Lili of the Valley

This week over on the LOTV challenge blog, we had a template challenge. The template was made by yours truly and here it is.

I was really pleased looking on the blog at the results of this card sketch. I made it using Photoshop, because I reckon it made it look a bit classier with the colours etc.. it's also really easy to do with PS because of the shapes etc. you need.

This is something I really enjoy doing, I love designing sketches and stuff and to see people working with a sketch of mine is great! Here's to more eh?? Maybe that's an aspect of the secret blog.. you never know!

Anyway, feel free to pop over and take part in the Challenge and you never know, you may win a place as Guest Designer on the blog.

Here's my entry for this week. I've used the Lili of the Valley Die Cuts for the cats. They are so cute and look just like a cat I had years ago. I teamed them up with some Papermania flowers and Basic Grey papers and rub ons.

Feeling like a Techno misfit

This morning, I'm equally as unhappy and grumpy as I was yesterday afternoon!

Why? You may ask...

Well, yesterday started off quite well, with a bit of blog browsing around the OWOH sites, and I came across a few that I took a fancy to. So, in good old traditional style, I clicked to put them into my favourites.

Later on, after watching Home and Away (like you do... ) I decided that maybe I should really try to tidy up my favourite list. Shock Horror... my 'blog' section had fallen to the bottom of my box! So, I clicked on it to highlight it (remembering I am not on my lappy, I'm on DD's) and tried to pull it up to where it should be... only for the little bugger to stick it's heels in and refuse to move! So, I thought stuff it, closed the box, opened it again and hey presto.. my stupid little 'blog' box has gotten the hump and removed itself altogether.

Maybe I've upset it somewhat by trying to show it who's boss, but it's most definately not there.. I've gone through all the other boxes/subcat's that are on my list and it's taken a vacation to Timbucktoo. (Mmmm.. is that really a place? Is that where all missing things go?? Maybe my pink teddy is there that I had when I was five? Or the little Tiny Tears doll I decided to perform brain surgery on when I was 10? I mean, I gave her pen stitches and everything and she still disappeared on me... maybe the cut off fingers were a little bit too much???)

So.. this morning, I've tried again, and nope.. it's still got the hump and not come home.. Now panic has settled in because I don't have a 'blog' list on my favourites..

Why is it that such a great four letter word causes so much grief? I mean, I hate other four letter words, like WASH, COOK, IRON, so why does BLOG - or lack of it - in this case mean so much??

The blogs that were in there I know off by heart, and I reckon it's just because it saves me typing it into the search bar.

Anyway, rant over.. just felt like off loading that little outburst! Smiling again now to create another Blog List!

And just in case you were wondering - which actually, you probably weren't.. here's what my Tiny Tears started off life as.

Now.. doesn't that bring back lots of happy memories? Toys just aren't the same today!

Another award

Well... I am feeling so honoured now.. I have recieved another award from Abi.. but I'm not sure which one i should have got, so I snaffled em both.. hehe..

Aren't these lovely awards? Thank you so much Abi.

Now I have to tell you five things I like..

1. My family - I love em all, so I guess that counts..

2. My job - working freelance for the crafting world is fantastic!

3. My friends - each and every one is wonderful in their own way.

4. Blog hopping - it keeps me in touch with the real world!

5. My pets - we have three spaniels and two puddy tats..

Now, I have to nominate five people to give these awards to. Check back later to see who you are..

I still need to go through my last award posting to sort those out too - I promise I'm getting organised.. I've got alot on at the moment.. xx

Oooooh I feel a bit of luvin...

I feel so honoured today. I have recieved two awards..

I must admit, one of them is from December - okay.. I apologise for being a bit slow! LOL.. Time just gets in the way sometimes, I'm sure you know what it's like, but at least I can share them now.

This first lovely one is from Juanita, from my SBS group.


The rules are:

1). Display the award on your site.

2). Put a link to the person who sent you the award.

3). Give the award to 8 more people.

4). Notify them of receiving the award.

5). Advise them to pick it up at your site.

Following is the translation of the Portuguese words and the rules for the award:"This blog award invests and believes in proximity -(creating friendships)!" [meaning, that blogging makes us 'close' -being close through proxy].

These are the other words to be included with the award:These blogs are exceedingly charming. These bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbon of these awards are cut, even more friendships are propagated.Please give more attention to these bloggers!

Deliver this award to 8 bloggers who must choose 8 more and include this written text into the body of their award.

