A little bit of what you fancy.....

It's been a topsy-turvy world in our little part of north London recently. First off, little Miss A managed to scare her Mummy silly by getting a really high fever and going all pale & floppy (thank goodness our local A&E has a special paediatric section - it was tonsilitis by the way). Four days later, Mr A came down with swine flu, which meant isolating him in the spare room and trying failing to keep the little one away from him (cue one little madam screaming for her Daddy). All's well that ends well thank goodness - although I'm a little knackered to say the least!

Let's see: what else is new? Nope, still nothing on the job front....I've been applying for PA / Admin jobs, but because I haven't actually done this for seven plus years, recruitment agencies are not interested. Well, I have decided to take control and have registered to do a Legal Secretary Diploma. Not only will this refresh my Office skills, but will also get me an official certificate saying I'm competent (ha! try to tell me that you can 'forget' how to be a good PA - I'll show you!) but I will also add to my skills set by gaining the legal knowledge. It is a certain chunk of money, but I figure it's an investment - and hopefully it wil pay off...

On the creative front, I'm slowly mastering the art of sewing zips (it would help if they actually made a zipper foot for my particular machine, but practice will make perfect, I'm sure!).

I've finished two pairs of socks since I last posted:

First up, we have a very snuggly pair of Eunice socks (by the amazing Cookie A) in Ranco Araucania Multi. These will be heading up to Scotland shortly for my bestest friend's birthday

Then we have the completed Diagonal Lace socks by Wendy Johnson in the smooshiest cashmere mix - these are a total joy to wear

I'm also slowly getting ready for chillier temperatures - I'm determined to have a funky collection of hats and berets to cheer me up this winter

I've also completed my first lacey shawl for a friend's 50th birthday - I'll be delivering it at her party this coming Saturday, so will come back later with (hopefully decent) pictures showing her wearing it....I can however show you her card

Oh yes - I've rediscovered the joy of card-making. Each time I sit down to make a specific card (or two!), I'm trying to be good and make two or more from the same papers - there is a credit crunch on after all!

One of the staff at Little Miss A's nursery recently had a baby girl - she already has a son, so I thought this would be perfect....

this was made for a knitting friend of mine who's not been feeling very well lately

My sister is going to a very posh wedding in New Delhi in late September - this was made to go with the happy couple's (totally gorgeous) wedding invitation

Birthday time!

This week, I decided it was time to get back to card-making - my sister had asked me to make some cards for a couple of weddings she is going to this summer, and Mr A's birthday was fast approaching (it's today, which is why I haven't posted these pictures until today).

Here are the results of a rather profitable morning's work:

Cards and cake!

I have a found a new challenge blog which is right up my street - it's all about Basic Grey! This week's challenge is all about texture - and here is my attempt, specially for Little Miss A's 2nd birthday which is today (and we had a temper tantrum before we even left the house just to prove it!)



I have used papers from the Periphery and Skate Shoppe ranges (remember the last one?), plus Kaiser pearls and gems, ribbon from John Lewis, and a cute little Tilda holding a special cake. I added texture in various ways - there are the gems and pearls, but I also added white polka dots to Tilda's dress with a Souffle pen, glitter to the cake icing and the blue flower, and her shoes are all shiny, thanks to some Diamond Glaze.

Seeing as I was on such a roll, I have also managed to finish a birthday card for my MIL (I know she doesn't read this blog so I'm safe posting the picture on here). Bazzill cardstock, Sizzix pp, Dovecraft flowers and jewel brad, plus Kaiser gems and Prima flowers - I'm really pleased with this one!

Some gardening time.....

...some of you may have guessed from the various hints I have posted recently, but now I can officially declare it: I am being made redundant. Yep, another casualty of the credit crunch. However, please do NOT panic - now that I have come to terms with the new situation, I couldn't be happier! I put up a good fight (although it was mentally and physically exhausting) and I will hopefully get a decent severance package (it's all in the hands of the lawyers now, so fingers crossed!). As of today, I am on 'gardening leave' - but have absolutely no intention of doing anything in the garden apart from sitting on the bench with a cup of coffee and enjoying the sunshine. And I have loads of projects to complete - an altered canvas for my friend Katie, a knitted shrug for my friend Helen, and Mr A has given me strict instructions to finally make a start on our wedding album - it's only been almost six years!!!
So, here's to freedom and the pleasure of being able to take time to smell the flowers!!!
In keeping with my sunny mood, here is a card I made earlier this week for a colleague's niece - she requested something funky with sunny colours - I think it came out really well!















I've also made the following for some very good friends of our who are getting in married in their home country of South Africa tomorrow. Sorry we can't be there guys - but hope you have a FAB day!! We'll be thinking of you while we take Little Miss A to the local city farm for her birthday treat (she's either going to love it or freak out completely.......)

