Sale-a-bration Samples

Hi there - here are a couple of samples that I have made using the fabulous new FREE stampsets - don't you just love them!
This one uses the Sweet Summer stampset inked with Whisper White on Black and matted onto Wild Wasabi cardstock then inked over using a marker pen and highlighted with a White Signo Gel pen.






















Here's another card made using the Bliss stampset embossed in White EP, the sentiment is from the Punch Bunch set and the background uses Whisper white ink on Black cardstock using one of the Artistic Etchings stamps. Still like to do monochrome cards.

Allelujah!

Central heating engineer arrived about 3:00 p.m. today and within minutes he had fixed it - didn't need any parts, didn't need any tools! £50 plus VAT - not bad is it for a few seconds work!
Just glad that we now have the heating again. How did we survive winter without central heating? It makes you wonder.
Anyhow, here's hoping that normal servcie can now be resumed.
Watch this space!!

Happy Anniversary!

Christmas Eve is my Wedding Anniversary and what a day it turned out to be.
Simon, Kerry and the kids were coming for the evening as were my two sisters with their respective hubby/partner and my nephew with his fiance were expected.
I found out about 5:45 that the central heating wasn't working and that I had no hot water. Barry spoke to someone on the telephone helpline, and after some testing, he was advised that our 2 year old condensing boiler needed a part AND that they would not be able to get a part until Wednesday because of the holiday. I was mortified to say the least - what else can possibly go wrong this year?
Not to be defeated, we set up a couple of oil filled radiators and a fan heater and made the best of the evening. We had a great time playing on the Wii doing the dancing games and Lexie and Lucas wren't the only ones who had a funfilled evening!
Yesterday morning we had a lie in, opened pressies and after going to see the grandkids, took ourselves and Janice over to Christine's for Christmas dinner. We met new great niece Eva Lily for the first time too and spent a pleasant few hours there. Back home we sat in the lounge with the heater turned up high and sat and watched soaps, then off to bed. At least it was warm in there.
Today we have spent most of the day huddled up in the lounge in our jim-jams and dressing gowns, watching old films.
What will tomorrow bring I wonder?

See ya all soon!

Marina Mist and Early Espresso Wreath

Here is the Christmas card that I have done for my good friend Nicky, I think the colours are a nice change from the Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive. As you can see I have used Marina Mist with Early Espresso and am quite pleased with the result- he likes it anyway.
Enjoy

Let festivities commence!

Well ..... today I have bought the last 3 Christmas presents and posted the last of the Christmas cards that had to be posted. I have just a few left to hand deliver. I have just helped Barry get the tree and the decorations down from the loft and I have left him in peace to get on with decorating the tree. (I'm just having a cuppa and a mince pie).
The electricity has been on continuously for a week now, and the workmen have filled in all three of the holes that they have dug in the village, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that we have a trouble free Christmas and no more power cuts.
All the decorating has been done, new doors fitted and the new carpets fitted downstairs so we can sit back and relax and enjoy them.
I have just got to wrap all the presents over the next two days and get them to father Christmas to deliver on Christmas Eve.
The washing is all done and tomorrow I have the ironing to do, then I can sit and craft for a couple of hours in the afternoon - I have a couple of birthdays next week.

Here's one of the last few cards that I have made, I will post a few more piccies tomorrow - after the ironing!
This one uses the Fine flourish stamp again and i have used night of navy cardstock and ink

Light at the end of the tunnel at last

Well - after 30hours with no electricity, therefore no heating, lighting, hot water, and most serious of all - no internet and no telephone, we now have power restored. Its been back on fully for about 15 minutes now and I am sat here in dressing gown and slippers, waiting for the house to warm up. Even now we don't know whether the fault has been found, or whether we are merely connected to a generator, in fact as I have tried to write this the power has been cutting after only a few minutes at a time. I am keeping my fingers crossed
Yesterday evening Barry and I dined out, then spent the rest of the evening at sister's (Maggie's) house with her and Gerald and we had a very pleasant evening. At 11 o'clock when we came home, we asked the workmen how things were progressing, only to be told that they had not yet found the fault - afterthat we just went home to bed.
I spent my time quite industriously this morning til the power has come back on and made 20 Christmas cards, I will post a piccie when I have stuck the ribbons on.

Oh well - had better make the most of the power whilst we have it. Talk to you all soon.

And there's more.........