This next one is from Erin

I Here are the rules:
1. Pick 10 people to pass this award to
2. Contact them to let them know that you have chosen their blog for this award

Now, all I need to do now is choose the folks I will pass them on to. Cogs are turning.. so I'll be back soon with the result!

Love Jo xx

New things on the horizon... can you help?

Helloooooooo

I am fortunately still here, using my daughter's laptop. Mine has now gone off to the PC doctors to work their magic this week on the keyboard. I'm still at a loss for what the F11 key is, but I'm sure all will become clear at some point in the future.. maybe!

I am redoing my blog at the moment because I came onto it this morning and my sidebar had disappeared to the bottom. Funny really. Anyway, redesigning it as we speak.. (well, not actually as we speak - I may be a feeble (!) woman, but I most definately cannot multitask!! Not on a laptop anyway!) So.. I am making a new header, redesigning the layout and colours when I get my own laptop back, and also embarking on a new venture.

This is where I need your help.

I am in the process of making a new blog, which has been borne from the current economic climate. It started out as just a bit of a comment made off-the-cuff at the weekend, but something that I think I can work with as a bit of fun. So... I am in the need of some Design Team members. If you think you could be interested and you have a printer, time on your hands, have lots of creative inspiration, then email me... or just leave me a comment - I will visit your blogs to stalk you all.. lol... and of course, send out the details you will need.

That's all I want to say at the minute, just in case this doesn't turn out as well as expected.

I look forward to hearing from you lot of eager crafters... anyone?? noone?? oh well......

I've been tagged...

Today, I got a message from the lovely Jane, saying I've been tagged...

This tag requires me to go to my photos folder number 6 and photo number 6, and display on here. Then I get to tag 5 people!

Funny thing is, I've actually just put all my files and photos on to a disc, preparing for this laptop to go to the menders tomorrow.. so I'll just insert my cd and take a look on there at my files.. does that pass?

Right then.... Photos - folder 6 - photo 6...

Now I have to explain the photo.. Well, it is a photo of my Grandma Edith Torr. As you can see it was taken June 1934, when she was a nurse at the hospital in Melton Mowbray. From what I can see, it was the hospital fete, but that's all I can tell you, other than my nanna is the one holding onto the fete sign, on the right.

In fact, I have a lot to thank my nanna for. She was the one who invested time and love to bring out the creative side of me. She drew with us, sewed, painted, read, lots of things with lots of love and passion. I feel very proud to have known and loved her for 13 years of my life until she passed away. I also feel sorry that my beloved hubby and children never had the honour of meeting such a wonderful lady.

Now.. I have to tag five people.. Only five?? If you visit my blog, please consider yourself tagged and let me know when you've posted so I can take a visit.

Thanks Ladies..

This is just a quick thank you to say Thank you to all the lovely ladies who dropped by at the Range today, for my demo.

It was so lovely to see so many regular faces, not at least Sue, Val, Mel, and a special visitor, fellow Docrafts Designer, Sharon. It was lovely to see you all.

The day was really busy all day, and there were lots of new crafters too which was nice - credit crunch cardmaking maybe? Mmmm.. that could be title for a new challenge blog eh?

Anyway, thanks for turning out and sitting with me for a while..

lots of love..

to finish the week....

Here are the last few cards for this week... and at the minute, I'm not sure if I'll be able to upload any others next week. I've spilt coffee on the laptop this morning - yes, this one - and although the coffee didn't do any damage, the hectic rubbing of the keys to dry it has knocked off my F11!

You know.. I don't even know what key that is.. or what it was for.... and pushing the little plastic knobble that's left doesn't do anything either!

Oh well.. it's off on it's jollies next week to the repairer.. it even gets courier service there and back!! How nice!

This is made using the new stamps and decoupage from Docrafts.


Stamped with the new Marie Curie stamps.. a lovely collection of acrylic stamps and for a good cause too.

Another quick and easy decoupage from Docrafts.

At last...

What a week! At last I've got a minute to come on and upload some new cards onto my blog!

I've had a really busy week, but it's calming down a bit now.. first off, I had a few projects to finish and write up for the new 'secret mission'.. I can't tell you what they are yet, but I'm sure once the finished item is completed and at the printers, you are all going to love it!!

That's all I can say for now.. apart from I had a preview last night and it's looking great!

I've also been a bit busy with wedding plans.. but more on that later.

So, down to the nitty-gritty and do what I came on here to do - show you some new projects....

These are the new samples I've been making for my demo's. I've got two booked this month, The Range in Doncaster this Saturday, and the Range in Southport next Saturday. Hope to see some of you there..

