An Odd Personage

I'm a bit strange because I like to arrange my paper and card into colour order and then take photos of it.

But I spent the best part of a morning last week doing this so I'm quite proud of it! Now I can see at a glance which colours I have or don't have and can lay my hands on a particular one in an instant!

On a less psychotic note, I made a set of cards for a commission this morning:

The stamps are Stampin'Up and Woodware, the flocky paper is Artsylicious and I used my new best friend, Versamark watermark ink on the background. I was quite pleased with how they came out.

Kim's SU party is tomorrow. Woop!

Scraps Dilemma

Hello folks, just a quick post while I wait for my (veggie) chilli to cook. I keep looking at my overflowing scraps box and feeling depressed at all the pieces of paper measuring 2.2mm square that I don't like to throw out in case they come in useful. I can't even close the lid now and something has to be done. So, inspired by a few cards seen on Stampin'Up blogs, I put together this:

I really like that "earthy" beige card but after making one set of these I only have a few pieces left :o(

The sentiment is SU and the PP is anyone's guess! I just chose some colours that went together (and a few that didn't - you should see the other cards!) and I suppose you could have as many strips of pp as you wanted, depending on how many million scraps you need to use up!

I've only got 259,000,000 still to go!

Declutter Frenzy

Well, I'm on another day off work but I was feeling a bit blah this morning and didn't feel like doing anything :o( So the remedy for this inertness was to rampage around my flat like a whirlwind, having a clothes n' craft clearout! I would certainly recommend this course of action if, like me, you let stuff build up that you will never wear/use. My craft room is now so tidy you could actually make cards in it and my wardrobe is refreshed and ready for filling with new, summery items. And despite the fact that my "100 Things" never quite came to fruition, I now feel I can without (much) conscience, order one or two products at Kim's up n' coming Stampin' Up party. Phew!

All this has left no time to actually make any cards but I think I can safely show you one of my commissions:

Thanks to Kim for letting me borrow her Cricut Wedding Solutions cartridge for this. The pp are Cosmo Cricket Everafter and I printed out the sentiment.

OK, now I'm going to gather all my stuff together ready for a massive trip to the recycling centre/charity shop! An uncluttered house means an uncluttered mind!

Die-Cut Crazy!

Well, I've been a busy little bee today. I've done all my housework, made a chocolate biscuit cake (Method: throw melted chocolate, butter, almonds, crushed digestive biscuits, syrup and raisins into a bowl and mix, spread out, chill, cut up and enjoy. Yes, it's a heart attack in a slice!) and, most importantly, sorted all my paper and card into colour order. I know I'm sad. But it gives me great pleasure to look at my neatly ordered rainbow of colours on the shelf and to know it looks nearly as good as Julie's from work! Sigh...!

Yesterday I had a second day's holiday from work, so I met up with Himself, we went to the golf driving range for a few practice balls (ahem) and then he treated me to cappuccino and cake before we took a walk in the rain and spoke to some horses in a field. In the evening I made a card for this week's DCM challenge:

Die Cut Crazy

As I don't actually own a die-cutting machine (I'm such a peasant!) I dug out all the old die-cut shapes I used to purchase off Ebay and came across this cute little cappuccino cup. That'll do nicely, I thought and so this card was created! And then, inspired by some fab toppers my colleague Kim made on Wednesday, I went on to put together these babies:

Now I need to do a bit of taking it easy myself!

Have A Hoot!

I wasn't sure I'd manage to get any challenges done this week but I have combined two into one card for CPS #163 and Cards Blog (the challenge on the latter is to incorporate Woodgrain somewhere on the card).

I found some woodgrain-effect paper in the DCWV Green Stack and decided it was also a good chance to incorporate a cute owl from the same stack!

It's been a nice day so far; had a day off work so took my parents to Craigie's farm cafe for a tasty brunch and a woodland walk. It still feels a bit wintery here, there's a chill in the air. Definately not time to put the woolly jumpers away yet!

"Did someone say woolly? Bleat!"

Card-Free Zone

Well, not really, but all the cards I currently have in production are commissioned ones and are not ready to show yet so today's blog is a CFZ, I'm afraid. I'm hoping to enter some challenges later in the week so I'd better get my mojo into gear (and find an extra few hours in the day while I'm at it!)

There was no creating at the weekend. Saturday began upsettingly with some bad news from workmate Kim about her dog (RIP Meg) and then Himself and I trotted off to his nephew's first birthday party where a fantastic spread of yummy goodness had been laid on:

The Dessert Course.

Note the "tank" cakes in the foreground - this was a retro classic revived by the birthday boy's proud Grannie especially for the occasion! She last made one for Himself or one of his siblings about 30 years ago!

It was all very yum.

Back soon with a Card-Full Zone!

Marvellous Monochrome

I've just eaten Nachos - yum! *Licks fingers* And at work I ate about 100 pieces of Julie's frankly orgasmic (sorry parents!) Rocky Road. Not to mention lots of bits of Easter egg. My waistline should be the width of the Grand Canyon at this rate! But you've got to enjoy life, haven't you? One never knows when supplies of cheese and chocolate might dry up. Or I might become one of those people with migraines who can't eat such delicacies (horrors!).

Anyway, enough of my rambling. In a bid to find more things to list in my Etsy shop, I've put together a kit of Black-and-Whiteness using lots of monochromatic bits and pieces, including my self-made embellishments :

I figured it might be quite good for someone just starting out in cardmaking and I've made a couple of example cards to show what can be done:

Just simple, but sometimes that's all you need.

