Feline frisky...

It's been going Pumpkin and Aubergine crazy round here, with my class being themed around them, to show what a versatile range it is....

We were making:

Gift card/money wallets.

Treat bag toppers.

A birthday card for someone mischievious.

And another version of the teepee card.

So even though Halloween will soon be over, I look forward to making things with these little characters all year long...

A Load of Old Waffle

Ah, yes, feeling much better now, thank you, after my little "off"-day. In fact, by Friday I'd recovered sufficiently to be able to attend the Hobbycraft show at the SECC with my craft friend V. We'd vowed not to spend much money. We both broke our vow. Oh well. It was an enjoyable day and for once we didn't have to wear full body armour in order to survive the crowds of determined crafters who were jostling around all the demo areas. There were some fab products and sample cards on display. My favourite stand had to be the Craftwork Cards one, where I bought some goodies:

V and I both bought these cute owl/birdie stamps because the cards they'd made with them were sooo nice. V also introduced me to the "delights" of Cut-n- Dry foam, which should "revolutionise" my stamping, thanks to it's many uses! And I couldn't resist more candy dots, in festive colours.

When our feet were sore and our brains were jellified, we called it a day. In the evening I had a very nice time at A's house while our other halves indulged in a Mexican-themed evening, complete with huge sombreros and margaritas. A and I had a rather more sedate evening of chat, but we did manage to eat more jalapeno "poppers" than our wussy menfolk!

This weekend I have had not one but two delicious meals cooked for me by Himself - his culinary skills know no bounds! And, in the name of culture, we spent a chilly autumn afternoon perusing the works on display at the National Gallery of Modern "Art" and pretending to be pretentious art snobs, when in fact we were snorting with derision at the sight of a lump of plaster someone had thrown at a wall and named "Creation of the Universe" or some such piffle. After that, a visit to H's brother's place to coo over the VCB and to deliver a 30th birthday card:

I decided to go slightly "avant garde" with this one and make it into a criss cross pocket card with a pull-out tabbed insert.

Or, in other words, a juxtaposition of colour and form, combining the ordered geometry of straight lines and the free-flowing curvaciousness of ethereal colour, which can be analogous to the fragility of the human condition.

Pah!!

Bluuurrrggghh...

Been feeling a bit under the weather today :o( but some rest and relaxation has done me good, as has the fact that my Halloween projects can now be found HERE . The Team has come up with some fab projects using those Pumpkin and Aubergine critters so check them out!

My projects are:

A HALLOWEEN MINI CHIPBOARD ALBUM

A TEEPEE HALLOWEEN PARTY INVITE

All instructions for making these and the other girls' projects can be found on the D&D blog.

A couple of quick cards made for occasions this week:

Stamps are the Pocket Silhouettes set by Stampin'Up.

Not sure what the stamps are on this one as they were brought back from Canada by K (who has been very kind to me today - thanks K!), but the wee notelet is from the Scrumptious set by Papermania and the PP is Wild Asparagus from My Minds' Eye.

Not much to add today; I'm off for a bath, but normal service should resume next time folks!

Holiday - A Summing Up!

Well, that's my weeks holiday just about at an end. As expected, there has not been a dull moment to be seen. It has involved:

-A wedding and some "liquid" overindulgence

- a couple of very pleasant days by the sea, which have resulted in a desire to live within 2 yards of a beach

-a sick cat :o(

-the 30th birthday party of our shop manager; it had a twenties theme, of which I didn't adequately warn Himself, so for the first excruciating (for him) hour he was the only male not attired in a trilby hat, pinstripe suit and spats. I'm not sure he will ever forgive me.

-A complete and utter lack of mojo

So there you have it! Today was my planned cardmaking day and so far I have produced the grand total of NONE! Just as well I had an owl-fest a couple of days ago:

With this one I was messing about with my new chipboard shapes from Stampin'Up. I coloured the eyes with brush marker pens and added Glossy Accents over the top. The leaf stamp is a Bloom and Grow one from My Minds' Eye and the PP is DCWV's Green Stack.

OK, now I'm off to do a spot of truffle-making. I realised I hadn't brought my colleagues anything back from my trip away (oopsy!) so this is my attempt at a thoughtful gift (ahem)! Will they notice that said truffles are NOT bought from a quaint sweetshop on North Berwick High Street? We shall see!!