This first card is quite a simple one that I fancied doodling around. I've used the new papers from Papermania, and let me tell you - they are really nice.. They are A5 size, which is perfect and the colours are so fresh and nice.. I particularly like the spotty ones.. The flowers are cut from the papers and layered up with corresponding vellums out of the vellum pack. Other items are peel offs and stamped flourishes finished with gems from the gem wheel.

This little card I found the idea for on a blog I was looking at the other morning whilst blog hopping - I can't remember who's it was, or what site it was from.. so if you recognise it, can you let me know so that I can give recognition to the person who came up with the idea? Everything is cut from paper and piece together with a little doodle here and there.. cute or what!

**edited to say thanks to Kath, I can tell you the blog for this idea belongs to Jozza**

As you can see, the colours of this new Papermania pack are lovely. I have used two pieces of it on here, the pink dots and stripes. Layered up with brown card, finished with a felt flower and ribbon blossom.. these blossoms are really easy to make. I did the same type of thing on my project in this month's Creativity magasine.. don't forget to nip over and vote for your favourites this month.

As you will see, Papermania have bought out some of their fabulous acetates again this time.. I just love the thickness of it, and the swirly designs are just great! This one is green swirly, which I love. Finished off simply with a couple of stamped butterflies on vellum (from the duo stamps). The greeting was from the duo stamps too and stamped in permanent marker.

Last but not least for today, my favourite paper out of the whole packs that I got.. I just love the green swirly's.. I have doodled around mine to make them more prominent and added a few dots here and there. The border was done with the cropodile and satin flowers complete the card.

Well, that's all for now.. I hope to get back on later to write more about this week's adventures!

The art of surviving 2009....

Enjoy!! I got this in my inbox this morning...




CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE

1920s, 30s , 40s, 50s, and 60s!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses full of asbestos.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese & tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took cadging lifts.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

A trip to the coast on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the stream and NOT from a bottle.

Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Kebabs.

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and only opened for a few hours at weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner shop and buy fruit Spangles and some bangers to blow up frogs with.

We ate buns, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......


WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No mobile phones & no one was able to reach us all day. And we were always O.K.

We would spend hours building our trolleys out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in streams with matchbox cars.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendos, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on Sky, no video tape or DVD movies, no surround sound, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents

Only girls had pierced ears!

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross buns at Easter time........no really!

We had air guns and catapults for our birthdays,

We drank milk laced with Strontium 90 from cows that had eaten grass covered in nuclear fallout from the atomic testing.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them from the street!

Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!

Mum & dad didn't need wine, brandy, whisky or whatever when they came in from work!

Footy had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

Our teachers used to belt us with big sticks and leather straps.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

Our parents got married before they had children and didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kylie', ' Paris ' and 'Blade'

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 70 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned
HOW TO
DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

PS -The big type is because your eyes are shot at your age

Docrafts 2009

I recieved my Designer Kit from Docrafts the other week, so decided I really needed to get stuck in and get using it.. there are some wonderful things in there this time, and as I said in a previous post, I'm sure you're all going to love it!

My favourite this time is going to have to be the little gem wheels.. it's fantastic to have such a great collection of colours easily accessible in one little pot!

Demonstrations have been a little bit slow coming up this year, I suppose it's because a few of the craft shops have been closing, and also because of the economic slowdown. (I hate the term 'credit crunch' - it makes it sound like a packet of cereal!) I have got regular demo's through until September though, so that's a plus point!

I have quite a few things up my sleeve, so to speak, so I'm working on these projects in my spare time. More details to come soon I expect, but for now.. here's a few demo cards.

I decided to do a gatefold card for this one. The stamps are the new duo sets and let me tell you.. they are great! I stamped and coloured them with the Strokes pens, then used flocking to give them a little shine. The little gems in the centre are the ones in the wheel.

For this card, I've used the flocking to create little strips on the base card. The topper is layered and finished with a little 'heart' flower.

Here it is in closer detail.. I punched out a set of hearts, folded them and placed them all together to create a little rosette.

I reckon this must be my favourite out of these few cards. I've used a brown and lime colour combo and limited myself to just use the papers. I've also added a few gems to the card to lift it a little bit.

Again, here's a little close up of the card. You can see that the diamonds and flowers are all layered using the 3D foam pads to give it a little bit of depth.

That's all for now.. I hope you like them.. More soon!

Creative moments!

Believe it or not, I actually managed to sit down and get quite alot of work done yesterday! I couldn't quite believe it myself...