Woe is me!!
You know that I have got the decorators in at the moment. Well I had a nightmare day on Wednesday when the joiner came and fitted 7 doors. I had a house covered in sawdust!
The joiner didn't put a single dustsheet down and was merrily planing doors everywhere and I had wood shavings and sawdust on my lovely new carpets which had only been fitted last Tuesday and this Monday! I wept after he had gone home. Yesterday I spent hours sweeping up all the sawdust - there must have been 6" of sawdust on the conservatory floor where he had done most of the cutting. There was also the same amount of sawdust outside the front door which was being walked in every time he came in.
Anyway that was another day.
This morning I awoke bright and early - well it was still dark - about 6:20 - only to find that we had a power cut! Luckily I have a gas hob, so i was able to have a hot drink. The decorators came at 8:30 and have done their best working in the hall without light - but at 2:00 I phoned to check when the power would be back on. I had to use the decorator's mobile, cos my mobile battery was flat! I was told that if we were lucky we might get the power on at 4:00 p.m. today, otherwise it would be 8 o'clock tonight.
At this moment in time I am sat at baby sisters house, where it's lovely and warm, drinking her coffee, using her electricity to charge up my mobile phone, and using her internet to send emails and update my blog!!
Think I must have inadvertently killed a robin!
Hey ho!

Craft Room Blues

Just as I thought everything was going so well.......
I have had my dining room redecorated and a new carpet fitted - the carpet fitters made it on Tuesday through the snow and it looks a treat. Got the new curtains up yesterday.
I have had my lounge redecorated and the carpet should be fitted tomorrow - weather permitting.
Also tomorrow I am having the hall stairs and landing measured for new carpet which I hope will be fitted late next week.
On Tuesday B&Q should deliver seven new internal doors for downstairs and on Wednesday a joiner is coming to fit them.
Also on Wednesday the decorators are coming to redecorate the hall stairs and landing. They will be with me for 3 days, possibly 4 as they are also painting the ceilings for me in the kitchen and bathroom and decorating the lobby.
Yesterday I did the gloss on the skirting in the Conservatory and the first coat of emulsion on the walls. Today I was going to carry on when I discovered that the wall in the craftroom was wet again!! The same one that I had the problem with at the beginning of the year when it snowed. I could have cried. Well I did actually. So I had to shift all the stuff from the units on that wall and start mopping up operations. Its certainly not as bad as last time but has caused chaos nonetheless.
Barry had done a couple of trips to the tip with the old dining room and lounge carpets and underlay plus a few sacks of domestic rubbish. (Our wheelie bin was full and was not emptied this week cos of the weather)
We had emptied the lounge of everything except the two settees- most of the stuff has been put into my beautiful dining room and once again the house is in turmoil.
I had just been thinking how well things were going as well.
Anyhow, not to be too depressed about the whole thing, we went out and bought new curtains and cushions for the lounge and that cheered me up a little. We picked up baby sis Anne-Marie on the way home, to help us move a settee out of the lounge, then I made dinner whilst Barry took her back home.
I am now sat in bed, updating my blog and watching tele - as the lounge is not very welcoming with just the settee in it and bare floors!
Tomorrow evening at this time, hopefully order will be restored in the dining room, conservatory and lounge. The craft room will still be a mess, but I will have to wait for that to be dealt with later as we have a full schedule for the rest of this week.
I will have to cancel this weeks classes as there is no way we can have a class as things are.
I have however just read Becki's blog and my problems seem quite trivial as I read about the traumas that Becki had yesterday on her birthday no less!!. I can empathise with you and hope that you get everything sorted Becki.
Meantime, I am going to play silly games on the laptop and watch a little television before turning in for the night. Things should get better tomorrow - fingers crossed.

Craft Class Cancelled

Oh what a beautiful morning! It really is a Winter wonderland outside and I am snug and warm inside, but because of the weather I have had to cancel my Tuesday Class (and will probably have to do the same tomorrow and Thursday!)
I am supposed to be having a carpet for my dining room fitted today. I am not holding my breath as I sit and wait - the carpet company phoned me yesterday to advise me that they may not be able to fit it today. It will all depend how many fitters can actually get in to work whether or not they can then get out to me.
OMG! If you just saw the house at this moment in time. The conservatory has all the corner units, wall units, sideboard, dining table and 6 chairs in it - this is as well as the furniture thats already in there! The spare bedroom has all the drawers from the units on the bed, plus various pictures, ornaments etc. The Utilityy room has not an inch of space on the worktops as all my crockery and glasses, plus all the booze that was in the units are now stashed away in boxes in there!
All in all, I could really do with the carpet fitters coming today as I am getting more stressed by the minute!!
On a calmer note though, the dining room will look beautiful when its done as I have had it redecorated and washed the curtains, so everything will be clean and fresh for Christmas.
P.S. The Lounge carpet should arrive next Monday.

