Mum Le Taxi

If you are of a certain age that title will get you singing along to one of the most irritating songs ever (and I'm not biased against it because she is now Johnny Depp's partner, that would be stupid and childish. Obviously). If you don't get it, don't click. You have been warned.

Emrys has an AS level exam today. He needs to be there at 8:50. The bus he normally takes, may get there for that time. So its better that we drive him to make sure. And then pick him up as he is on study leave apart from exams. Which is a few round trips! We would share it out but Phil did the same yesterday and he is off being examined himself today - the last part of his bike test. He is obviously nervous as he was awake for hours (which kept me awake although he didn't make any noise. Weird). Later today I will take Carys to the dance group she has just joined. Although I worry about my kids spending too much time indoors, I don't know how we would cope if they were really sporty types!

In between I will be preparing for Sunday - this week the key phrase is "always be ready to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you" (1 Peter)
I suppose for me hope is a key part of faith. I think life is a lot harder without hope. One of my favourite lines in the prayers for a funeral is for the family when I say "may they grieve but not as those without hope". For me, hope is the promise I have from God that he will always be with me and love me no matter what. As it says in Romans 8
For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below - there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.

And that is what keeps me going. Sometimes with a skip in my step, sometimes with gritted teeth, sometimes only just hanging on by my fingertips. But always with hope.
That first reading about being ready to explain the hope says that you must do this with "gentleness and respect.". I hope I have!

Well that has helped me to get the juices flowing so I can think about the service whilst I spend time fetching and carrying Number 2 son so now I can share my Daring Card for this week.
It is a special week on Daring Cardmakers as we have 4 new members of the team. Lots of people applied which was lovely and it was tough to choose who would become part of the team but these 4 had something special as I am sure you will agree. So to Fran, Keilly, Leo and Sharon - thanks for saying YES!

To celebrate there is a fabulous giveaway from my most generous, lovely and talented local craft shop owner - Emma of Imagine That. It is a lovely shop (both real and online) and the classes there are many and varied (even if some people's tend to over-run. That would be me). One of the best things about it is the shop designed clear stamps. I have clear stamps from other places that have started to show wear and tear but Emma's are still going strong. And you ahve a chance to try one of the sets out as there are three up for grabs this week. All you have to do is

1. Join in this weeks Dare
2. add links to Imagine That and The Daring Cardmakers
3. link to no more than 5 other challenges.

We had a fab challenge set this week by Zuzana - Passion for Fashion. All of the Design Team creations are too die for. Some of those shoes and bags and dresses I want for myself. Here is mine. Don't want to wear this one...well I might if my waist was that small!

I often doodle dresses so I did a couple until I had one I thought I could replicate in paper (ie it had to be pretty simple). I thought of making a fabric skirt but decided to stick with paper. I cut out all the pattern pieces, doing two for the skirt so that I could layer up the pleats. I added tiny punched circles underneath to make a 50's style petticoat. The dress is on foam pads to give some dimension.

Details: Cardstock: Papertrey Ink; Papers MME Stella and Rose; Stamp: Imagine That Write Big; Ink: Memento Black and Distress Ink Pumice Stone; Dies: Nestability; Card Candi

Its my mother's birthday today. Happy birthday mum! HOPEfully she will have her card as I actually sent it on Wednesday (early for me!) so I will show it here
The card is based on this week's Kortkissen sketch. I love simple clear sketches but don't often use them. (or any other sketch). I did doodle a few myself at a conference the other day (whilst concentrating I assure you) and have tried one out which I like. I'll save that for another day

Details Cardstock: Craft Creations; Dies: Sizzix Tattered Florals and Nestability circles and tag; Punches: Woodware circles and Martha Stewart leaf; Papers: MME Stella and Rose; Inks: Memento Black and Distress Ink Pumice Stone; Stamp: Waltzing Mouse; floss and brads from stash;

Actually during the time this has been written Emrys has been returned home (exam "OK") and ideas for the service thought about in the car duly noted. And we will definately sing this though not quite as ethereally - which is far less irritating than the song I started with in my opinion!

I like little things

Maybe it is because I am small.
Phil finds it a hoot. He knows I will always choose the biscuits and cakes that are little - not because they are less fattening but they are small. Tiny sandwiches - yum. Sushi - so cute. Mini tomatoes, babybels, baby corn, baby leeks - put teeny, tiny, baby or bite size in the name and I'll eat it. LOTS of it. Just make it small.

