarkers? They use the same alcohol based ink as your ProMarkers, but have a brush nib instead of the bullet nib of the Promarkers - they can be used alongside your Promarkers though.

I have a set of six to give away.......

The winner will get Berry Red, Sunflower, Forest Green, Cadet Blue, Wild Orchid and Rose Pink, so if you haven't tried these great markers, here's your chance...

All you have to do is leave your name in the comments under this post and I will pick a random winner next Wednesday. Good Luck

So the loft is cleared, after a fashion, I spent most of the day yesterday up there, throwing out with abandon and half laughing/half crying over some of the stuff I found. All my daughters old teenage diaries from about the age of eleven, all with KEEP OUT VERY VERY PRIVATE DO NOT LOOK INSIDE THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY written all over them - no of course I didn't throw them out, I boxed them up for her, she will probably find them very amusing now. Then there was the shawl that my mother knitted for her before she was born, she came home from hospital wrapped in that shawl. Memories.... but we actually don't have the stuff most people accumulate in the attic - we only moved here twelve years ago and I had a massive clear out before that move so there is only twelve years worth of junk up there

And after reading some of your comments on yesterday's post, I am going to make sure I have a huge box of light bulbs ready and waiting on moving day, just in case....

See you tomorrow x 

Neon markers winner......

Just sharing with you a project I made for the Fiskarettes board on Facebook, and I am so happy with the way it turned out............

I punched the butterflies out of some scrap papers that were lying around, and I used those little wooden clothes pegs that you find in craft shops for the centers. This one may actually find it's way onto a wall I am so happy with it! 

The winner of the Neon markers is:

MAGS

Congratulation Mags, email me with your address and they will be on their way to you

Two very special little boys have a birthday this week, Milo was six on Monday - here he is getting ready to morph into Captain America......

and Max (the photos I took of him were too blurry to post) is eight today.
Happy birthday my darlings!

So what did I achieve yesterday? Well we did a few little jobs around the house, then spent about two hours filling in forms for the solicitor (lawyer) dealing with our house sale and purchase. Some of the questions on a form about the sale of this house were hilarious. Will we be leaving light bulbs? Trees? Kitchen units?
I suppose that people COULD take these things unless it was written and signed - can you imagine opening of the door to a new house and seeing that the beautiful kitchen you had fallen in love with had gone, looking out of the window and seeing instead of lushly planted trees and shrubs in the garden a patch of bare earth..............has anyone had any house moving disasters?
So after the form filling was finally done, I sat down to 'put my feet up for just a minute before I move into crafting mode'..................four hours later, I woke up!

See you tomorrow x

What a blessing.....

What a blessing it is when you have a million things to do and no time to do them when you find a little image, already coloured, all ready cut out, all ready to go........

So I sponged some blue sky, and a little green for the ground and popped her on - a sentiment by Clearly Besotted and she was good to go! The little girl is a really old stamp by Kanban...

So we have found a house we love, only about two miles away from where we live at the moment, as soon as we walked in we fell in love. But I am not talking about it until it is signed sealed and delivered. But I will tell you, I will have more than a cupboard to craft in. Yeah!

Between dashing around looking at houses, and now dealing with solicitors and estate agents, I am also learning the ropes for my new job as the Fiskarette representative on Facebook. It struck me like a sledge hammer today that we go on holiday in two weeks time. Then a call came telling us that apparently we will be moving house sometime around the 6th July. HELP!

Now I must climb up into the attic to sort out some of the clutter up there. See you tomorrow x

As promised.....

Here's a peek for those of you who don't go onto Facebook of some of the things I have been making for the page over there. First up is a gift I wrapped in plain brown paper and added a few roses made with the XL In Bloom squeeze punch and the L Squeeze punch Petals

Next a card made with the Intricate Shape Lotus die (I hand cut the branch)

and lastly a card made using the sweetest little bee punch in the world. The honeycomb border is a stamp from the Rpsie Posie set by Papertrey Ink and the sentiment is a happy birthday die by Clearly Besotted. Those of you who do go over to Facebook, be sure to come on over and become a Fiskarette. HERE

No time to chat, I'm so busy chasing around looking at houses. Why did I think it was essential to get rid of clutter and cobwebs before letting buyers in? Nobody else seems to think you have to do that. I am in manic house designing mode - 'we can knock down that wall, and that one'............Mike wanders behind me, the voice of reason in a sea of madness, pointing out that if we knocked down everything the house would probably fall down....the perfect house is out there somewhere, I will know it as soon as I walk in through the door.

