I've been tagged by Kaz

Kaz has tagged me, so I better behave myself and play along with it LOL

Four places I've worked:
1. Supermarket butchery department after school
2. Printer who printed dirty mags!!
3. Driving Instructor
4. Concrete Company (present)

Four places I've lived:
1. Mum and Dad's
2. First house
3. Second house
4. This house (can I also include my caravan when on hols?)

Four places visited on holiday: (in reverse order)
1. Norfolk
2. Portsmouth
3. Lanzarote
4. Barbados

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Cuddled up in bed with hubby
2. 7.30pm on Saturday with the winning Lotto numbers
3. Supermarket sweep in a craft shop
4. Thorntons shop with the keys and as much choccy as I could eat/steal! LOL

Now I have to nominate four people so:

1. Kathy
2. Joanne (Angelnorth)
3. Janice
4. Linda

DCM - Charity Begins at Home

Rachel Booth is the GD this week and her dare.....?

Let's go Charity shopping
or Op shopping (as we call it in Australia)

I DARE you to visit your local Charity Shop & make someone else's TRASH your STASH!

My Trash was a necklace found for 50p. I also used cut off cream ribbons from the shoulders of a jumper that they add to stop it falling off the hangar in the shop and a button from an old pair of trousers.




Background paper is Crate Paper 'Chickadee' from their Birdie range. Blooms were from Dunelm with a Prima in the centre. The peg was a left over from pegging the Christmas cards up. And I have a secret to tell you..... shh... come closer I can't say this out loud. I used peel offs for the flower on the tag and the greeting down the right hand side. I had to say that quietly because all who know me know how much I really don't like them any more. I bought and used sooo many when I first started making cards and have loads and loads of sheets sitting their in their own drawer. I really don't mind when Freya raids these to be honest!

Sorry it's posted at the 11th hour but I only went shopping for the necklace last night on my way home from work and sat down after tea this eve to make my dare.

Thanks for another great dare ladies.

I feel like I'm being stalked!

Ever get the impression that someone is keeping an eye on what you're doing...?

The visits to my blog continue by the 'certain person' (today at 16:17), but at least they no longer leave me silly comments.

Oh, how tempted I am to publish their IP address. Wonder if they'd finally stop then...?

I bin bakin'...

The bubbly babes are having a recipe swap with the theme of 'chocolate'. It can be cake, muffins or cookies. I love home made muffins of any sort, whether it be blueberry, summer fruits, carrot and orange..... schlurp!

So of course I had to rise to the challenge. I chose my recipe, complete with 'mystery ingredient' which will only be revealed after the swap has been completed. There is a naughty rumour that it's something you can grown at home. Well, yes, you CAN grow this ingredient at home but it's legal!!

I've added a photo of the finished article, although there is one less on the plate now as the 12th muffin had to be taste tested (by moi of course!)



Mine are made with wheat and gluten free flour as I can't have wheat, but normal plain flour would work just as well.

Golden bears on the Craft Robo

The lovely Kathy (DCM Kathy) sent me details on how to make circle teddies using the Craft Robo. So Thursday night I sat down to have a go. This is what I came up with...




I created a simple template on the Robo for the circle and added Freya's friend's name then 'welded' them both together before cutting. This is the first time I've done anything like this and I'm really pleased with the result. Freya has two friends called Ellie, hence the two cards, I'm not going mad! (at least I don't think I am....?)

DCM - A Golden Moment

Gillian's mid week dare goes as follows:

This time we are giving you just One Word as the inspiration for your card making and that word is GOLDEN You can use the word in any way you like - the word itself doesn't even have to be on the card, for instance you could make a card in golden shades, or maybe inspired by the seasons of Spring or Autumn which both feature lots of golden colours. Or maybe you could make a card to celebrate a Golden Anniversary, and of course Gold is a great colour for Christmas cards.....
It's up to you - just go for Gold




The background paper was printed from a website of freebie papers (Canon I think) onto some lovely pearlescent ivory which gives a golden sheen. The semi circle is matt gold self adhesive paper onto which I've put half a Dunelm and half a paper daisy bloom. The centre circle is handcut. The tag is backed with some of the rest of the blooms and finished with a brown organza ribbon.

