Di Hickman - October Sketch #4

Right, I'm on time with this sketch (about time too I hear you cry!).



Christmas is knocking on the door so I'm now using sketches as an excuse to start making some of my cards.

Papers are from the English Paper Company. Stamp is Whipper Snapper Designs from Bubbly Funk and the vellum is embossed with the Cuttlebug 'snowflake' embossing folder.

Di Hickman - October Sketch #3

I've really missed doing my dares recently and never seem to get the time to chill and create, so I'm making an extra special point of doing them. So, saying that I'm on catch up now!

This dare from Di Hickman was from October 17th, so I'm not too late with it. I am later with other dares, I can assure you! LOL)



I wanted to do something with different colours than I would normall use so went for the beige and orange look. The pp is from The English Paper Company with the beige squares from Bazzil cardstock. The cream blooms was from Bubbly Funk and the orange cut with my Sizzix die and then inked up. The small cream is a Prima and was finished with a button and ribbon from stash. The photo corner was from All My Memories. Stamp from Penny Black. I doodled around the edge of the white card with black pen to mirror the effect on the paper.

Di Hickman - October Sketch #2

Still playing catch up! LOL.



Again the orange and yellow papers were from the lovely Kathy (thanks again honey!) The yellow flower was from Sarah's Cards and the smaller orange was from Prima. Brad and eyelets from stash as was the spotty vellum. The stamp Penny Black.

Di Hickman - October Sketch #1

I'm out of synch with these sketch dares, but my mojo has been escaping me recently but seems to be back on track YAY!



The background papers were a RAK from Kathy of Daring Card Makers fame. So thanks so much Kathy. The letter was handcut and matted. I can't remember who/where the stamp was from as it has no printing on it.

DCM - Ribbon recipe

We're still playing with those wonderful Ribbon Oasis ribbons but this time we've got a Ribbony Recipe for you to play with.

The ingredients you need to use on your cards are:
4 brads/eyelets
3 circles
2 rectangles
and lashings of ribbon!

We're still playing with ribbons and as Christmas is rapidly approaching, this was my theme for the Little Extra Dare this week.



Paper was from Paper Adventures 'Holiday Sparkle Tree Border' and the tokens were from Doodlebug 'Winter'.

4 eyelets secure the ribbon to the card, of which 2 are used to thread the ribbon through for the bow. My 3 circles are my winter tokens and the 2 rectangles are my matted miniature trees. Ribbons and a little glitter sparkle finish the card off.

DCM - Wrap it in Ribbon for Christmas

So this week we'd love you to join in and make Christmas cards using lots and lots of fabby, yummy ribbon - now that shouldn't be too hard, after all we all love ribbon, don't we?

This is my second card for this challenge as the first card submitted had absolutely nothing to do with Christmas (duh!)



The white card was embossed with the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder 'snowflakes'. The Christmas Tree was painted with watercolour pencils and Twinkling H2O's. Ribbon and rik rak was all from my stash.

There's nothing like a hint, is there?!

As I'd made my boss, Lea, a notebook, her 14 year old son decided to tell me his favourite colours for if he had one of his own! So, yes Lewis, I've taken the hint and have made you your own book ;-)





The papers were PaperMania overlayed with a transparency from Craft Obsessions that I got ages ago. The chipboard letters were from a Bubbly Funk kit. The pockets inside and the tags were from Bazzil and the stamps were from Stamps Away

DCM - Wrap it in Ribbon for Christmas

So this week we'd love you to join in and make Christmas cards using lots and lots of fabby, yummy ribbon - now that shouldn't be too hard, after all we all love ribbon, don't we?

I made my card last night ready to blog today and I must say I was feeling pretty smug at completing the dare on the day it was set.

I was all ready to blog it here when I went to the DCM site and read the Dare properly - Christmas is clearly stated in the title, but I didn't do a Christmas card, I made a Happy Birthday instead. I now feel rather silly! Anyway, I'll blog it anyway and go and do it properly!



The paper was 3 Bugs in a Rug. The ribbon was from Ribbon Oasis and stash.

DCM - Tempting Template for a Tuesday

This week's Little Extra was from a sketch that you can find on the DCM Blog {here}.

I decided to make a Christmas card. After all, Christmas is only 8 weeks away!!!!



I cut the papers squares from The English Paper Company Christmas collection. The journalling stamp was from Stamps Away the pink blooms were Aunty Sarah's and the blue were Primas. The snowflake brads were from stash. I added some handwritten journalling using a Sakura Jelly Roll pen.