We are off to London today to see Max and Milo who both have birthdays this week. I think I will just stop by the newsagents on the way to buy a book or two about kitchen planning, I can redesign a house or two on the way down.....

See you tomorrow x

A Big Thank You.....

 I must show you this really gorgeous card that my pal Kath made for me to cheer me on with my new Fiskars job. She has been so supportive, I have had a rather steep learning curve and she has held my hand for hours (albeit over the phone) and even mopped up a few tears, so a huge thank you to her for her support, and for this gorgeous card. In case you have never visited her blog, you will find her HERE and read about her (very funny) adventures with her dog Buddy, as well as seeing gorgeous creations like this one...... 



Our house is sold! All that tidying and clearing paid off. Now the next adventure is to find somewhere to live, so look out for some house hunting tales from me. We have done some quite bizarre house viewings over the years (we have moved house a lot). I remember one house in Gloucestershire where we looked out of the window and Mike whispered 'look at that dead donkey' - there in the field was this enormous donkey, laid out flat, looking dead. By the time we got back down into the kitchen there had been a miracle healing and the dead donkey turned out to be the family dog who was very much alive and the biggest hound I have ever seen. Honestly if they put a saddle on him they could have made a fortune at the seaside taking kids for rides on the sand.

Apparently he spent most of his life motionless, stretched out in the field, and only came into the house looking for food. He was looking longingly at my upper arm, so we beat a hasty retreat......we didn't buy the house....

Then there was.................no, I'll save that for another day, see you tomorrow x

Sponged Roses....

 When I was doing a spot of online shopping in the Sissix sale I picked up this Albany Rose die......

I just die cut the flowers and leaves out of white cardstock and sponged on some colour with distress inks. The sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp

We have our house on the market. What a performance! Firstly you have to rush around with paintbrushes and those cobweb duster things,  getting it to look perfect before the estate agent (Realtor) comes around to value the place - after all you don't want him to knock thousands off the asking price because he noticed all the little flaws you have been living with quite happily for the past ten years. Then, before you have time to relax, you have to get the place looking perfect again so that they can come round and take photos. This involves buying a lot of fresh flowers and hurling stuff into cupboards.

Then we sit and wait............each time the phone rings, I jump thinking it is someone wanting to view, but no, it's just another call telling me that I am owed huge sums of money for some accident they seem to think I've had in the past ten years. 'Get off the phone' I scream 'my house is up for sale.......'

Then just as you think nobody will ever come, and you have relaxed enough for the place to get a bit messy again, and all the fresh flowers are dead, the phone rings and the agent asks if they can bring someone to view the house in two hours time.....

So an hour and fifty nine minutes later, red faced and exhausted from running around like a maniac cleaning and tidying (can you IMAGINE what I have to do to my craft space!), you have to leave your home and wander like a couple of refugees into the wilderness. 'What shall we do until we can go home again?' asks Mike plaintively.

Pub?

Great idea. 

See you tomorrow x

No Colouring Colour....

 I needed a really quick little 'thinking of you' note to send to a friend - wouldn't you think I would have one tucked away with all the cards I make! But no, there wasn't a suitable one, and I was about to miss the last mail of the day,  so I hit on the idea of white heat embossing this pretty flower from the Friends Forever stamp set by Clearly Besotted Stamps.......

and then all I did was quickly sponge some distress inks with a blending tool over and around the flowers. A quick wipe with a damp cloth lifted the ink off the embossing. This is one of those cards that is actually a lot more striking in real life, but I rather like the effect, what do you think?

I have had a few emails from folk who, for various reasons, do not go on Facebook and thought that they would miss out on what I am posting for Fiskars over there, so every so often, I will share a post showing some of the creations that I have made for the Fiskarettes page. I know that if you do follow on FB that you will have already seen them, but I'm sure you won't mind the occasional post sharing with your fellow blog hoppers, there won't be a daily overlap I promise

Right, I'm away to my desk I have a list as long as my arm of stuff to do today so I'll see you tomorrow

Neon Brights Giveaway

Here's a chance to win some Neon markers - these are watercolour markers and offer brilliant fluorescent colours. All you have to do is to leave your name in the comments under this post and I will draw a winner next Saturday......

So I got quite swept up in Election fever this week (don't worry, this won't turn into a political post, I have a rule never to discuss politics, religion and the contents of Hello magazine on here.......)

