Cardtastic

I've been in a bit of a card making zone the last week or so.

It was a combination of having treated to myself to a few new bits and bobs (including an owl stamp and a swiss dot embossing folder), and needing a couple of cards for different things.

First it was the in-laws wedding anniversary......the stickers look strange colours in the pic!! they liked the card anyway and that's the main thing lol.....

Then it was one of the cousins' 18th - making mens cards is soo hard!!! A couple of dots and stripes was all I could come up with lol!

And then this one I made just to have a play about with my new stamp lol!!!

Have I mentioned that we are getting chickens in a few weeks?! C.R.A.Z.Y. Well the coop has been erected and fox-proofed, so now we're working on the rest of the garden. Two sides are protected by brambles, so we thought that would be fine - until Lee watched a fox crawling through them yesterday stalking, and catching, a bird for his dinner! So we need to rethink that one. We see loads of foxes in the field at the side of the house, and I guess we can not completely keep them out, so vigilance is going to be the key me thinks.

We're also having another go at growing our own stuff this year haha! The green house is up, beds have been planted and the south-facing windowsills of the house are crammed with various seedling trays and things sprouting up in 3" pots. Ah the good life!! Sop fingers crossed for good weather. Well actually, I am leaving it to his highness - I'll stick to making the window boxes, patio and hanging baskets look pretty thank you!!!

xxx

Back to the grindstone.....

Ah this weekend is the end of my Easter holidays, back to uni lectures on Monday for the first time in what seems like forever what with having been on teaching practice!

I also have an assignment to hand in on Monday, which I have currently written a grand total of 600 words for. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow then?!

So what have I been doing for the past three weeks, if not working on my assignment you ask?

Firstly, I have been working on a shop over at Folksy as I hope to sell some of my mum's handmade jewellery over there. Maybe I'll be brave and sell some of my own handmade stuff too?!

Been busy with kits and bits. I made a lovely paper bunting set for Bubbly Scrumptious this week which I was really pleased with - you know what it's like, quite often you finish up a project and you always want to tweak it a little bit, but I was happy with these. The only thing that I was gutted about it that I really couldn't get a decent shot to show them in all their glory!!!

If you fancy having a go yourself, my instructions are here for a peep.

My sister caught a lovely photo of Ellie and I in the garden on Easter Sunday. The Easter Bunny has obviously got very generous over the years because as well as an abundance of Easter Eggs he left a swing in the garden for her too! Ok, ok, the Easter Bunny once left a massive slide for my sister and I once, however we had had the mumps or something so we couldn't eat chocolate - the massive slide was set up in the living room until we got better - it was so tall we'd have to crouch at the top so we didn't bump our heads on the ceiling!!

So, Ellie had been asking me to "come see my park" (aka the swing) all morning; she led me out by the hand and my sis snapped this with my camera. It's my fave pic at the mo. Adore the way she gives you that squinty smiley face of love, and love the vintagey brown tones I gave it in PS, reminds me of the yellowing photos I have of my cousin and I playing in my grandparents sun-filled garden when we were about Ellie's age.

Oh, and while I'm on toddler topic: I was at my mum's one evening this week and Ell was there. Mum was half watching Coronation Street and half chatting to me, when Ellie stood up, grabbed the remote control and announced "this is boring" and paused the Skyplus!!! We were in stitches, and between giggles I asked her that if it was boring, what did she want to watch instead?

Know what her answer was?

" 'Stenders........"

pmsl xxxx

Bubbly Funk Challenge!

Well, while the little birdie stamp is still fresh in your minds, I may as well over indulge in a little more of him!

This months challenge over at the Bubbly Scrumptious blog is to make and use a felt bird of some kind on any project you like.

With Easter upon us next week, I couldn't resist stamping my lil fella onto some felt, and popping him on to a bright and zesty card for Easter. A bit of stitching and an odd button gave him a bit of quirky detail.

The rest of the design team came up with some really amazing projects - rather putting my card to shame! Check them all out here, and give the challenge a go - it's up for a whole month.

Ellie stayed over on Friday evening. I was asking her what she wanted for tea, and she left me perplexed for the evening by replying "poopables" everytime I asked her.

Eventually I worked out that she actually meant VEGETABLES! Ha, I think poopables is a perfect description :)

xxx

Lil Birdie!

I bought a lil birdie stamp a while ago - I thought it was a bargain at 99p! So I put it to use to make some baby-themed projects - it seems that everyone I know is having babies right now!

I made this card for my friend who had her first baby, Elaina, in February, using some of the many pretty bits I had left from the February Sarah's Cards kit.Lil Miss Ellie became a "big cuz" for the first time in the same month, with her daddy's brother and his partner giving birth to their first baby, Harvey, in the same month. So my sister asked me if I could decorate a basket for her to fill with baby goodies and wrap in ribbons and pretty cellophane as a welcome gift from Ells Bells. It was really quick to do. I altered the free digi tag to the right size and colour in Photoshop, printed it out, mounted it onto kraft, popped on his name using Pink Paislee alpha stickers, and thread some ribbon through it. I then topped it off with lil birdie, and it made a sweet gift once it was laden with the baby-themed bounty!

This week has been the start of my Easter three week break! And although I have loads of uni work to be getting on with, I'm hoping to spend a good amount of time relaxing and getting creative :)
Hop you;re all having a good week xxx

Woolly Jumpers

I mentioned in my last post that a group of my sister's friends have been organising several events for charity, including the ladies night. Well, last weekend was their long awaited charity Skydive, and we were all out in force to show our support. My sister's partner was jumping along with his mechanic colleagues, who dubbed themselves the "Woolly Jumpers". This is no mean feat for anyone, however he has never flown before as he is terrified of flying (he once pulled out of a holiday a couple of days before he was meant to leave as he was so worried!), and is petrified of heights.

After spending a whole day at the airport on Saturday white as a sheet and shaking with nerves, and continually psyching himself up for the task ahead, the group was eventually turned away in the late afternoon as the wind conditions were too dangerous to jump. We were unsure whether he'd be able to go through it all again on Sunday, but he truly was brave and by noon he'd made the 12,000ft jump and landed again safely!!

Chocks away!It was amazing to watch, and all the boys (and girls) were fab! If you're on my friends list on Facebook, please go and take a look at all the other photo's I have added to see the enormity of what they did on Sunday morning!

My last day at school was lovely last week. I had a party with the children, complete with games/prizes, party food and party bags (of course!). I was very lucky and had some beautiful cards and gifts, and most importantly big hugs at the end of the day, I will miss them all. But I was brave and didn't cry this year! Will be attending their Easter concert this week, so it will be nice to see them again.

Here's the last of the layouts I did with the Pink Paislee February kit from Sarah's Cards. It was perfect for the Halloween pics of Missy from last October. Speaking of Sarah's Cards, they are organising a retreat for March 2010 - and it's sold out already! Should be an exciting one I think!!!

xxx