Some random facts about my life since Friday

1: There are now 3 adults in this house. Although at least two are more like a t-shirt Phil used to have that reads "Cunningly disguised as a resonsible adult"

2: This made me smile. A lot.
3: Church this week, just amazing. This time every year new people walk through the door. They often stay and I am praying that the new folk who came will return and be part of our amazing family. I did two services in a row in one church and it is so fab - but a big gap at the other which helps me realise that more services for me is a good thing.

4: The day we planned for birthday boy was curtailed as he wasn't very well. No, not a hangover as he doesn't drink. So we did it today instead. Nando's for lunch followed by Scott Pilgrim Vs the World which was the best possible movie to celebrate a gamer nerds birthday. I suspect he will see it many, many times. I am now wondering if I can get away with Magenta hair. Suspect the answer is no.

5: Phil and Carys now want a shaitsu massage chair after trying one out in Romford in the Range this afternoon. Carys didn't want to leave the chair. I found it a bit scary.

6: I have managed another Studio Challenge layout. It is the Anna Bowkis sketch one.
A double layout! I think there may be a few of these in the Dniford album as I have so many photosof the same events that I want to record.
This is of the wonderful Cleeve Abbey. we went on a sunny day and the light in the cloisters was breathtaking. And although the monastery was dissolved by Henry VIII not only does quiet a lot of the building survive but also the sense that this is a place of prayer.
The colour isn't quite right. I used kraft Bazzill and Basic Grey Bittersweet papers; Technique Tuesday frames as templates; Chatterbox, Jenni Bowlin and K and Co embellishments; Making memories letters and Craftwork Cards Hard Candy
And another layout using a Studio Calico sketch. I love the sketches. Love the kits too but just can't afford it
Echo park papers; martha stewart butterfly punches (spot the new one) and a Fiskars border punch (also new); Doodlebug and Thickers letters.
Still quite hard to read but here is the journalling.
7: Still doing the 30 day shred although I just did some aerobics on Saturday and had a rest day on Sunday. I put some jeans on that had got very uncomfortable and they fit so much better today. What an incentive!

Want something fun to do over the Bank Hoilday?

Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaale
at Funky Hand

I've nearly grown a man...

On Sunday number one son will be 18. I can't believe it really. It was actually the Friday of the Bank Holiday weekend when I went into hospital to have him and he was born in the early hours of Saturday. I have a little tip. IF you can avoid it, do not have a child on a bank holiday weekened. I truly believe that at least 50% of the reason why I had an emergency section was due to that. In fact the whole hospital went up another gear on the Tuesday. Mind you that was a long time ago now!

There will be no wild partying or clubbing, or even meeting up with friends - why waste energy in physical contact when you can do stuff together virtually via the internet? He isn't interested in alcohol or swearing (how can he be my son?). He is a straight up geek and proud of it. here he is being a C and A model. sadly he is too young to get the joke... (look at that hair. Auburn, long, thick, soft curls. Grrrr)
And one month after his 18th birthday he goes off to Uni to make his own decisions and mistakes. My work is done. But not my financial contribution obviously!

I have still to make his card as I couldn't shoe horn it into the Daring Cardmakers dare this week as we are carding for a cause! The theme is "A little bit of giving" and we are making cards to send to Post Pals. And as a good deed is sometimes rewarded we have a scrumptious giveaway from the Ribbon Girl for one lucky person. Do take a look at their store as it is full of deliciousness. To be fair I thought it only right and proper that I tried it out. I ordered some of the divine twine and my parcel arrived the next day, beautifully packaged. I must say bravo to Sarah's Cards who managed a next day delivery for me last week too. It has meant I can get my holiday layouts straight into an album without them getting dirty!

ooh that was a bit of a detour from my card. (not helped by blogger decided to only load 2 photos at a time when I wanted to upload 5)
I used a coloured card blank (faints). I find that really hard to do. But that is about as avant garde as I got as then it was back to the usual pattern paper with a border thing that I almost have to do. Plus rounded corners. I decided I wanted a card for a boy and remembered these Scenic Route Metropolis papers which I still love madly (just as well as I still have loads to use up). I drew a Scenic Route style arrow, traced round a groovy Thicker for the U and die cut the star using a QK die. Lots of Sharpie outlining, hand written sentiment and some blakc card candy and bob's your card.