Firstly, I finished my DT entry for the LOTV blog, then did some samples for my Docrafts demo next week.

Life's been a bit hectic here this week, so it's been nice to find a bit of time to craft.
We're in the middle of sorting out our utility room, to turn it into some sort of office - there's painting to be done and flooring to put down. We're nearly there with it now.. shelving is up at least, new printer is in place, I've managed to find the desktop computer that hasn't been used for what seems like ages!! So it's all looking good. It also means that when it's finished, I shall have a little bit of indoor crafting space for when the weather's not so good. (at the minute, I work in my outside studio, which can get a bit cold for the pooches -- spoilt or what!)

So.. without further ado.. here are the results of a day's work.

These two are the cards I made as my DT entry for the Lili of the Valley blog. I decided to use the fabby sketch by Donalda to create a matching pair of baby cards - my neice Stacey, and also a lovely girl, Vicky, are about to have their babies.. Stacey is having a baby boy (we just call him Baby Bernard!) and Vicky is having a little girl (Kiarra Lily).

I used mainly LOTV products, but added a little bit of Basic Grey paper and some ribbon from my stash.

Slow but sure.. I'm getting going...

I've done my bits of crafting today, so had a little fix!

I've caught up with my Forever Friends Challenge for next week, so can't show you that., but why don't you go over and take a look at this weeks challenge - My Favourite Colour.

The other DT I'm on over at the Lili of the Valley blog has an Open Theme. My card was sent in before Christmas, so just need to work on next weeks..

This is my card for this week.

I decided to go with a male card for this one. Papers and Image are LOTV, and ribbons are PM.

Just one extra little card for today. It's a Thank you card. Hope you like it.

Papers and image are LOTV, wording is Doodlebug. I decoupaged the cat, but you can't see it that well.

Mmmm... something smells fishy around here...

And the woofers are to blame!!!

Those who know me, should realise by now that I love my pupstera to pieces.. they're not really spoiled, just very loved and cherished. But, I do like to feed them really good food - no additives or full of rubbish, nutritious and tasty - which in the case of my three, usually means fish!

We also don't give them treats and such.. obviously NEVER grapes or chocolate as it could kill them, and again, nothing with additives etc in as it goes against their diet.

(***note to add... it's not that I'm fussy, Scooby has colitis which can get really bad!***)

So, what do I give them?

Well, they have James Wellbeloved food (Never ever ever ever Bakers - that's really bad and so full of stuff I don't want to go into for the sake of being sued!) and I make them their homemade goodies, like the one below I'd like to share. What do you think it is?? Now doesn't that look really yummy???

You may not have guessed it.. but it's Sardine cake, and one of the only things that send the dogs bonkers! Here's how to make it. Bear in mind, that if you are fancying it yourself, there's nothing you can't eat in it.. lol

SARDINE CAKE

• 
  
  One and a half cups flour (see note later)
• 
  
  Two to three eggs
• 
  
  Three tins of sardines

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together with a fork. Depending on the type of flour you use, you may need to add the third egg.

When mixed, transfer into a non stick baking tray and flatten with the fork

Bake in the centre of the oven at Gas mark 5 for around 25 minutes. It goes slightly firm and crunchy on the top. Now isn't it looking tasty??

Leave to cool slightly, loosen edges of the cake and tip onto a chopping board to cut into small chunks. I usually get around 70 chunks from this A4 size tray. (A4?? Well, I am a crafter! Probably around 8"x11")

Leave to cool and fight off the dribbling woofers, who at this moment will be giving you all the love and

attention you ever ever wanted - or didn't as the case may be!!!! Now don't they all look angelic?

I usually give them a couple of chunks when they've cooled down, and the others I crumble onto their dinner for a bit of a taste, and they also have one when they are going to bed.

Because they have nothing in them additive wise, you can give it to dogs that have a sensitive stomach. My cats are also partial to a little bit. Yes.. we do have two cats too.. an old persian lad called Senna, and a younger 10 year old black and white lassie called Kiara. They don't like their photos taken, usually Senna tips himself up on his head for you to stroke his tumty so its near on impossible to get a good piccie.

Now then.. back to the recipe..

I did say that you can use different flours. Here are the results..

• Self raising flour - this will give your sardine 'stodge' a cakey feel.. bit like a sponge cake.
• Soya flour - this gives a really stodgy heavy kind of texture, so my cake pieces are cut smaller.
• Rice flour - this one is great. I usually mix it with the self raising, and it makes the cake more crumbly, a bit like a biscuit.