I think life is somethimes better in bite size too. Often I get overwhelmed by complexity and huge problems in the lives of people at church that I care about or 6 million things that I said yes too when only 2.5 million really needed to be done by me and then I want to run outside and go "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah". Often I just turn a bit snarky with the family (sorry family). But if I were to pick out the bite size pieces - Stop and pray. Do that little job. Phone someone. Say no. then maybe it would feel better. Small steps. Got to love them.

I've been making small cards this week. This may be because I ordered some new cards for the Church card club (Romford URC 2-5 every first Saturday of the month, come and join us) and fluffed the order and bought the wrong size so swapped some of my cards so that there is a variety of sizes so now have some small cards to use (and breeeeeeathe. Sorry about the long sentence!) but actually I have remembered I quite like them.

Here are some of them All made with MME Fine and Dandy Collection and Craft Creation linen effect (small) cards. They are all 10x10 cm
My fave. The owl was on the paper and comes in yellow and blue so I also made a matching turquoise version. I have many owls left. I may make more.
Also used: Nestability Dies; Stamping Up punch; Sharpie pen; teeny button from stash

Also used: Nestability Dies; Imagine That All Boxed In stamps; Papertrey Ink Bitty Baby Blessings; Sharpie pen; Ranger Enamel Accents

Yup, slightly squiffy though less so in real life. I also hold a camera at a squiffy angle and sometimes it is hard to process that out completely!
Also used: Nestability Dies; personal Impressions Punchable Labels stamps; Martha Stewart and EK Success Punches; Sharpie pen.

Also used: Nestability Dies; Papertrey Ink Bitty Baby Blessings; Sharpie pen.

I am pleased though that my biggest thing - number 1 son is home for a long while. Though I am hoping he soon moves his suitcase from the hall. Just saying.

More birthday fun

Well the birthday antics are over now until half term when we celebrate with me ma. Monday ended with takeaway and movie . The film we watched was Children of Men which we all enjoyed a lot. Ambiguous ending though!
Here is Phil's card.
The sort I make a lot but I like it. So there!
Details: Cardstock: Craft Creations; Papers: MME Lime Twist pad (available from Imagine That); Dies: Nestabilities; Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug; Punch: Martha Stewart; Distress ink: Black Soot; Sentiment: from Imagine That All Boxed In stamp set; Black pen: Wilkinsons; White pen: Signo; Cord brad: Nikki Sivils; brads and thread from stash

Emrys was 17 on Thursday. That makes it 17 years since I saw Four Weddings in the cinema. I knew I was going to be induced on the 19th (so civilised!) so Phil and I went out the night before. But I laughed SO hard I thought I was going to set labour off. The birth itself had some traumatic moments (I remember the midwife coming in and calmly saying "sorry there aren't any doctors free right now" in that sort of voice where you knew she was swearing on the inside and then the consultant swooping in putting his white coat on as he did so, kind of like a superhero and eventually it was all ok) and then afterwards Phil got out his lunch and put the cricket on, which I have ALMOST forgiven him for!

Anyhoo back to the present, to celebrate we went to watch Thor. Which should probably be called "Phwoar". I'm not usually one for a beef cake but Christopher Helmsworth obviously worked hard on those muscles so it is only fair to admire the workmanship. Carys and I really prefered Tom Hiddlestone who played his brother Loki. All in all an enjoyable bit of hokum! Then we went to Pizza Hut for a meal - guess what? And had loads of laughs together.

Emrys is a big fan of the Qwantz Dinosaur comics by Ryan North where every cartoon has the same drawings but different text, so my card is an homage to that using my Cuttlebug Giraffe as I didn't have any dinos. And I was hampered by them only coming in one size!
Used the same papers as above! And the falling off tail has been stuck firmly back on.
Emrys was "amused". High praise

Which brings me to the Daring card this week. It had to be right down here as it is going to be Phil's anniversary card for next week so I didn't want it to be the picutre that appears on the Facebook version of the blog. So if you ahve read thus far Phil, look away now.
I bet when he recieves it he will say "huh?" "very nice" "it was for a dare wasn't it"

Samm gave us a really cool challenge - to be inspired by Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol. So I kind of took it literally Thought I'd do a different angle. If you want the words wholly in focus you need to look on the Daring Cardmakers site.
Details: Cardstock: Craft Creations; Papers: MME Lime Twist pad (available from Imagine That); Dies: Nestabilities and Quickutz; Black pens: Sharpie and Wilkinsons; gems from stash; foam pads

The family gets reunited next week as Hywel's first year at Uni is over. Doesn't time fly!

its birthday time!

Honestly it feels like half the people in one of my churches have birthdays in May. And so do Phil, Emrys and my mum. And its our wedding anniversary month too. PHew! Which is a lot of cards to make. Fortunately I have the Daring Card prompts to help me out.