But I did stay up until the wee small hours watching all the excitement of a very close-run election, in fact I watched so many political analysts discussing the situation that I feel I could really do quite a good job of running the country on my own. I wouldn't need all those cabinet members, I could go to the coffee shop every morning with a little notebook and a calculator and decide how much money I could spend each day. Oh wait, that wouldn't be a democracy would it. But if I was running for political office, I really would do something about those rosettes they all wear. My supporters would wear rosettes in a pretty shade of pink, with a bit of bling and maybe a few flowers around the edge....

I am sure our new Prime Minister is a bit too busy having tea with the Queen and choosing a new cabinet to trawl around crafting blogs, but just in case he stumbles across this post while he is having his coffee and doughnut, I wish him wisdom, compassion and strength to lead our country over the next five years 

See you tomorrow, have a great weekend x

Thank You

 Here's a card made with a Sissix stamp with a matching embosssing folder -
quick and easy. I used various shades of green to ink up the stamp, and covered a scrap of paper with the ink at the same time to make a sentiment banner. I'm all for quick and easy.........

I just dotted a few clear sequins around for a
bit of bling, and the leaves were given a coat
of Wink of Stella clear glitter as well, I wish that stuff showed up in photos

I bought the stamp and embossing folder in a
sale that Sissix UK holds a couple of times a year -
it's worth looking out for it because they have really giveaway prices there










I want to give all of you who went over to Facebook and 'liked' the new Fiskarettes page a massive virtual hug, thank you so much. The page has been buzzing and almost 350 likes in 24 hours is brilliant

I haven't been up to much else really, no time to go out for coffee and sit watching the world go by, I was much too busy over on FB,  double and treble posting, putting wrong links on posts and generally causing mayhem behind the scenes. (well it's a steep learning curve, she said defensively.......). I haven't even been to get my hair sorted out, so now I not only look like a hedgehog, I'm red faced and wild eyed as well.....

But today I plan to make time for me - I don't know what yet, but I do know it will involve a large coffee and possibly a doughnut. See you tomorrow x

At last. I can tell you that the big secret is that I will be managing the Facebook page for

 FISKARS

All those of you who 'do' Facebook, I would really appreciate it if you go HERE to like and share the page so that I can get the word out. I aim to make it a fun community with lots of inspiration, tutorials, tips and tricks, plus contests and more
Thank you so much, and I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long for the news!

Sunflower Wishes......

 Do you ever stumble across a sentiment stamp and build a card around it?
I often do that, this is quite an old stamp of mine by Inkadinkadoo and I spotted it lying around and all of a sudden it was imperative to use it! I love the font......

So I used this daisy type flower stamp from the Rosie Posie set, I think the sequins look a bit like seeds....I stacked the leafy stem one on top of another so that it made the tall stem of a sunflower....

It's another bank holiday weekend here in the UK - amazing how quickly they come around when you are not going out to work and longing for a long weekend break. When you retire, days sort of merge into each other, and I'm sorry to say that Bank Holidays are a bit of an inconvenience really. I can predict confidently that on the Saturday of a bank holiday weekend I suddenly realize that I need my hair cut/go to the doctor/go to the bank on Monday. This weekend it was the hair disaster that struck. How can that happen? One day your hair is fine, falls perfectly into place when you blow dry it, the next day, something has happened overnight and you can't do a thing with it.

I still can't tell you about my new job. No fault of mine, but I am itching to get started now.

See you tomorrow and have a lovely long weekend if you are in the UK x

Rosie Posie

A Facebook friend was selling these stamps called Rosie Posie by Papertrey Ink and as soon as I saw them, I had to buy...thanks Caryn

Here's my first attempt. I added a bit of depth to the flowers with Promarkers after I had stamped them (they are solid stamps, and I like the crisp white outline). The sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp

This news of mine is turning into a saga... yawn....I still can't tell you more than I have already, although one of you guessed it! Apparently they are having network problems in France, which is where the technical work is being done. So this means that I have been spending a lot of time on the phone to France, luckily their English is a lot better than my French, but I never realized I used such a lot of colloquial language, which is confusing for them. But once that barrier is overcome, it's fine - which is good, as I can only say ' hello, the elephant is grey, the apple is red and the dolphin swims in the sea, thank you, goodbye' in French, and so far elephants, apples and dolphins haven't been mentioned.........perhaps I could casually throw them into a conversation to impress them with my language skills.....

So sorry guys, it's back to watch this space again. And now I am off to have lunch with my sister which will be a three hour marathon of non stop chatter. See you tomorrow x