Toot, toot, toot!

What is that noise? It's the sound of me blowing my own trumpet! Well, I figure I'm allowed just this once - here's why.......last Sunday I finally got the chance to open up the November issue of Scrapbook Inspirations (it had been sitting on my kitchen table since Tuesday, waiting for a quiet moment). Imagine my total shock (and extreme excitement) when I turned to the Reader's Page and found that, not only had one of my LOs been published, but it had won Star Letter! Wow, wow, wow! I tell you, my heart almost stoppped, and then I was doing a happy little dance around the kitchen. It was unfortunately too late to tell Mr A (he was already asleep) so I had to keep it till the following morning. The other really silly thing is that Mum had been staying with us for most of the weekend, so I missed out on the chance to show her 'in real life'......oh well!













So, today I received a gorgeous parcel of goodies from the magazine team - a pack of really big pink brads, two packs of 6x6 Papermania papers (one in black & white, one in raspberry tones), some brown alpha rub-ons and loads of Chatterbox goodies

















I've already used some of the pink papers to make this:



















Thanks Scrapbook Inspirations - my ambition to get an LO published has come true much sooner than I could have hoped for!!!

Brrrrr!

As the title says: Brrrrr! It's got really, really cold here recently and we even had snow last night (although it didn't stick!). We were all running around this morning, finding gloves, hats, scarves, winter coats etc. Do you think I might have slightly overdone making sure that Little Miss A was sufficiently warm?

One hand-knitted hooded cardigan & scarf, body warmer and gloves! I think she looks adorable - but she could hardly move!

I had a great time getting her sorted out for the nursery's Halloween party last night - isn't this just the cutest little outfit ever?

This is definitely a fairy with attitude!

Also, did you know (I'm sure you did!) that Christmas is coming? I'm pretty much sorted on the present front (apart from my Dad and brother-in-law - always have problems with the men!). I've also got started on the decorative side - how funky are these gift tags?

And I'm cracking on nicely with the Christmas cards too - they all seem to have a bit of a Victorian feel to them this year.

Scallops and edges

Well, I so enjoyed doing the Scrummy Stash Cafe challenge earlier this week, I just had to have another go! This is a revamped LO - I never like the original - and features little ol' me, aged between 4 and 6 months (I think!). I had a wonderful time making this, as yesterday was what can only be called a truly icky day (I'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say that this LO was great therapy).


















Patterned papers: Cherry Arte & Sassafrass Lass; Rob & Bob 'Girl' epoxy sticker; hijacked earring (the little pink crystal flower top right); vintage cream lace; spotty grosgrain ribbon; Fancy Pants chipboard swirl (covered in Pink Stickles); Doodlebug heart and flourish stickers (the latter haven't really come out in the photo); Paperchase, Prima and Kaiser gems; the spotty border is Magenta Stickles and Pastel Raspberry Liquid Pearls, and last but not least, a heart die-cut from Sue (Mini Owner) and Sizzix letters from Cheryl (CW18).

Next, thanks to the amazingly creative EllePiggo, I stumbled across this amazing challenge blog today - Daring Cardmakers. This week's challenge is to include scallops on your cards. Well, I have quite a few birthday and anniversary cards to make this weekend, so this was just perfect timing. Here are this evening's efforts, all made using scraps and freebie papers that I've never found inspiration for until now:

Scrummy Stash Challenge

I haven't got very much in the way of paper crafting to show you at the moment - things have been slightly chaotic around here, what with little Miss A deciding to start her Terrible Twos six months early........nuff said! I have been busy with the knitting needles and crochet hook though - front, back and first sleeve of a little wrap-around cardie for the little 'un and halfway through a ripple-effect crochet blanket for a friend's baby due in November. Pictures will follow when the projects are finished - promise!


I was quite taken by this week's Scrummy Stash Cafe challenge - but didn't feel quite up to a whole layout. So, thanks to a new arrival of Hanglar images last week, and wanting to try more of the watercolouring with markers technique, I managed to whip up this little cutie this evening - I just love the colour-wash effect you get with this technique! And don't you just love her timberland-style boots?

Cardstock: Artoz
PP: HOTP
Lace from the lovely Paige, die-cut snowflake covered in Ice Blue stickles; Kaiser / Papermania gems; peel-off snowflakes and sentiment written with White Sakura Souffle pen.

Celebrating milestones

Evening all! Have had a fantastically creative day today - managed three LOs and three cards - I think that's beaten my previous record! It feels great!

Here are the three cards, all of which were commissioned by a colleague who has various friends /members of her family celebrating major birthdays in the coming months.