One of the most lovely ladies in the whole world is 80 this week. She doesn't have much family but a huge circle of friends who were organised into a surprise party for her on Sunday. About 60 people turned up and she was conpletely floored! I was tasked to make the card for Church friends to sign. In order to fit with this weeks theme of the Darlin' Bugs of May I decided to put a whole host of butterflies on the card.
It is an A5 sized card so there was plenty of room for names. I used my standby large number templates from Urban Lily, cut from white card, embossed and glittered. The papers are all either Pink Paislee Queen Bee (appropriate!) or Basic Grey Origins from the 6x6 pad. Some die cutting, punching and dotting with Rangers enamel accents and I was almost done. Added a sentiment from Waltzing Mouse and voila.
Gotta love Martha Stewart butterfly punches!

Here is the card I made for the birthday girl.
Details: MME Stella and Rose pads (from Imagine That); Nestabilities and Sizzix dies; Fiskars and Martha Stewart border punches; Imagine That stamps; Papermania brads; Flowers from Hobby horse and Wild Orchid

I haven't photographed the card for Phil yet. Nothing groundbreaking - my usual style only I have bought even more new MME pads from Imagine That - Lime Twist and they are just up my street (again). So expect to see more. Phil chose a trip to the big smoke for his birthday - to see the Cult of Beauty at the VandA - lots of lovely pre-Raphaelitey and beyond paintings and etchings and clothes and furniture and photographs. I was blown away by seeing a photograph of Jane Morris - one of the pre-R models - taken in the 1850's.

I was also blown away by lunch. Not so much the food although it was delish
(note we shared the salad that is just on my plate and I really wanted that meringue - or one like it. Look at the size! but I know I couldn't have managed it)
but by the place we ate it -the Morris, Gamble and Poynter rooms. Probably the most artistic place to have your lunch ever. I think that photo has been taken in a way to fit the whole room in.

We were down the end from the photo on the site. With a good view of those lvoely chandeliers and the stained glass
and right where Phil could enjoy himself and call it art appreciation!
Takeaway and movie on DVD tonight.
Thursday night it will be cinema and eat out but probably in a pop art style McDonalds which is not quite the same

Time

As Dr Who said in the best episode ever "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but *actually* from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff"
and that is how I feel today.

I had time to blog earlier but Blogger decided it was time for an upgrade and went offline. Still, got some work done.
Its my 5th blogaversary today. 5 years of recording (mostly once a week I'm sad to say) my craft and a little of my life and my faith.
Me then
Me now
Shorter hair (its been up and down), same glasses, more wrinkles (you just can't see them on this touched up photo ha, ha). About the same weight and stuff. A few more grey hairs (bring it on). Same job - though it is changing and growing. 4/5 of an MA done. Children gone from being on the cusp of teenager to on the cusp of adulthood.
Ooh enough introspection - makes me feel a bit funny!

Time is the name of the challenge at Salt this week.
And Time is also the name of the last Salt challenge as we have decided to call time on the blog for a whole host of reasons. (Time being one of them!). I shall miss the deadlines and the challenges but I am prayerfully considering how to continue scrapping my faith

Here's my layout. The photo is of Hywel aged about 1 in our garden in Hartlepool
Once more I used MME Stella and Rose papers as the colours were such a good match! I quoted some of Ecclesiastes round the edge of the circle and here is my short reflection on it
Other details: Cardstock: Bazzill kraft; Punch: Martha Stewart; Die:Nestability Label 1, large circle; embellishments: Clock from Costco kit, buttons from Nikki Sivils, pearls by Prima. Letters: Chipboard Maya Road, Cosmo Cricket stickers; Paint: white dabber; White pen: uniball signo

Over the next few days if I have some blogging time (hah!) I shall put together a little display of some of my favourite layouts from Salt.
Saltinies - thanks for the care, prayer and inspiration - I shall miss you and the blog so much!

Took a break

We had a wonderful (but too short) break at my Mother-in-Law's house for the second Bank Holiday weekend. It was too short because of school's not understanding that Minister's need a full week's holiday after Easter and the kids went back to school for three days (humph). Still we packed a lot in, We spent the weekend wedding watching (me and C - we made the effort too)walking, shopping, looking at New Forest ponies, taking arty shots (phil), marvelling at how close the Isle of Wight and the sea are to MiL's house (both these are taken from the beach) and relaxing. But life has gone back to mad since then!