DCM - Circle of Friends

The subject is, as in our original dare "friends", but this time the title is
CIRCLE of FRIENDS and we'd like you to incorporate at least one circle into your card.



I used different sized circles to draw around lightly in pencil then I used my Silent Setter to cut randomly different sized holes around the circles. I then added a couple of brads through the smallest holes. Prima flowers were centred with gold flowered brads. I doodled handwriting relating to circles and added a handwritten saying along the bottom before chalking with pinks and greens. The front of the card was then backed with gold paper to show through the holes.

DCM - O Christmas Tree

I've been quite remiss on my DCM cards of late so I had a catch up. I'll post the latest I've done.

This one is the dare from Tuesday 16th October and is therefore a week late.

Yes, we want to see lots and lots of Christmas Trees - that should help you get those stocks of cards looking a bit healthier.



The silver paper is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder using my Big Shot. The Christmas tree is a stamp that I was given at the NEC last year and the Merry Christmas is one that I bought at Tavistock Pannier market.

Happy Birthday Carl!

I had to wait to blog this one as it was posted to Newcastle. Not good at making blokey cards so hope this was acceptable.



I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder on the blue background which I then distressed and roughly inked with gold before matting onto gold self adhesive paper. The arrow doodle and swirly dots were from the Crafters Workshop stencil as was the 'C' which was just a swirl. I added the 'a, r and l' stamps from my Hampton Arts 'Decadence' alphabet set. I added a shadow line in a darker blue to the name and the greeting.

New look me!

Yesterday I had the notion that my hair was a mess and that I needed a change, so I rang my hairdressers and got an appointment with one of the girls at 9.30 this morning. Off I popped to meet 'the new me' An hour and £30 later I emerged with a new haircut. It's loads shorter than it was and I have a light fringe again for the first time in years. I hadn't told Will I was going; the first he knew about it was when I text him a photo through. His reaction....?! Not printable! LOL He loves it though. Jacob thinks I look like a secretary that talks on the phone all day and Freya thinks I look like an accountant. They both think I look younger which is fine by me!

I had put a semi permanent colour on it two weeks ago as I was tired and bored of the hightlights and wanted a darker, autumn/winter colour. This is more like my own natural colour now (apart from the grey bits, they're not natural but placed strategically to make me look mature and sensible!)

So... this is me now!

Shrink Plastic!

I HATE shrink plastic with an absolute passion, only because when I use it I tend to get the chewing gum on the sole of your shoe effect!! But recently decided to have another go and not let the little man made stuff beat me, after all I'm a 39 year old woman - how difficult can it be...?! So, armed with my Sizzix, I cut out some flowers, lightly sanded the reverse, used Stazon ink and a stamp to decorate then shrunk them - I made a total of 7 and only had to bin one of them! YAY! After shrinking I decided to use a gold Krylon pen to colour the reverse before sticking down onto a New Home card that I had an order for.

I think the 'Dream' and the heart stamp that I used on the shrink plastic came from Creative Imaginations (Express Rubber Stamps). The letter stamps are from Stamps Away that I got recently in a Bubbly Funk kit. Ribbon was from a top I bought recently and the Calico that the Dream stamp is on is from stash. Can't remember who the script paper is from because I'd already used the bottom piece that contained the info, but I do recall buying it in a sale and that it was originally 12"x12". It's really quite nice as the script is quite deeply embossed, so adding to the texture of the card.

Bubbly Funk Junior Circle Journal

The kids and my friend's daughter are taking part in the first Junior CJ over at Bubbly Funk. There are 7 in the circle and the first posting has just been done so it will be another 6 months before they see their journals back again.

I must be mad as I have my own to do as well as helping with these 3 - never mind beats doing the ironing!! LOL

I only have photos to show you of my two, and not of Jamie's unfortunately. I'll see if her mum photographed it before sending it off.

Jacob's theme is 'My Favourite TV Programme' which I'm not surprised is The Simpsons.





Freya chose 'My Favourite Thing' which is her teddy bear called Percy. Again I'm not surprised.

Liquorice has wheat in it!??

I really must learn to read the ingredients on everything more carefully.

