Walking A Lot

It looks as if spring might finally be poking it's nose over the horizon - wahoo! In preparation for our forthcoming city break, Himself and I have been doing a LOT of walking to build up our stamina! And during one such trek in the centre of Edinburgh, I was so astounded to see blue sky I just had to take a photo of it!

What a sight to behold!

This weekend, we have been relaxing:

But we also fitted in a couple of walks including a wander round Kinneil Estate near Bo'ness:

I tried to be arty with this pic, it's a pity the daffodils weren't quite ready to open!

Our thighs were feeling the strain a little after quite a lengthy walk but then we went home for soup and freshly-baked, buttered bread and all was well :)

I need to knuckle down now and get working again, I have card orders to fulfill!

Have a great week!

Easter Break

Hi all, hope you had a lovely Easter! I have certainly enjoyed the break and I particularly relished the experience of chomping the ears off this little chap:

Himself and I undertook our usual Easter tradition of going for a walk (this time it was in Vogrie Country Park) and then sitting in the car with a flask of coffee and our chocolate eggs, etc. The weather was mild and there was sunshine and blue sky - yay!!

We also booked a spring break for May - we're going to Krakow in Poland so I'm really looking forward to exploring somewhere new! I know the weather won't be tropical but that doesn't matter, we plan to do a lot of walking so I'll take plenty of layers and good non-blister-causing shoes!!

Talking of tropical, how about a little warmth courtesy of these bright cards I've made?

I enjoyed all the pastel colours I used for my spring items but it's fun to use something a bit more "zesty" too!

Still Chilly!

Well at least there has been blue sky and sunshine today and I'm not feeling quite so shivery! That wasn't the case at the weekend though, when Himself and I took a walk around Linlithgow Loch. I felt sorry for the poor water birds as it was just sooo cold;  in fact the overhanging branches were strung with icicles:

Despite being well wrapped-up, all our exposed bits (and even non-exposed!) were approaching the frost-bitten stage (a slight exag!) so it was great to get home and tuck into my homemade minestrone soup and Himself's yummy cheese and worcestershire sauce on toast! That's the beauty of cold days (got to find a positive somewhere!)

In the craft room I've been warming myself up by making happy Little Flowers in bright colours and using them on cards:

Gift tags:

and bookmarks:

I've also got some beautiful new patterned papers that I'm almost scared to start cutting into! I'm trying to work out the best way to use them so that absolutely NONE of the paper goes to waste! I've even drawn diagrams, it's like a mathematical puzzle!!

Have a great Easter break everyone!

Chilly Chatterings!

Brrr! Well, winter doesn't look like letting go it's icy grip any time soon! Never have I filled my hot water bottle as much as I have this last few months! It's little knitted cover is starting to wear out! Oh well, at least when I'm tucked away in my craft room I don't have to think about what's going on outside!

I've used a sketch from here as inspiration for a card made this week:

Was too late to enter it in the competition again though!

And I made a card to celebrate Himself's nephew's first birthday:

Good old Surprised Bear! It's been a while since I used him on anything!

Paper Allergy!!

Well it's all a bit sniffly at Mushroom HQ today. I'm pretty sure it's an allergy rather than a cold, but what it is  that I've reacted to I just don't know.  

Perhaps I've suddenly become allergic to paper! That would be a nightmare as I literally live and breathe the stuff! In fact, I decided to spread my bag of small scraps out on a tray to make it easier to find colours and patterns that I needed:

As you can see, I keep every scrap unless it is smaller than an amoeba!

And I use them to make things like this:

So it just would not do if paper made me ill. I will just have to invest in a gas mask to wear while I am crafting!

Meanwhile I have been working on an Easter card order and, for the first time in a while, I used a card sketch to help inspire me.  

I used last week's sketch by Freshly Made Sketches but unfortunately I was too late to enter it in the competition.

Hope you're all having a great weekend. Happy St Patrick's Day!

Happy All Round

At the weekend there were rugby matches on telly so Himself and Ben were doing this:

Which meant I was free to get on with putting orders together, such as this one:

and making new products like these paperclip bookmarks:

But when there was no rugby on we managed to fit in a spot of babysitting (fun) and fish-and-chip eating (yummy).

All in all, a pleasant weekend for The Mushroom Gang! :)

Lazy Sunday....

Well, the first half of it was; Himself is away at a boys' weekend up North so I had a lie-in and then a leisurely breakfast. But this afternoon I'm devoting to craft time. I have a few different orders to work at the moment, so to make progress on all of them I've divided the time up into half-hour slots to work on each. So far I've done the prep for some matchbooks and tissue boxes. I love working with these colours!

And when they're finished they should be turned into something like this:

and this:

So maybe not such a lazy Sunday after all!