So I have not had a chance to either blog or craft much. I've done two layouts which I will share anon but here is my Daring card for this week
It is the first Friday of May so it is a flower of the month - lily of the valley. I decided to simply be inspired by the colours and as I had to do a Diamond wedding card combined the two challenges. The colour isn't true - it was very dark this morning so I have had to overexpose a little, hence the close ups following. I wanted diamond patterns, green, white and sparkles and threw a few paper roses in too for effect

Details: Cardstock and white card: Craft Creations; Patterned paper: MME Stella and Rose; Border Punch: EK Success; Flowers: Wild Orchid Craft; Dies: Sizzix Lollipop and Nestabilities; Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug; Glitter: Glue Pen and Glamour Dust; White Dots: Rangers Enamel Accents

I added glitter to the edges of the embossed card with tape and Glamour Dust
The numbers are die cut patterned paper embossed and glittered
The flowers and the punched border also got the glitter treatment!

Phew. need another break now!

Party time?

Today is THE wedding. Most people in my family couldn't care-a less but I love weddings! I don't get to take many these days as people go to hotels rather than churches. I am sure I would do more if you were allowed religious ceremonies in hotels in England and Wales* (God won't mind, he is happy to be part of the party wherever) but you are not so I don't.
* Scotland has much better laws and Ministers can take services wherever - even outdoors - how cool is that!

Carys and I will sit and watch a bit and go "awww" a lot. She goes "awww" every time she sees Will and Kate, sweet romantic big hearted fool that she is! Everyone else will go bah humbug (but may secretly sneak a peak at the goings on).
Daring Cardmakers is joining in the royal fun with this weeks dare. The uber talented Nat has asked us to make cards "By Royal Appointment"
I had picked up this crown at Imagine That as it was cute (and cheap!) without knowing what to do with it. I have been making a lot of cards with this basic frame design recently (as you will see) and wanted a red/ white (ish) and blue theme to the card. Aside from the "Q" being a bit off (the blog isn't called Slightly Squiffy for nothing you know) I am rather pleased with this card and I don't say that too often. Fortunately a special person has a birthday soon so the card will be hers (and I can hand deliver it too - result!)

Details: Cardstock: Papertrey Ink; Papers: MME Stella and Rose; Stickers: Jenni Bowlin; Stamps: Banana Frog; Dies: Nestabilities; Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug.

I have been making cards using my Stella and Rose paper pads. I bought all four as I couldn't decided which to have and I am so glad I did as they are just so lovely and make crafting a joy as they all tone together so well. The first two are basically the same card using different pads and opening differently. I also used Stella and Rose stamps in the background.
The flower dies are Tim Holtz for Sizzix with punched circles in the middle as faux buttons. The stamp is from Imagine That - and you can buy everything to make the card from Emma's wonderful shop (call in if you are near Upminster or phone/go online).
This also uses the Stella and Rose doily stamp which stamps perfectly every time (amazing for me!) and the other stamps are Paula Pascual for Personal Impressions which fit the EK Success label punch (also easy to cut around which I was doing until I read the back of the stamp packet and realised how they were designed) - the stamps is available from Imagine That.

Some of my favourite things together - striped paper; butterflies; white pen; pearls (possibly added to cover up a white embossing powder accident); kraft cardstock.
Sigh.

So if you are of a crafting nature then why not buy at least one of those pads - I heartily recommend it.
Right where's the champagne to toast the happy couple?

Refreshment and recovery

Its been quite a week and a bit for me. Holy Week is usually full of different kinds of worship every day. This year there was less, some cancelled in advance to give me a break whilst I cared for my friends (I have wonderful, understanding Elders at my Church) and some because of when the funeral was - Maundy Thursday. As it happens there was already a Seder Meal planned for the Wednesday so we had some Last Supper moments there and then ate together after we gave thanks for Alison's life on Thursday. It was a big funeral and it is hard to lead them when it is someone you care about. Actually I try to care about everyone I lead a funeral for, even if I have never met them as we are all beloved children of God - but the personal connection can make it tough. But God held us together and it was good.

It gave Easter a new dimension for me as well - preaching about the power of resurrection and the hope of new life so soon after being confronted with death. But it was good. Phil (photgraphed by our friend Alan)and Carys
(picutred with Pilate) were stars of the Passion Play in Hornchurch (OK Jesus was outstanding but they were the next best things in it) - an audience of 8-9,000 over three nights isn't bad is it!

So now I am in full recovery mode which means doing as little as possible as I have no energy left (cue the violins). Mind you I did need to go to Lakeside so that Carys could have some new clothes on Tuesday (she keeps growing) - she is a very unfussy person who doesn't need designer labels - hurray! And did very kindly allow me to buy two tops as well, using my New Look 20% student discount. I'm gong to miss that next year...