Anonymous.... Part 2

My anonymous visitor dropped by again at 07:38 this morning. Hopefully they've now taken the hint as they didn't leave me a message today. Not that it would be missed anyway. Goodbye anonymous visitor, I shouldn't be seeing you again... hopefully!

Altered Coffee.....

I bought some lovely Basic Grey 'Urban Couture' papers from Bubbly Funk recently as I thought they were so lovely. I'd been saving my Dowe Egberts coffee jars as I love the size and shape of them. At the weekend when I was shopping in Tesco I came across a lovely size and shape of filter coffee in a tin (Twinings) I just knew that I NEEDED that tin, as well as the coffee I suppose!

I sat down on Saturday to alter my jars and tins using the Basic Grey paper.

I even used the dreaded peel offs (aarrgggghhh!!!) to label them. I have used the tin for buttons and three of the jars so far for Prima flowers, brads and threads. I have yet to fill the empty fourth jar. Hopefully I've got enough paper left over to decorate some Prima bottles that I've got too as I love the shape of these. If not, I'm off to Caroline's shoppie for a visit...! ;-)

Anonymous!

I've been visited frequently by a particular IP address (that's the beauty of StatCounter, you can see the IP address of who is visiting, when they visited and where they came from!. This month's visits alone amount to 23 times so far. This person insists on leaving rather pathetic 'anonymous' comments.

Just at note to this person... you can leave me as many comments as you like, but your comments will NOT be published. If you have anything constructive to say, be mature about it and leave me your name. If you're not prepared to do that, then please do not continue to visit either my website or my blog.

There is nothing going on in my life that would interest you in the slightest.

Happy Birthday Kathy

I couldn't blog this card until I knew that Kathy had received it. As I now know she has it I'll show the rest of you...



The paper is Junkits, blooms are from Dunelm and the doodling (arrows and journalling circle) are from Crafters Workshop templates.

There is a bit of hidden jounalling under the right hand side of the bloom.

A bright and sunny card for a bright and sunny person.

Hope you had a fabulous birthday weekend away Kathy xx

Di Hickman - Card Sketch Sept #2

This is Di's second September Challenge



Patterned strip is Basic Grey from their Urban Couture range. Swirl doodling is from a Crafters Workshop template. All other materials are from stash.

Di Hickman - Card Sketch Sept #1

Just caught up on this first September sketch.



I loved the idea of this sketch - clean and simple so I wanted to do it justice. Paper is from Basic Grey Urban Couture. Blooms from Prima and brads from stash. Completed with some straight lines and a Happy Birthday stamp.

DCM - In a Word

This week I dare you to use a Word as the main focal point to your card. It can be a name, a greeting or just a word that inspires you. You can use other text but only one word as a main embellishment. So dig out your dictionaries, die cutters, alphabet stamps, rubons or download a funky font and show us what you can do!


I picked the cardbase up at the NEC last year. The words 'Happiness' inspired me to make this as bright and cheerful as I could. The blooms are from Dulelm Mills. Brade is from Dovecraft. Doodled arrows and swirls come from Crafters Workshop templates, with I watercoloured. I wrote 'happy' words and sentiments to reflect the theme of the card.

DCM - Big & Little

Big & Little We'd like you to use items in pairs of Big and Little - so you need to have both sizes on your card ie big & little buttons, big & little die cuts, big & little hearts, big & little circles etc The theme of your card can be whatever you like this time, so that's nice of us, isn't it?



