My Aristrocratic Title!

This is me:

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Grace Lady Anne the Sophisticated of New Invention Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

ROFL!!! I love it - you can get one too by clicking on the link! Have fun! ;o)

Bird Box Swap

One of my forum buddies organised a Bird Box Swap. She bought and distributed these tiny little birdboxes which we then had to give a makeover to then send on again to our respective swap partners, and here's mine.

This is the front:and here's the back:

I think most of us were a bit shocked when our 'blanks' arrived because they are much tinier than we first imagined!! LOL!!

Wednesday Stamper - MOO Cards

I've never heard of them!!! I clicked on the link provided by Wednesday Stamper and saw these and decided to give it a whirl! Here's my MOO cards - they are quite addictive, and now that they've been photographed I'm going to punch a hole through the lot and keep them on a clip ring and just add to them from time to time. I must admit I had more fun with these than I ever did with inchies!

Thanks for looking!!

Autumn is here...

Not so blustery today - well, not at the moment anyway - but I feared for the tree at the bottom of my garden yesterday. It's grown out of the side of a very steep banking and it's roots are exposed and it was swaying like mad in the wind yesterday. All the talk of tornadoes was making me very nervous indeed!

So, as it's that time of year I figured it was about time I started on some Christmas cards. This is a very, very quick one which is what I will be sending to my neighbours. The photo is my front garden and the road outside taken in the snow earlier this year. I played about with the image, cropping off all the bits I didn't want then added the frosty border. It's a nice and easy card and I make one for each of my neighbours in one night - sorted! :D

The next is using a Magnolia image (I love this one!!!) which I painted with H20's and placed on a cuttlebug embossed background. The paper behind is one from a Papermania "Warm Tones" stack that I bought for ripping up and collaging purposes, but as soon as I saw this I thought "Snow" and voila!

The one thing I really love about making Christmas Cards is that it's always a good excuse to get the glitter out and go mad!! In this case I've gone a bit OTT with crystal glitter glue which is my favourite because it dries nice and flat and is really 'crispy'! I've even bought cheap plain cards from the superstores and dressed them up with a tub of this stuff!! LOL!

Wot... No Eggs!

I'm in the doghouse! :o( Saturday mornings are special here because my boys love me to whip up a batch of pancakes and they sit in their PJ's watching Spongebob Squarepants munching away while the butter and maple syrup drips out all over the table, their plate.... their PJ's - but who cares - that's what washing machines are for!! However, I went shopping last night with little 'un and because he seemed unable to take ten paces without wanting to go for a widdle we spent too much time running up and down the store (why don't they put toilets at BOTH ends of these great big stores?? Or at least somewhere in the middle!! Not at the other end of the car park! ARGH!!) and not enough time putting essentials in the trolley - and I forgot the eggs! Eek! No pancakes this morning, 'fraid! :o( And there's no point in getting in the car and driving out to get some because we'd have to get dressed and pancakes don't taste the same when you're properly dressed!

Forgive me if I'm repeating myself, but where has the week gone? I've had a very mixed bag this week, a little sorrow, a touch of anger (courtesey of Hobbycraft - am now boycotting their stores! grrrr) a heap of frustration (you can blame Led Zeppelin for that one!!! LOL!) but overall I'm still a happy bunny with my lot! 'Specially now that I've managed to pre-register for tickets! :o)

Tomorrow is my friend Becky's birthday. Becky has recently joined the ranks of Papercrafters(how's she managed to get away with it for this long??!! LOL!) and I was recently the recipient of one of her beautiful handmade cards, so now it was my turn. I made this for her as a means of introducting her to Rubber Stamping and also Magnolia - two jobs in one. Thanks as always for looking! :o)

TMTA - Slidemounts

Here is my very first contribution to TMTA which was introduced to me by Paula. This is also the first ATC I have made in months - probably since May so I've been a bit out of practice!

The stamp is Paper Artsy's Urban Snapshots and the background is chalked and stippled with various inkpads. Thanks for looking!

Gothic Arch Challenge - Family

I've only just discovered the Gothic Arch Challenge this week and it's so popular that I had to have a go too! Stamps are Non-Seq (I think!) and Judikins and pp is Basic Grey. (click pic to enlarge)

Thanks for looking

It's the weekend....

