WooHoo!

Thanks to Sam I've been nominated a Rockin' Girl Blogger!! Apparently The Rockin’ Girl Blogger idea came from Roberta Ferguson. And the idea is that you: 1) give her credit, 2) put up the badge and 3) add 5 other rockin girl bloggers to the list. Unfortuantely, finding just one girl who isn't a Rockin' Girl Blogger is like finding the proverbial Needle in a Haystack, but I have! My lovely friend Jenni is my first nomination - the other four will be nominated as soon as I find them!

Thanks Sam, you're a star! ;o)

Black & White

I don't know if it's just me but I am struggling like mad to be creative right now. I am becoming increasingly conscious of the amount of stuff I am accumulating and not getting to use. My stash is evident in practically every room of the house and it's starting to get on my nerves now, and I'm feeling sympathetic towards Himself and the boys for having to see it all the time too. Occasionally I like to sit at the dining table and make something, but as every papercrafter knows, this involves having to have reams of paper/card, adhesive, images, stamps, inks, embellishments, etc., by your feet and therefore the dining room occasionally becomes Craft Room #2. However, all these recent horrific images of people's furniture and belongings floating out of the front door has really shocked me - I've taken immediate action and stacked it all onto the table!!!! ;o)While I was going through my stash I found a sheet of Basic Grey Black Tie folders that I picked up in March when I went to a Scrap Genie Demonstrator's day. It's sat in my drawer since then gathering dust, so I decided to have a play around with it and this is what I came up with. The stamp on the front was a mag cover freebie (I can't remember which one?) which I heat embossed with Marcasite EP. I loved the shape of the folder so I've made a template of my own using the punched out area as a guide so that I can make some more. The rollerbind-edged strip on the tag and insert was an idea I shamelessly lifted from a card I'd seen by Aud and I had to use it.

Thanks for looking! :o)

Argh! This Weather!

I haven't got a clue where the first week of our summer break has gone. One thing's for sure, I haven't done half the jobs I promised myself I would. We did get some sun on Tuesday but it didn't look as though it was going to hang around for long so we stayed local and visited Hanbury Hall, a NT property near Droitwich. They organise Family Day's on Tuesdays which generally involve a treasure hunt of some kind around the beautiful gardens. This week we had to identify a number of trees by following the clues. Sadly, a large portion of the garden had to be closed off to the public because the awful run of bad weather has taken it's toll there. I did bump into this fella though and he sat perfectly still for me long enough to get a close-up on him. I love dragonflies, they really fascinate me, and this fella was a monster!

End of Term

Phew, Thank goodness for that - I thought it was never coming! It was quite a sad day really because I had to say "Tata" to all the Year 4 kids I have been supervising as they are moving up to Middle School, and I wish them all the luck in the world. Hard also for me to get my head around the fact that my own boys are moving up another year. Daniel will be going into his final year at First School, and Isaac will be entering his SATS year! Incredible considering it only seems like 5 minutes since he learned to write his own name!!

Anyway, we had a big collection for Daniel's teachers so there was no need for individual cards, but I made these two for Isaac's Teachers. Both the stamps are from Magnolia.

A Long Lost Month

It has been a very long month since I lost access to my computer but it feels brilliant to be back online again. A lot has happened. My 'perfect' job was sent offshore to India back in June and I became unemployed. However, as they say, when one door closes another opens and I am using this opportunity to do what I've wanted to do for a long time and train to become a Teaching Assistant. Fortunately for me I took action long before the rest of the people I enrolled with and secured myself a placement at a lovely First School locally and from September I start my training. I am so excited about that, but can't deny feeling nervous about having to be trailed by an Assessor..... eeek!

Also during the 'lost month' I was extremely fortunate and very honoured to have been offered a place on the Magnolia International Design Team and I would really like to thank Pauline and the team for giving me this wonderful opportunity and I hope that my samples will do their stamps justice. They are a breath of fresh air for me because of their less 'serious' side and I can honestly say that since I discovered them I have never smiled so much whilst making a card! So Thank You Pauline and the team!

I'll leave now with one of the samples that I sent off to Pauline which I really enjoyed making for a forum buddy of mine who was, at the time, sitting at home with a bump waiting for the Big Day - happily she has now produced a darling little boy.

Thanks for popping by!

New Start

Well I've finally managed to get myself back online and here's my first pic of the new blog. We were challenged to give a CD a makeover using the colours Lime, Pink, Orange and Yellow. I did mine using Basic Grey paper to cover the disk which I then coloured with chalks.

Thanks for looking!