I don't go out to buy special flour for my dogs.. lol.. they're just what I have in my store cupboard.

You can also use different fish, so try pilchards (you're aiming for around 400g fish), tuna, salmon or a mix of all three.

That's all for now.. your dogs will love you for all eternity if you make them the cake.

I'll be back soon with another recipe .. Enjoy!

Just a couple of little somethings.....

Hi all..

I thought I would just pop on here to let you all know about the new challenge over on the Dewdrop Craftz blog. It's a monthly challenge at the moment, so even though New Year is often hectic, why not pop over and take a look.

Here's the card I did as part of the DT. I hope you like it...

Also... did you know the new copy of Docrafts Creativity! magasine is out? And guess what?? I've got a few projects in there.. One of them is a Designer Challenge, where I had to use ribbons.. (me? ribbons? never!) and let me tell you they were scrumptious!!! You can look at the projects in the mag and then go onto the web site to vote for your favourite in the challenge... take a look here.. it's all good fun!

Back to normal.

Oh the joys eh?

Christmas is now a distant memory.. wonderful hubby is back at work (boo hoo), girls back at school tomorrow, son back at work.. life is just back to normal.. Must admit.. after 21 years of hubby going back to work after Christmas holidays, I would've got more used to it.. but no.. I still hate that first week! However.... I do have my new wedding ring to remind me of how wonderful a person he actually is, so I can sit and twiddle that and pretend I'm twiddling his golden locks... (well.. actually, quite thinning grey short hairs.. but that's the same isn't it??)

Me? Well, as usual in a morning, I'm laid in bed surrounded by the twitching of 12 tiny feet and the snoring of what sounds like a hundred pigs!! Also affectionately known as my little furbabies.

I've a lot of catching up to do today, first and foremost is to ring the vets about Scooby.. we found a lump on his face last night, about a pea size, so we need to get that checked.. then there's the banking to sort out, cleaning up to do - and last but not least - some crafting!

I recieved my new demonstation kit over christmas, from Docrafts. My next demo is at the Range, Doncaster on the 24th January, so I need to get some samples made up for that. The craft essentials goodies for this next two month period are fantastic! The papers are lush and come in the popular size of A5, so I reckon that they will fly off the shelf.

Don't forget to check out the site over at Docrafts to see all the Craft Essentials.

So, without further ado, I'm making tracks to get some coffee, wake me - and the furballs - up a little, and get started.

I've also got some catching up to do with friends on the phone and some work to finish for a new book... so speak soon.. Happy Crafting everyone!

Photo jojo

Nope.. I'm not on about me ... it's another fab site I've found this evening.

As a "I-don't-push-my-camera-to-its-limits" type of photographer, I reckon this could be quite useful sometimes..

The 365 day challenge....

..... shall I see if I can get further than I did last year?? LOL... I did do this last year for a while, and then it just fell by the wayside. However, one of my New Year's Resolutions is to be more organised... so to start off.. I'm doing this challenge again to get my scrapbooking off on a roll!

Anna Bowkis has her challenges up on her blog.. go over and take a look. The challenges are the same as the ones that she did last year, but a new challengey type thing is coming soon!

January 2008

January 01, 2008

Day 1

Welcome to our 365 Day journey, a journey into our life's for a whole year. I am pretty nervous although full of excitement at what 2008 will bring to me, and looking back in exactly one year and reading my book of thoughts and seeing my layouts over a whole year , expressing who I am and my life journey.
Please note: Prompts will be posted at 11am GMT daily, my photo will be added throughout the day, so do check back. I would love you to leave a comment with a link to your 365 Day challenge. It will be great to see what you are all doing and for us to all be inspired by each other.

A prompt will be posted daily, a song lyric , a quote maybe. You can interpretate as you wish. I will give some guidelines.

Before we start i suggest you do the following;

- set up a new folder on your computer for photos, notes and stuff!

- Have your notebook and pen handy. Your notebook is your friend. Write down your daily thoughts, how you feel today, the weather, what you ate, where you went, just jot down the daily stuff.

- Make sure those camera batteries are charged

- take a deep breath and lets begin....

Prompt 1

"A day without laughter is a day wasted" - Charles Chaplain
Lets start the year with laughter

Journaling Prompt 1

I want you to write a list of Goals for 2008, nothing to unachievable, just a list of maybe 10 things you would like to do this year. If you want to go into more detail, why not try writing a Mission Statement, Stacey Julian has a free download here as an example. Use your note book to write your 10 Goals .