I'm likely to be otherwise engaged for a few days - I'm going to an 18th birthday party tomorrow - eek! I'll probably be one of the oldest there! And on Saturday a 1st birthday party at which hopefully I won't be the oldest!

See you soon!

Those Woolly Flowers again!

I finally got round to using my woolly flowers! But not on a card; I sewed them onto a wee hessian-type bag I got for Christmas:

Rather nice if I say so myself!

Thanks to Tricia for giving me the idea!

Summer Sunshine

Despite the annoying nose-splurgings of my cold, I managed to have a very pleasant weekend. On Saturday I went to a Pampered Chef party hosted by my friend Clare and demonstrated by our mutual friend Abby. I'd never heard of the company before but I really enjoyed the event and even had my own veggie version of the recipe cooked for me! We sat in the conservatory to watch/participate in the demo and the weather was so lovely we scoffed the resulting yumminess in the garden. Then, after perusing the catalogue for several millenniums, I opted (along with everyone else, I think!) to purchase a natty chopper gadget that should revolutionise my onion- dicing in the future!

Behold! Streaming onion eyes will be no more!

I'm even thinking of hosting a PC party in the future...

Later on, with the sun still out and despite my highly innappropriate footwear, Himself and I took a walk along the canal at Slateford before heading back for spicy bean burgers and curly fries - smlurch!

On Sunday, despite having a blister the size of Bolivia on my foot, H and I took a drive to Carlops (Me: "Ooh - Carlops! That sounds a bit like Cyclops!" Himself: "Yes, Dear!"), where we walked in the hills and had a picnic.

Rusting farm "implements"

Man in shorts standing beside pile of snow! Weird, eh? (and I don't mean the shorts!)

Cute little bird hide overlooking North Esk reservoir.

A frog/toad creature. Himself took another pic of two frogs/toads giving each other a piggy-back ride (aherm!!) but in the interests of decency I decided not to show it!

Some picked-clean bones! This wasn't the aftermath of our picnic, I must clarify!

And throughout it all, the sun shone brightly. How lovely!

CPS #162 Challenge

I've decide to enter the CPS challenge again this week, quite a tricky sketch but I managed to fit everything in:

It's supposed to look like this:

I think it might also work for the Cards Blog Challenge this week.

If the Shoe Fits...(and it usually doesn't)

Well hellooo there and is the weather absolutely gor-jus where you are? This must be our summer, I think! I'm on a day off today; just as well really because I have a cold and it's been a bit snotsville around here over the weekend! So today I'm taking it easy, hanging out in my craft room and my behind isn't leaving the chair until I've created multitudes of lovely things! *Blows nose loudly*

First up is my entry for this week's DCM challenge, which is to put shoes on a card:

Not a problem!

Personally, I'm not into buying shoes but I know a few people who are!

Relax...

Well, I'm just back from teaching my Flutterby Butterfly Class at work and I think the ladies enjoyed it :o) I certainly do get a bit of a buzz from teaching and so now I'm considering putting some tutorials on my blog, so watch this space!

Meantime, I'm preparing to make bookmarks at our planned Card Night at Kim's tomorrow:

And soon I think I'll be taking the advice of the aforementioned bookmark and chilling out with a cuppa!

See you later!

Blah!

Just received the bad news that DoCrafts have pulled the Daisy and Dandelion blog with immediate effect and for no apparent reason :o( so our Design Team is no more :o( :o( :o(

Since I worked hard to get my project for this week ready, I thought I'd share it with you anyway:

It was a Diorama card.

It has been great working with Erica and the rest of the girls and it was fun to be a member of a DT. I'm sad, but the sun's shining, life goes on and maybe it's time to explore other creative projects.

After all, there are no endings, only new beginnings! (or some such waffle!)

Owl Be There

After looking at them and stroking them lovingly for several weeks I've finally made a card using these delightful Kanban owls:

I added extra DCWV dotty paper that went nicely; otherwise, everything else is from the pack. Can't wait to use the rest!

A Challenge!

Having missed the DCM dare last week due to upsetting cat incidents, I decided to have a go at this week's dare which is to use diamonds on your card. Of course, not being a regular buyer of diamonds I have gone for the next best thing and added some blingy diamante flowers to this romantic Cosmo Cricket-papered creation:

I think it might also qualify for the current CPS #161 challenge too!

Happy Easter!

Hi Folks!

Hope you've had a lovely day and haven't overdone the choc too much! I've been remarkably restrained in that department and have eaten more real eggs than choccy ones today, starting with the eggy bread bagels we had for breakfast and moving onto the egg mayo sandwiches we scoffed for a late lunch.

The main purpose of our day has been this:

Yes, the great Decorating-of-Himself's-Flat Project has moved into it's second phase amidst much mumbling and procrastinating. There are many more phases to go, but I am looking forward to the phase which involves a trip to Ikea and the purchasing of throws, pot plants and scatter cushions (well, actually H has put his foot down about the scatter cushions but I think the place needs a feminine touch. He disagrees.) The very thought is enough to spur me on with gusto!

After all our hard work we did manage to venture out for a walk to a place with paths and ruins and mysterious "grottos":

These little structures were apparently built so that ladies of days gone by could rest whilst walking the paths and getting mud on their crinolines. The things you learn, eh?

Oh, and this morning we delivered a card to a little boy who's soon to be a year old:

(Pssst! He's very c..u..t..e!!)