The papers were from cardstock. The brown card on the left hand side has a lovely golden sheen to it. That was edged with some self adhesive gold paper. The pink worded paper is DCWV, swept through a pink inkpad. Big and Little blooms are from Sarah's Cards. Brad is from Dovecraft. 'Make a Wish' sentiment cut from Junkits paper.

Wedding Invitation

My sister is getting married next month, and organised as she is at times (sorry sis!) she came round on Monday night and asked me to make her invitations for her. Luckily she let me design them around the stash that I had with the exception of the large cream blooms which I ordered on Tuesday from Bubbly Funk. (Thanks Caroline for the speedy delivery yesterday). I was up until well after midnight last night finishing them off so that they can be posted. There wasn't too many to make as the wedding will be a lovely intimate affair.

She's getting married at the George Hotel of Stamford It's lovely there, an old fashioned coaching inn.







I have the place names to do now. All printed out ready, just got to cut the card and assemble them, so that shouldn't take too long to do.

Still need to get Freya's shoes but I've seen a pair I like and that will go with her dress. Girly weekend coming up - the boys are off to the Lake District walking so we'll go shopping me thinks!

DCM - Tearing Purples holes for Christmas

So, we'd like you to make and show a Christmas card which incorporates the following:
Some Paper Tearing, The colour Purple AND It has to have at least one hole somewhere in the design!

So, that was this weeks' dare, and this is my card...



The base card is white (aren't they always it seems with me!) I used the Christmas Tree Stamp that I was given at the NEC last year by the lovely ladies at Practical Publishing who publish the fab Scrapbook Magazine (thanks ladies!). The snowflake stamp is from Whipper Snapper Designs which I've just added a little purple and irridescent glitter to for some bling. Ribbon is from stash. I can't remember where I got the purple torn background paper from as I've had it for ages. I then punched some little Christmas trees from some pearlescent paper which I backed with some blue/green irridescent paper.

Tiara for my princess

Will is out with Captain Pugwash (aka Kevan) today on the boat, we're picking Susan up later and meeting them for some tea. So while Jacob was at school this morning, Freya and I went on a tiara and necklace hunt for Anita's wedding.

We looked round the jewellers and while we found a couple of things we thought were ok, nothing had the wow! factor. We have a local shop called Diamonds and Pearls that I'd never been in before but had been told that they sold tiaras. They have loads of bling in that shop, and it's pretty reasonably priced too. We found this lovely tiara for Freya and managed to get her a little necklace and earrings set too. I'll have to shorten the necklace but that should be easy enough, just have to move the jump ring further down the chain. She will look so beautiful for the wedding in these with her hair all girly and her dress so pretty...... hahhhh......

Here's a sneaky peek of our purchases.....

Where have my babies gone...?

Just two quick photos of my babies.

Jacob's first day at senior school. We are so pleased and proud of him that he has a place at Brooke Weston City Technology College in Corby. If you follow the link, you'll see just how lucky he is to get a place there. Consistently it is one of the top 5 achieving Comprehensive Schools in England and only 10 minutes walk from home too. He has a bright future here, we're sure. Anyway, as you do, you have to take the customary (future embarassing) first day photo in new school uniform, don't you? Yep! So here it is...


Handsome lad, my boy, ain't he?


So, if I'm blogging Jacob, then I thought I'd let you have a little peek at Freya too. My sister gets married in October and Freya will be her bridesmaid. She tried her dress on on Monday night. Not going to show you the whole dress but just a close up of the top and just how gorgeous she is. There are going to be some hearts broken in the future by this one, I'm sure. She looks so grown up with her hair tied up. Though she'll always be my baby she'll be 7 in December and is truly the apple of her daddy's eye! (Not to mention manipulator of that very same daddy! LOL)

DCM - You Big Softie

We want you to use something soft on your card feathers, velvet paper, fluffy fibres all that soft, strokable stuff counts for this one and that's it, easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy!