Delightful decorations

Here is the Gift Voucher Wallet that Heather from my Thursday Craft Class has made tonight. Crumb Cake cardstock and Old Olive inkpad were the main ingredients for this, using the Delightfull Decorations stampset and the Ornament and Scallop trim border Punches. Great job there Heather!

Cherry Cobbler Wreath

I have tried matting this one on Cherry Cobbler Cardstock - think I like this red better - it's richer. What do you think?

Pocket Silhouettes Wreath

I needed to find a card design that I could produce in bulk as I have so many Christmas cards to send each year.
I am quite pleased with the results of this one.
It is stamped in Old Olive and Real Red on Very Vanilla cardstock, using the sentiment from Season of Joy stamped in Chocolate Chip. This is then matted onto Read Red cardstock. The ribbon bow is Real Red 1/4" grosgrain.
Hmm - I like this one!

Welcome Christmas

Well I really must get a move on with making my Christmas Cards - here's one that we made at Monica's Pre-Convention party, using the Welcome Christmas stampset.

Just Believe

Here is the Make and take that we made at Convention using the Just Believe stampset and Watercolour Paper, plus the Colour Spritzer tool. Amazing or what!

Pirates beware!!

Here's my pirate card that I made at Monica's Convention Party using the Beware Pirates Stampsets

Dazzling diamonds

How about this for glitz then.
I saw this at convention, took a photo and just had to case it.

Fine Flourish - monochrome

Here's a card that one of my ladies made tonight - its actually a "swap" for one of the Jems - Jill in fact. She had some swaps left over from convention and I suggested my crafting ladies might do a swap with her. This is Chris B's card - isn't it fabulous!

A few more of my photos

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, but I ran out of time.
In the morning it was my Gilroyd Community Centre Class, then I just had an hour with my Tuesday Ladies. I then went over to baby sis Anne-Marie's to take her birthday card and pressie. Got a bit carried away testing out one of her pressies. It was a Wii Fit - I found out that my fitness age is 9 years older than me!! The only consolation was that young Kate (her son's fiancee) had a fitness age 29 yes 29 years older than her. Might have to get one of these things and asee if I can't get younger!
Anyhow, after this it was over to Simon's with hubby to attend Lexie's 4th birthday party. It was a Princesses and Pirates party and we had been told we didn't need to dress up. Bit disappointed about that cos I could have used my Pink Princesss Cinderella outfit with tiara again!
From here Simon and I had to go straight to the Golf Club for the monthly Committee Meeting. That finished at 9:30, then I had to wait for Simon to drink his pint (or three!) before taking him home then dashing off home myself.
Needless to say, I was just too tired to blog, so watched Emmerdale and Eastenders on Sky+ then crawled off to bed.
So.... here are a couple more photos for you from Covention. When you've had enough, just let me know!
Here is the lanyard that we all received on arrival, with our name plate, and the special pins that I got.























Here are the Prizes that Lynda and I won in the "Prize Patrol"
Lynda won a stampset and a set of Stampin Spots and I won Artistic Etchings Stampset and the lovely DP.
Weren't we the lucky ones!























Look at the detail on the gift tag - it's beautiful - see those lovely rhinestones!

Its me!

Gala Awards Dinner photos

From top to botton we have
Lynda n Me
Me
Julie Lynda n Me
Julie + Jems

Loadsagifts!!

Here are some piccies of the gifts that I received at Convention.

This was my gift from my SU Mummy Julie - isn't this beautiful























These are special gifts from my room-mate Lynda - aren't I the lucky one!!
























































And here's the lovely box of Ferreros and Card that Jeannette made for me
























And from Sarah-Jane this beautiful key fob

More Convention piccies

Here are the special gifts that I made for my lovely upline Julie, my room-mate Lynda and my lovely sister Jems.



























These all contained travel toiletries. I had to keep them all simple in design because of the volume that needed to be done before convention.

Convention piccies this way!!

Hi all - sorry I didn't get any piccies posted last night, but after all that driving I was exhausted and so after Barry and I had had dinner (which we went out for) we relaxed, watched Downton Abbey, then I fell into bed and didn't wake until 7:30 - which is really late for me.
Here are the swaps that I made for convention

First there was Dasher - using the Inkdusting technique

























Then there was my Sunset using the same technique






















And my last swap was an After Eight Favour
















I did 40 each of these three swaps, so you can see how busy I was in the run up to Convention.
I have to say a special thankyou to sis-in-law Chris and good friend Heather for helping me make these swaps.