Ever had one of those days where you start a hundred and one things and finish none? I'm having one today! I was up at 6.15am and began working on a birdhouse challenge I've signed up for, and in the meantime I've found another load of challenges out there in blogland that have whetted my appetite too, so I've kind of started (and not finished!) some of those. The thing that keeps distracting me is that I keep remembering that I've got to make a card for a 7 year old girl for tomorrow and I don't want to do that - I want to get inked up to the eyeballs instead.

So, as I have no finished projects to show off, I'll put this on here which is a tag in pocket that I made for a forum buddy who had her birthday last week. Unfortunately I didn't know until it was too late that her birthday was a 'biggie' :o(

A bit blue...

Not really, I was feeling a little bit lost this morning after I had dropped the kids off at school, but no sooner had I got home and my phone began ringing. I managed to hold conversations till it was time to go out and do my lunchtime job, which had me run ragged, and then I came home and it rang again - this time I managed to keep chatting till it was time to pick the kids up from school.... where has the day gone!!! LOL!!! :o)

Anyway, this is a RAK I made for my lovely friend Sharon . It's another one of my folders that I made using the apperture from the Basic Grey sheet. The stamps I used are Hero Arts and the embossed card was made using a cuttlebug folder.

Thanks for looking!

One more day..

:o( Am I the only mum in the land who really does not want her kids to go back to school yet? I've yet to meet another mum who is really enjoying having her kids at home. Apart from one of two 'iffy' moments, they have been absolutely delightful boys and I have really enjoyed the summer break as much as they have. They, for their part, appear to be quite excited, though I'm not sure if that's because they've had enough of my company, or if they just want to get back with their mates - I've convinced myself it's the latter!! LOL! :o)

In the meantime, here's a card I made for a forum buddy's birthday - I can show it now because she'll have seen it already

The stamp was sent to me last week by my lovely buddy Elaine, though God knows why she wanted to part with it - I absolutely adore it and as soon as I saw it I had to use it. Elaine also very generously donated (along with a whole pile of fabulous goodies!) the ornate corner which is a cuttlebug die cut which I plastered with gold UTEE and I LOVE it!!! Got to have that die! The Basic Grey paper is also embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder.

Thanks for looking!

We have a winner....!!!

Whenever I've been on holiday, usually places like Devon, I always manage to end up at some village show or other and I love the twee-ness of the homecrafts area, you know, where people show off their pots of jam, or their handmade rag-rugs, etc., and secretly I've always wanted to take part in one of these - I love seeing the tables with their "First", "Second" and "Third" prize certificates, and of course the "Highly Commended" one's. The latter always make me laugh because I always equate them to the "Must try harder" comments that so frequently popped up on my school reports!! LOL!

Well, last week I noticed that the Village Show was to be held on 1st Sept so I picked up an entry form from the post office and was delighted to see that there was a category for a Christmas Card! Best of all, the first prize was 75p!!! OMG, I couldn't pass up this opportunity, so I sat up grafting all night (well, while the Big Brother celebrations were going on, anyway!) and I came up with these two. My Magnolia card was awarded 1st place with an overall score of 18.5/20, along with the comments "Great fun and good use of materials - a little more care needed with cutting!" WHAAAAA????? ROFL!!!! :o)

Unfortunately, there wasn't a "Highly Commended" certificate to be given, but this little beauty probably wouldn't have stood a chance anyway! It escaped with a score of 14/20, and I received the comments "A very good attempt - a paper insert would add to finish and presentation"! So I forgot!!!! OK???? LOL!

I also entered one of my watercolours in the Painting category and came away with Second prize (50p!) and the comment "Excellent detail - well mounted. A little more care needed to avoid prencil showing" and it received a score of 17/20!

I must admit, I was extremely pleased with this because I've never shown any of my watercolours off anywhere, though having said that, it's a few years since I actually did any! tut!

All in all it turned out to be a great day! And on top of all that, ecstatic with my winnings (£1.25 for those who've not been keeping a running total!! LOL!) I found myself signing up to join the committee, and my first gesture was to donate my winnings to the Village Hall Fund (though God knows I need it more than they do!!! LOL!)

Thanks for dropping in - as always your lovely comments are very much appreciated! :o)