I'm Back!!!

Yip, that's me back from my mini-break in North Berwick and very nice it was too. It may only have been a couple of days away but I could quite get used to a life of early morning walks on the beach, early evening walks on the beach, big fried breakfasts (veggie ones of course!) and general relaxation!! Ah yes, 'twas definately the way forward. I now want to live by the sea. In a blue cottage. And have a craft studio with doors that open onto the beach. I don't want much then. Sigh. At least I took my camera with me....

The Bass rock from the beach.

A nice B&B to stay in.

Big Rock, Little Rock.

Morning on the beach.

End of the season.

Colourful pots.

Rusting hulk.

A few boats.

Birdlife Mural.

Steps to nowhere.

Weather station?

Woodland Walk.

Ladybird Highway.

Preston Mill

Autumn Colour.

Sorry so many pics, just wanted to share them. Now I'm back there are cards to be made and a shop to stock! It'll soon be Craft Central around here - I hope!!

Groanage!

Ooh miss-us! One's noggin feels a little "delicate" today, shall we say. That's what comes of "larging it" (ahem) until the small hours and having my first drinky-poos for quite some time at the wedding yesterday, and then shopping til I dropped in a birthday -money -splash-out fest today! I'm not used to this wild living! But, balloon-head aside, it's been very enjoyable and today doesn't even feel like a Monday because I'm on holiday! Woop! I'm hoping to take the rest of the day at a slower pace, however, maybe do some crafting if I'm lucky. Then I'll be packing for my couple of days away and hopefully getting a GOOOOD night's sleep!

Can't believe I used a peel-off! Horrors! Stamp is by Woodware. I had no time to make this in really so had to keep it simple.

Right, that's enough, I'm off for a lie-down. Byeeeee!

Cats and Catastrophes

It's been one of those weeks. First my computer has a meltdown, now one of my felines has gone squiffy! Yes, Corrie's having another of her "episodes" - the day before she's due to go into the cattery so that I can have a few much-needed days away during my week off work! It's as if they know!! Sigh. I'm becoming a regular visitor at the vets now and although Corrie behaves very well while she's there, the fact that she's probably going to have to go in for further "investigation" fills me with dread. At the moment though, fingers crossed, she's still going on her hols - and so am I!! My sympathy goes out to my cattery-owner friend M who's going to be the "lucky" person dosing Corrie with her medicine for the next week! As consolation for this unfortunateness, I have made M a card:

I've still to get to grips with using brush pens to watercolour - it's not a skill of mine as you can probably tell! But I LOVE this stamp from Penny Black and I think M will appreciate it too! The pps are My Minds' Eye and Doodlebug.

The next couple of days are going to be a bit of a whirlwind as Himself and I are attending a wedding this weekend and then I need to get ready for my few days away. But I hope to fit in a bit of cardmaking too so I will do my best to stop by at least once before my hol!

Have a good day!!

My Very Own Pumpkin and Aubergine

Being their usual "helpful" selves during my time of need...

NOT!!!

Technical Meltdown

Howdy Folks!

Just a micro-post today to let you know I have not disappeared off the face of the earth or imploded into nothingness as a result of the excitement generated by the DT news!! No, I had some technical issues which had me volcanic with frustration at not being able to access the internet and congratulate my fellow Design Team members on their fab projects!!

So I'm doing that now:

CONGRATS!!!!

Back soon (I promise) ;o)

Exciting News!!

I have some exciting news to share!!

After working on some secret projects over the last couple of weeks, I'm delighted to have been given a place on the Daisy and Dandelion Creative Design Team, which means I will be creating things to be shown HERE, using lots of fab products!! It's been a wish of mine to do something like this for a long time, so I'm rather thrillated! Woo hoo!

Well, it's been another busy week around here. K was back at work after an enjoyable hol and she hosted another Stampin'Up party on Friday night, which was a fab laugh. Far too much money was spent as usual. Well, not in my case as I had a generous birthday "voucher" from my lovely colleagues to use on the night. So I've gone the way of chipboard and punches and one set of stamps and I look forward to their arrival with eager anticipation. Especially the chipboard, which is all birds and flowers.

Because I'm getting really into owls:

Thanks to K for the stamp, which she brought back from Canada...

See you soon!