CONVENTION!!

Well I'm home!! I have had a fabulous few days in the company of my fellow Jems. My SU upline - Julie and 3 SU sisters plus me, all travelled down to the Croydon Hilton on Thursday in readiness for Convention at Addington Palace. We met up with several other SU sisters and have spent two fabulous days together with 300 or so other denonstrators and Shelli Gardner the founder of Stampin up. We have done make and takes, swapped items with fellow demonstrators from the UK, France and Germany, and met some great people and made more new friends. We received all kind of goodies including a bag, stampsets, pen, pins, but better than all that more inspiration and fresh ideas for some fabulous projects.
I have not been home long, but after we have had dinner, I might just find some time to post some piccies from Convention for you to enjoy, so please call back later and take a peek.

Congratulations

You may have noticed that there has been a shortage of new piccies on here of late. Thats because I have been so busy trying to get loads of swaps ready for convention - and now its only 2 sleeps away!! Can't wait. So that you have something different to see, here's a card I made for my downline, Anna, on achieving her Bronze 2 in October. Congratulations Anna!

Lucas and Lexie's,Trick or Treat

Last night I had two very special people come Trick or Treating at our house - my Grandson Lucas and Grand-daughter Lexie.
Here they are looking very scary!

Scary Bats and Spiders

Well the kids had a great time making the Halloween cards and it was a good job that my friend Sue came to help as at one stage we had 10 kids wanting to make dangly bats and spiders at the same time.
Here are two more of the cards featuring scary bats and spiders - Boo!!

Happy Halloween

On Saturday I am making Halloween cards, scary bats and spiders at Swinton Library - its the Mexborough Lions who have organised the event for youngsters in the area. Here are the halloween cards we will be making - using the SU punches of course!

Nanna Pauline's 80th Birthday

Here is a card that my good friend Nicky has ordered for his Nanna Pauline's 80th Birthday.
I have used the Medallion stamp, once again embossed in white EP , this time on Bashful Blue cardstock. I have used the Joy at Christmas stamp out of the Perfect Punches stampset, stamped in Bashful Blue on Whisper White, but with a 1.1/4" circle punched in Bashful Blue matted onto the middle, with an "80" white peel off on top. Whisper White satin ribbon has been used with the greeting typed on the Computer then punched using the Oval punch, matted on top of the Scalloped Oval punched in Bashful Blue cardstock.

Hope that his Nanna likes the card.

Medallion Card

Here's a card made in Soft Suede using the medallion stamp embossed in white EP with a flat back pearl in the centre, plus the Perfect Punches scalloped circle in Chocolate chip, and a sentiment layered on top of it. (the ribbon is from my stash - but Whisper White satin ribbon would look equally as good!)

Greenhouse Gala Wiper Card

This is the card that Christine and I made on Wednesday using the new Baja Breeze cardstock and ink, Pear Pizzazz cardstock, Greenhouse Gala DP and of course, not forgetting the Ornate Flowers stampset. I had to use the 1/8" taffeta ribbon in Marina Mist but I think that it blends in quite well, don't you? The greeting is from "Sincere Salutations".

















And here's another view of the same card - completely flat.

Fancy Flower

Here's a card made using the Fancy Flower punch after stamping with the "Flower for you" single stamp - can you spot the new colours that have been used here??? Answers on a postcard please!!

Season of Joy

Today I am off to Chris's (sis-in-law) for a day of crafting - what bliss!! I love Wednesdays.
My camera definitely doesn't like reds. This card is made in Real Red, but it looks like Poppy Parade in this photo! I have used the old favourite Christmas set Season of Joy and the sentiment from the Perfect Punches. The punched Round Tab is stamped with the "merry" from the Tiny Tags set. The ribbon is the Very Vanilla 1/4" grosgrain. Don't you just love it!!

Ornate Flowers Congrats card

Hi there - as you might have already guessed - I do like this fabulous new stampset- this is the congratulations card that I sent to Julie for her dancing success.

Bundle of Love

Here is another card that I made when I went up to Julies training day lasy month. The stampset is "Bundle of love" and this set will get a lot of use this year - two of my neices are expecting babies November/December and a friend's daughter is also expecting a baby at about the same time! S'exciting! Can you see the new border punch that I've used??