While the papers were out I made a card for my godson Ben.
Who is 5 tomorrow. I am a rubbish Godmother - not helped that we live the other end of the country from each other but I rarely manage to send a card on time. (And to be honest I thought he was going to be 4 but I just checked. Just as well i didn't put his age on the card!) It may be that we will get to see him when we go and visit Hywel at Middlesborough some time. Anyway, same papers just added some Nestie dies; a Martha Stewart border punch (my first and still possibly my most used) and some Paperchase stickers. Have you spotted what is wrong in the photo? It has been put right now...

And finally craft wise here is another layout for said album.
Just about everything here is Bella Blvd All Inclusive apart from the bazzil cardstock and the flower brads. The page is based on (well slavishly follows really) a recent pencil lines sketch.
And feautures yet more Sharpie outlining. I love the definition it gives but it is quite hair raising as you never know when your hand will slip and you will have to cover a mistake. (oooh Extreme Scrapbooking)

And with the scraps I made this. Stamp is Purple Onion. I have just rediscovered a huge amount of teeny sentiments that I received with a Self Addressed kit a few years ago. Sigh. I loved those kits - and the stamps made them such good value.

This Sunday is my last one on Old Time. From September my two churches are changing worship times in anticipation of me and Phil taking two morning services per week (mostly) from January when we begin becoming Ministers of a group of 5 churches rather than having two each. Instead of one at 10:30 there will be worship at 9:30 or 11:15, depending where you go to church. So for a few months I will have to remember where I am and at what time! The theme is being hospitable this Sunday - how we should show welcome to all. Now, because I didnt look in advance (and unusually I am in the same church two weeks in a row) I used the best song for this last week . It is called All are welcome and is by Marty Haugen. Hear it here

To me it is a prayer of hope for what the church can be and what Jesus wants us to be - welcoming, receiving, not pointing the finger (as we are wont to do) but saying "Come and hear more of God's love it Jesus, come share your stories and be filled with the Spirit".
Because if there are things that need to change in someone's life, it is God who will work on us, we don't need to pile in, just offer support and help. That is hospitality to me.
Right, better get choosing something else to sing!

And Tuesday is the new Friday

Good grief! I actually started my Daring Card on Thursday night and finally finished it on Monday morning and somehow haven't squeezed in a moment to post it up until now.
In the mean time my parents have come and gone (including a trip to Paperlock Mill which was supposed to be Hyde Hall only the postcode on Googlemaps tries to send you somewhere it isn't. Very nice though. And Sunday after church we had dad's 79th birthday lunch) and I have squeezed in some work and play.
Oh and Emrys had his GCSE results - 4 A*; 5 A's and 2 B's (I think only one of those is a Dida and I am not sure if it is 2 or 4 GCSE's. Honestly you need to go back to school to understand the results form)

So here we are then. daring Cardmakers theme this week was chosen by Jane - Material Girl - which is about taking inspration from clothing. I decided to base my card on the ruffles that I added to this t-shirt
I've done another for Carys since which i think is better. Now it has been washed the ruffles are extra curly which I like!
So i turned it into this...
The stamp was bought from Imagine That for me by C arys with ehr own moeny which makes it very special. I coloured her in using Prisma pencils and cut the image out using nestability dies. The sentiment is Purple Onion and was placed where it was because in turning over my image to put adhesive on the back i got an enormous dirty mark on the white space. grrrr. The back paper is Fancy Pants and the rest are from a Basic grey 6x6 pad. I ruffled up the papers and sewed them with my machine before affixing them to the card, layering them up.