Can you tell they're all for women? :-)

Sugar and Spice

My creative world has centred around little girls this weekend - what better excuse for lots of pink and sparkle?

Spotlight on a card made for the daughter of of one my sister's school friends, born last Wednesday. For this, I used K&Co Brianna papers, Primas, Kaiser gems and pearls, and Letraset rub-ons for the 'title'



















Having re-discovered the various packs of freebie papers when I was making my little colour book, I thought I'd see what else I could use them for! So, here for your delectation, are this weekend's efforts, featuring little Miss Hanglar, Penny Black hedgehogs and my latest Little Cotton Rabbits!








Thanks for looking, as always - and don't forget you have just one week left to sign up for the blog candy (see further down)!

Staycation Day 2

My mojo deserted me yesterday, which was VERY frustrating! However, I did manage to sort out some papers for DD's memory box and my desk is now covered with strips of paper. I've been inspired by my Mum's beautiful patchwork quilts (see below) and I'm going to try and do a log cabin pattern on the lid of the box. Lots of measuring and cutting ahead!






I did manage one card yesterday - for my friend's forthcoming wedding anniversary.




I also (just about) survived a trip to the hairdressers to get DD's wild mane trimmed into something a bit more practical. Thankfully, she didn't lose her curls and now has a very neat (and cute!) bob.....and Daddy was very relieved that she didn't come back looking like a little boy :-)

Staycation Day 1

Yesterday was supposed to be the first day of my week's 'staycation' but it didn't get off to a very good start, as I had to go into work for a meeting. It was delayed, and lasted longer than it was supposed to, so I ended up only getting home at 3pm.....however on the good news front, I have been allowed to extend my leave by one day, so I won't be going back until next Tuesday!!! {does a happy dance around the room} I have a list of projects as long as my arm (will be interesting to see how much I get done).

Today's list includes putting a load of craft stuff and baby clothes on eBay (I absolutely HATE doing it - it's sooo boring, but I have to feed my habit somehow!) and then make a start on DD's baby memory box (to be used for storing all the cards we received when she was born).

I shall leave you with some pics of the two cards I managed to finish yesterday - one for a colleague who is leaving us and another for a friend who's sister is pregnant..




Sorry about the bad quality photos - the light is really not good today......

Stuff and nonsense........

I'm feeling a bit low and grumpy due to a foul cold that I have picked up in the last few days. Really not a good time to fall ill, and I'm just not in the mood to be dealing with it either! To cheer myself up, and as an antidote to the awful weather we've been having, I made the following cards on Wednesday



















My SIL (visiting from the States) snapped up the flower one as soon as it was made!! Ha ha!

Tonight, I finished this LO for the weekly Scrummy Stash Cafe challenge. I've been rediscovering the joys of my Craft Robo - so much fun!! Most of the elements come from the kit that was sold for the UKS Cybercrop 'Holes' class (which I couldn't get my head around at the time), plus some Bo Bunny rub-ons, K&CO felt embellishments, buttons and lace from my stash



And last, but not least, DD achieved another first tonight - I had to sign the accident book at her nursery for the first time........ Apparently, in her ongoing quest to climb every mountain and ford every stream, she tried climbing onto a chair, fell off and bit her lower lip really badly. Her lip was still all swollen with a big purplish lump in the middle when I picked her up tonight - poor wee thing. Naughty I know, but ice-cream for dinner seemed the best option - if only to heal her wounded pride.......!

Tilda time!

I originally sat down this morning to finish making a star book for my sister's 1st wedding anniversary - but I got bored with that, so ended up making these instead! Yep, three lovely Tildas - and they're all pregnant for some reason! And no, I'm not trying to tell you anything ROFL!




















I also managed to get a bit more done of my lovely needlework project - lots of lovely sage greens, dusky pinks and fuschias, using all sorts of different textures like pearl cotton, fine sparkly braid and ribbon. It's all laid out like a formal garden and I'm loving every minute!



Thanks for looking as always!!!

Card-making frenzy!!!

I have been feeling rather frustrated recently, what with having loads of ideas running around my head and not enough time to do something with them.

In addition, my stock of ready-made cards was running low - I'd run out of baby cards, and I wanted to see what some of my flower photos would look like mounted onto cards and embellished a bit! So, I took a few days off work at the beginning of the week, and got to work. My mojo was flowing like the proverbial torrent and I got completely into my zone - at one point, the floor of my study was totally covered in paper and card, and I was struggling to find my ruler, cutter, glue roller, etc. To cut a long story short, I made 87 cards in three days - phew!!!!

Here are a few examples (can you tell that my garden bench has become my new favourite spot for taking photos of my cards???):