I love red liquorice and never for one minute thought it would contain wheat flour. We had a bag in Will's car so we scoffed some of it during the drive to Anita & Steve's wedding on Saturday. I wasn't feeling 100% later on in the day and knew it couldn't be the food at the hotel as they had made sure that everything was wheat / gluten free for me. We had to leave about 6pm as I wasn't feeling too good. How I managed to drive home for those (very long it seemed) 30 minutes, I'm not quite sure. Just glad that I can remember my breathing exercises from being in labour with the kids so that I could breathe through the pain. Will had had a couple of pints and some wine so there was no way he could take over from me, I just had to literally grin and bear it.

Needless to say I was quite ill that night and had to crawl into bed early as a result. Sunday wasn't much better but was bearable.

I had placed an order with Lakeland which was left with a neighbour on Saturday morning. In here were 3 bags of flavoured liquorice - apple, mango and blackcurrant. Yum! The mango bag was opened on Sunday and we each had a couple of bits from it. Only then did I actually decide to read the ingredients list and, low and behold, there was the culprit - wheat flour - clearly labelled as being an ingredient! I checked the other bag still half full and in Will's car, yep, that manufacturer uses it too! So I guess that's something else that I can't eat now.

Feeling loads better today - headache is clearing and not as exhausted or as upset as I was over the weekend.

To cheer me up I spent time baking tonight - two cakes; a victoria sandwich filled with strawberry jam and buttercream for Will, Jacob and Freya and a wheatfree chocolate cake with buttercream for me! A piece of my cake will be eaten in celebration of my sister's wedding as her cake was chocolate but definately not for me to eat. Ordinarily I would blog the photographs of the cakes - but some thieving bugger has stolen my camera!

What a palarva!

I rang to ask for a claim form for my camera from our insurance company today - they don't send them out but take the info over the phone instead, hence when they asked me some of the questions I felt rather dense as I didn't have the answers to hand as I wasn't expecting them to be asked.

I rang the hotel again - no joy - the thief has NO sense of morals or conscience it seems. Wedding photos and photos of my children have no significance in their life and it certainly hasn't pricked their better nature to return my camera to the hotel. Ooh, I could swear!!!!!!

Next phone call was to the local Police for a crime reference number, before ringing the insurance company back with that info.

I really feel quite stupid as I don't know exactly when or from where it was taken. I do know for sure that it was somewhere between 11am when we arrived and 6pm when we left; apart from that I can't say precisely. Will thought I had my camera, I though he had it so neither of us asked about it until we were going home and Will wanted to put it away properly in one of his camera bags.

I have to say I feel quite lost without my camera. Just knowing it's there to capture moments of the children's lives that I want to treasure is a comfort. I have things made that I want to photograph and things to do that need photographing. I'm reluctant to use Will's camera as it's rather expensive and knowing my recent track record with cameras probably not a good idea!

My camera track record since July 2006....

Will bought a new digital camera for me in July 2006 as my old one's navigation button didn't work any more, but I had had that since Freya was born in 2000. The kids argued over it after Freya took a photograph of DH and me and they dropped that at Easter this year and broke the zoom lens. Replaced that with another new camera in April. Had that camera stolen on Saturday - that only managed to stay in my possession for 6 months!!!!!

Now you know why I daren't use Will's expensive digi camera... Sometimes I really do wonder if I'm safe to be let out you know! I'll keep you updated when I know exactly what's happening. Not 100% of the procedure of making an insurance claim as I've never done one before. Fingers crossed that they replace it for me.

Wedding Photographs

As promised and on a lighter note than my last blog entry, here are a couple of photos from Anita & Steve's wedding. These were taken by Will (who still has his cameras, unlike me!) so credit must go to him for these. These are unedited photos so there will be some subtle tweaking with regard to colour correcting going on when he gets time to work on them. (He's working on Karen & Jeremy's wedding photos to upload for them at the mo!)

Thanks for letting me blog them hun! xx






And two photos of my precious babies...

Sticky fingers....!

The wedding yesterday was fabulous! My sister looked gorgeous and her husband very smart indeed in his uniform. My daughter was the perfect bridesmaid too. I'll blog some photos in a while for you all to see.

Bad news yesterday though - someone 'borrowed' my camera from the public bar area! There was a section open to the public where we all congregated prior to going to the registry room for the service. It was from there that someone decided to help themselves to my camera. I am absolutely gutted to say the least. There were some very special photographs on that camera, not to mention the cost of the camera itself. I really cannot believe that someone who would frequent that hotel would sink so low as to steal. It's not a cheap hotel, indeed it has a wonderfully expensive reputation!