I've also had a chance to join in with ONE of the Studio challenges from the crop. Oh if only I lived the kind of life that others do which means that weekends are more flexible. I love Lis' painted frame so wanted to have one to start my holiday album 2010. So here 'tis
I love the way the dark colours of the photo have come through the paint. The papers are all Cosmo Earth Love with some various other bits and bobs thrown in (Making memories and october Afternoon stickers; Gotta Craft kits embellishments; buttons and flowers etc from stash; Paperchase luggage sticker)

It is Thursday, right?

I'm a day being and a dollar short and totally discombobulated.
Had yet another major computer melt down this week but found a local computer shop that retrieved the info and pictures on my hard drive within a few hours (and for half the price of PC World who would also have sent it away.) Also huge thanks to the amazing Phil who rebuilt everything for me. Love you hun!
All that meant that I was really behind with all my different challenges and to-do's - both fun and not fun. So I finished the Salt layout due for yesterday morning last night and I haven't got far at all with Daring Cardmakers card as yet.
And of course we added A level results into the mix. H got ABB which sin't bad and is enough for him to go to teesside this autumn. Sob!

So here is my Salt contribution to the theme of a celebration of marriage
I knew what I wanted to do was to use one of the large wedding photos from way back when and paint on it and then write over the top. hmmm. I obviously need to find out how to do this properly as I couldn't get a smooth surface and the pen would dig in and not glide over. Hence the rough look to the writing. The house behind was my house at the time - attached to the church my Dad was Minister of and with a graveyard for a front garden. It was a lovely place and there were loads of weddings. My mum and I would sit in the front room (on the right in the photo) and comment on the outfits and goings on (I can hear my children say - "gossiping?" in their "mum you are naughty" voice and um yes, guilty as charged). I do wonder how many times we appear in the background of photos peeking through the window!

Last Sunday one of the readings was Hebrews 12 which talks of a large crowd of witnesses cheering us on and I like to think that those who were at our wedding are part of the crowd for us, reminding us that we are not alone and that God is with us helping us through the rough patches and celebrating the good ones.
Which si what I tried to say
The papers are all Fancy Pants. The date label is October Afternoon and I also used a QK die for the heart, turning it round and then tracing it to make the middle heart equal on both sides. Liberal amounts of glamour dust were used along with various style thickers and to ground everything I added black fineliner pen (My faves are from Wilkinsons- 99p for 5).

Today I trained it to Waterloo to pick up Carys after a week with Grandma. She now wants a horse... (Grandma's friend has two). Then we travelled to Paddington to pick up my parents and we all arrived back in Upminster for a weekend of visiting together. So I am hoping to finish my Daring card but I'm not holding my breath! Don't hold yours either...

Feeling better - and worse

My energy and crafting levels are really coming up - hurray!
Which might be linked to me having decided to do some exercise. I've jumped on the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred bandwagon which means 20 minutes of agony every day. It is not exactly my idea of fun but needs must. My muscles are all screaming and today I pulled a muscle a bit but I am sure it is doing me good. And it is only 20 minutes...

I've leapt straight into scrapping some of the holiday photos. The first page is based on the latest Studio challenge which is to use at least 5 patterned papers on a layout.
I used 7! Most of them are Basic Grey but all from different ranges = Colour me silly; Gypsy; Cupcake; June Bug. Then one each from Prima; Christina Cole and Scenic Route. I also used some black cardstock. Some of the embellishments are from a Gotta Craft embellishment kit and I also used a Paperchase sticker; Nikki Sivils brad; Prima stamp and a brown spray ink. The letters are Basic Grey.
Here is a close up of what I wrote
I was going to put the heart after the name but realised that I used "lovely" twice in one sentence so covered one up! I'm really pleased that I managed to use so many different papers together. I tried to find different blues and yellow accents to go with Carys' shoes.