The stripey backing paper is Crate Paper, my very strokable cream backing paper is suede effect paper which I have embossed using my CB Textile folder. The ribbon is from my stash, the large cream fabric bloom is from Bazzil and is flocked. The centre brown bloom is Prima and the brad was from stash (Dovecraft I think). I bought some small foldback clips from Asda a while back, some spotty, some stripey so I used a stripey to match the paper. Add a bit of doodlng and a stamp and voila! You can stroke my card if you want to! LOL

Thanks Caroline!!!

Caroline nominated me to receive the Rockin' Girl Blogger thingy. So I officially rock now! LOL

Have to trawl round my fave bloggie bloggers to pass the award on. Seems like you lot have been there long before me though. hmmmm........ thinks....

I've shown you mine.....

Ok then peeps! I've taken the plunge, shown you the most awfully embarassing basic card in the world that in a former life I thought was pretty decent.

Now it's time for you to show me yours....

Upload your first card onto your blog. Provide a link to my blog and leave me a comment so I can come and have a peek!!!! It'll be interesting to see just how many are willing to share this with us and how far it will reach out into cyberspace.....

C'mon you know you want to share it with me.

Ooh, I've just noticed, this is my 100th post!!!! Obviously I'm not the strong silent type then? LOL

Di Hickman - Looking Back

Di Hickman asked us to look out our first card that we made. Although this is not my first, it is one of my very early cards. I admit it is BAD!!!!! I used to think that a couple of bits of sugar paper, an old recycled greeting card cut up and a peel off made a pretty good card. Oh how times have changed! This is embarassing!!!! LOL

Di Hickman - Card Sketch August #5

Di Hickman set her challenge with the sketch that you can see over on her blog. I rose to the challenge and created....



All the papers were by Junkitz that were free with a magazine (best price for stash!) The bloom is from Bubbly Funk as is the rik rak (we had a rik rak swap a while back and this is from my rik rak stash). The 'button' in the centre of the bloom is a chipboard circle covered in a bit of the Junkitz paper. The greeting is cut from a different sheet of the papers from the set.

I really enjoyed this card as it brought together some fabulous papers - and oh, so girly too!

Just a couple...

I managed to get a couple of cards made last night before my long phone call. This is what I came up with...

The large circle is cut with a compass from two layers of Corn Flake packet. The papers came free with this month's Scrapbook Magazine. The blooms are new but the button is a spare from a cardigan of Freya's. The feather came from one of Kirby Hall's peacocks that I found (no, I did NOT pluck it!) HAHA!! I used a dreaded peel off too!



The second card was just one to use up the rest of the dotty background paper that I had used for the first card. The chipboard is my pound shop find, just inked around the edges. The blooms are from my stash as is the ribbon and the button. I like this as it's simple, like me! LOL

DCM - A Trio of Welsh Barbers

With a cryptic clue.
Which, as I discovered to my embarrassment, when I laid it on the team, is only really possible to understand if you live in the UK. And even better, are Welsh.
So... a trio of Welsh Barbers means that on your card you need to have 3 die cuts!
( Dai is a common Welsh nickname for David and as there are a lot of Dai's around they are known by their jobs so a Welsh barber would be known as Dai Cuts. I'll get my coat.)


My three die cuts were - Large daisy blooms and medium flower blooms both cut from felt and the 'MUM' letters cut from chipboard.
The frame was handcut from some card mum gave me a while back and the background paper was a freebie from a magazine that's been lurking in my bits and bobs box. For those that know me, I HATE PEEL OFFS but as it was for my mum and she uses them quite a lot I forced myself LOL! I inked my base white hammered card with purple ink. layered up the background and border paper then doodled round the edge. The Chipboard letters were base painted with white acrylic paint then when dry painted over with lilac H2O looky likey paints. Topped that of with a couple of layers of clear embossing to gloss and seal. These were then mounted onto some irridescent card. The felt flowers and the letters I cheated with a little, as these came in kits from the fabulous Bubbly Funk.