We checked with reception before we left and again later last night and again this morning after the cleaners had done the bar area. Needless to say honesty has not been the best policy in the thief's eyes! What makes it worse is that the kids broke my camera at Easter which was only 9 months old, we replaced this one ourselves, without going through the insurance company. We can't afford to do that again so I now have to make a claim which will no doubt affect my premiums - and all because someone has 'sticky fingers' which they can't keep to themselves! I am soooo angry and upset right now.

Here comes the bride....

Can't believe my sister's wedding day is here so soon EEK! Weddings must be like buses ...... none for ages then two within a week of each other ;-) LOL

Had a dummy run tonight with Freya's hair - sprayed it with setting lotion, spiralled it then hair-sprayed to within an inch of it's life, before pinning up the front and putting her tiara in. WOW did she look sooo beautiful (had a tear in my eye!) Then I thought, ahhh what the heck! Let's go for the whole look and get Will to shed a tear or two too.

Off went her pj's exposing some right jazzy knickers that certainly could NOT be worn under her dress tomorrow. On went the dress, the new shoes (that only arrived today - how lucky is that?) and the necklace.

Biased as I know I am, she really is the most beautiful daughter a mother could ever wish to have.

While we were in dressing up mode, Jacob was sent to change from his pj's too and to put on his shirt, trousers and tie. It made me realise that my son is now a young man and a very fine looking one at that too! He's going to be tall and slim like his dad. Not an ounce of fat on him (or on Freya or Will for that fact! How come I seem to have fat enough for us all...?)

Anita and Steve are getting married at the George Hotel of Stamford. It's beautiful old coaching inn about 20 minutes drive from here. If you ever get the chance to visit Stamford, you should go it's a beautiful little town. Burghley House is only 'a stone's throw' away and well worth a visit.

I'll post some wedding piccies after tomorrow's big day.

Lea's Notebook

My boss is one for making lists of things to do and as it's her birthday coming up, I thought I'd make her a book to keep them all in.

Hope she doesn't visit my blog before her birthday now! Just got to make the matching card.

Bubbly Funk Circle Journal

There is another CJ just starting over at Bubbly Funk. My theme this time is 'My Favourite Memory'. When it came down to it I couldn't just think of one so I chose 3 - my wedding day, the birth of my son and the birth of my daughter. Is that cheating to choose 3 do you think? Anyway I took it down with me to Cornwall to give to Karen as she is the one I post to. It won't be back 'home' for another 9/10 months. So to remind me what I did here are the photos...

Congratulations....

One of the bubblies got married last Friday, 5th October. So I'd like to wish Karen and Jeremy a very long and happy marriage from one Mr & Mrs G to another! Will and I went down to Cornwall for the wedding (thanks for the invite!) and stayed in the most marvelous of settings just outside Launceston. We stayed at the most beautiful B&B (understatment) overlooking the Tamar Valley.

So I thought I'd just let you see some photos of the blushing bride and her groom and of where we stayed. The B&B is set in 4 acres of land with fishing rights on the River Tamar. After breakfast on Friday morning we took a walk down to the river bank and for the first time in our lives we saw salmon jumping.


Mr & Mrs Gist


The view from the upstairs lounge of our room. Yep we had an upstairs and a downstairs - dead posh like! LOL


Had to take this to prove he came with me! ("No-one ever takes a photo of me!")


The river Tamar

Many of the members of Bubbly Funk made a page that we sent to Di who made them into a wedding journal for Karen and Jeremy. This is what I came up with...

While the Boys are away, the girls shall play!

As my sister's getting married on Saturday 13th October, and while we had the place to ourselves, Freya and I got down to making the Wedding Guest book for Anita and Steve.

The cover is the lush suede effect paper from SEI in a wonderful rich burgundy colour The initials are traced from Basic Grey naked monograms onto some cream pearlescent paper edged with a gold Krylon pen. The flowers are SHRINK PLASTIC (I normally HATE that stuff with a passion but used my Sizzix to die cut it out, then stamped a dotty/heart image on to it with Stazon before punching the central hole and then shrinking it. When cold I coloured the back in again with the gold Krylon pend before attaching to the book. It's bound with some gold organza ribbon.

Each of the pages is cream linen effect paper and I've used Rhonna Farrer stamps to embellish the right hand edge of the pages.

The boys' day out

Freya and I had some lovely girlie time today. Will and Jacob went to London to watch the Arsenal v Sunderland game at the Emirates Stadium. Obviously I didn't take these photos, Will did but just thought I'd share them with you. They went down with a friend of ours, Kevan, and his nephew, Erin. They all loved it!