I did this partly because I have realised that despite owning oooooodles of papers I have hardly any purple and sadly many of my family have purple shirts. Hmmm may have to go shopping again. For this layout I used an old Pencil Lines sketch
again I managed to mix up my papers (go me). KI Memories made the multi colour one which I crumpled and inked; the turquoise is Prima and the purple paper, buttons and journalling circle are all Love Elsie, the latter being some of the packaging. The silver paper I bought about 4 years ago to use - now I have! And black and blue spray ink were also splodged on.
Look how blue the sky was! That was one of the hottest days of the holiday, really gorgeous and so we forced everyone out of the caravan for a walk, even though they would much rather be like this
All the papers are So Sophie from My Minds Eye and the letters are Jillibean Soup. Simple really but it was my first foray back into scrapping after I lost my nerve so I am very fond of it. Emrys and Hywel share a room at home and when he was little Em didn't want his own space. He does now...
And should get it soon as the A level results are out on Thursday and H should be heading for Teesside at the end of September!

Church went well today - despite the limp from my stupid calf muscle! One of the readings was from Hebrews about the Cloud of Witnesses that are there to cheer us on and I got everyone to imagine that they are runners being cheered on by the crowd as they race to the finish line - which in our case is the journey of our lives. I could almost hear them roar my name! And I'll need all the support I can get as I attempt another round of 20 minutes of torture tomorrow!

Old grey/green eyes is back

Hello.
I've had a break and been on a wonderful 2 week holiday with my family.
I was hoping to come back all bright and bushy tailed and raring to go.
Well not quite.
Although I am happy enough to be back at work, I am still having to force myself to sit down and craft which is a bit sad really.
But I think that it is going to be a gradual return and I have promised myself that being in a crafting rut is perfectly ok.

Here first is a card that I made before I stopped blogging - for the Daring Cardmaker's challenge of three weeks ago - Vanessa's We are sailing.
The paper is all Crate Paper Brook. The hand cut waves and everything are outlined with black Sharpie pen. The little boat and AHOY are PTI Bitty Blessings stamps; the label stamp is Waltzing Mouse and the Happy Birthday is Imagine That. Which I have JUST noticed - 3 1/2 years in, is called imagine that not Imagine That. Imagine that!

I have made a card for this weeks Daring Cardmakers challenge - put together by the lovely Joey. I've put this second as I have realised I just have to give this card to my dad for his birthday as his most used word is "tremendous". And now that my blog posts eventually appear on Facebook (which he reads if he can remember his password) I didn't want it to be the first photo on the blog as that one always features. Anyhoo the theme is, indeed, Tree-mendous and I shall write "Have a tree-mendous birthday" inside. I didn't do it on the outside because, well, I hadn't thought about it until this morning.
Usual large square card. Cosmo Cricket Early Bird paper pad. Plus the blue which is Piggy Tales and the brown which is Crate Paper Pink Plum. And a tiny spot of red Bazzill. Lots of Vintage Photo ink. PTI sentiment stamped in Chestnut Roan ink.

The Crate Paper can be seen in this card which is the first I made on my return to paper crafting
Everything is from Pink Plum even the word which did say "Lovely" and was cut down savagely. Everything apart from the glitter card QK hearts; the glue pen and glamour dust; the nestabilities and the sticky back pearls (the left one was adjusted post photo but the camera battery died at that point and then I posted the card). It is for some special someones on a special day.

More on holidays and attempting to get fit and knitting soon. Adios my friends. Its good to be blogging again

PS I haven't said anything yet about Anice's fabulous new Funky Hand CD Colour Me Happy. Its my fave so far! You'll have missed a live show on Create and Craft this morning but it is repeated at 8pm this the evening and again at 3am on Saturday morning

Create and Craft is on Sky Channel 671, Freeview Channel 36 and on Freesat Channel 813. You can watch via the pc HERE

And I will finally upload my samples soon