I have had some crafty time - not as much as I had expected but there you go! It is Salt day today and we have some sad news as Kim is stepping down. She has been such a support and inspiration and will be sorely missed. Pauline asked us to think about "the great commission" from Matthew 28. I love this passage for two reasons as you can read here
"Some of them doubted" but he commissioned them anyway. We don't have to be super sure and confident in our faith - Jesus still has work for us to do - but sends the Spirit to help us (which is why there is a bird on my layout)
I thought I would use this photo of lobster pots in Staithes as a fishing motif for evangelism. I wanted a cream or kraft background then remembered one of my new purchases was a Tim Holtz kraft resist paper pad - one of which was a map image - result! And then I noticed one of the papers I had pulled out to use had all the days of the week on it - which is how often we should be witnessing to Christ - double result (Non crafty people just to let you know that when this sort of thing happens we get VERY excited).

Details: Papers: MME Stella and Rose, Crate Paper Restoration; Punches: Stamping Up, Fiskars, EKSuccess; Letters: Jillibean Soup; Ink: Distress Stains and Inks in Peeled Paint and Broken China (and Vintage Photo ink); Kraft Cardstock: Papertrey Ink; Embellishments: Prima flower, Papermania pearls

I completed the last of my kits last night as well - and used summery paper on a snow scene layout but I think it works
Papers are Bella Blvd and Echo Park plus Fancy Pants chipboard. I cut lots of strips using punches and dies and as I was laying it out managed to do it slightly squiffy but decided that it worked like that and kept it so! Here is the writing
It should, of course, say "rifling through". Don't know why I missed the word out but if I hadn't it wouldn't fit so there we are

Other details: Bazzil cardstock; Punches: Martha Stewart, Fiskars and EKSuccess; Stamp (for label which fits my label punch perfectly): Personal Impressions; Ink: Spiced marmalade Distress ink; Flower: Maya Road; Brad: WRMK; ribbon from stash; pens: Sharpie (for outlining) Zig (for writing)

I'm obviously still in an orange phase. Unexpected.
I'm hoping to get to watch a bit of the wedding tomorrow and then it is outfit shopping for our family wedding in July on Saturday!

The Call

Sure enough the call that I have been waiting for came at 4:55 on Friday morning. It was my intense yet painful privilege to be with one friend as her life came to an end and another friend as he begins a new kind of life without her.
Its only Sunday now but that seems like such a long time ago. This will be a very different Easter with a very special funeral on Maundy Thursday - the day when Jesus reminded his friends one last time that his death was coming soon and what it would mean - and a very poignant Easter Day when we celebrate the eternal life we share through the resurrection of Jesus.

And I have a sore throat and a cough.
Which may seem a bit trivial in the grand scheme of things but Ministers need voices - so I have to not talk too much for the next few days in order to do what is needed from Thursday onwards.
The outpouring of love for my friends has been wonderful.
And so has the love given to me as I have walked the road with them. It is very humbling.

Which may make then talking about crafting seem a bit trivial.
But I don't think it is.
Doing crafty things has helped me through some tough times and when I can't craft it is usually an indication that I need to do some self care. So spending time with ink, glue and paper is an important and healing thing for me.

I did actually do my Daring card for this week on Thursday but have only had the chance to photograph it today. The theme is Spring Fling. I woke in the middle of the night on Thursday with an idea of what to do for this card.
I have seen this quilting technique done on scrap-pages and fancied adding it to a card. Its a bit fiddly! Basically you punch out circles and fold the edges over as evenly as possible and stick them together. Next time I might glue all the edges down as it caused a few problems with the flower. The flower was on a spring which went wrong and then I tried three ways of sticking it down before I had to sew it onto the card!
Details: Card: Craft Creations; Papers: Cosmo Cricket Delovely: Punches: Martha Stewart around the page and Woodware circle; Flower die: Tim Holtz; Stamp: Imagine That; InksMemento and Dewdrop; Candi: Craftwork Cards; Sharpie Pen

I've had a little space to do some scrapping as well (see note on therapy above! I have been able to speed up my scrapping by making up kits. I've only got one left so I will have to do some more now as it works well for me
This one had a moment in the middle where I thought I would have to start again but I persevered and am glad I did now. I used a poundland doily as a template. I have had the glass beads for about 5 years and the lace was in another kit bag but wasn't used. I thought I had finished the layout and then found the transparency over the photo caught in the bag and I am glad I used it as it adds a certain something
Details: Bazzil cardstock: Papers: Kaisercraft; letters: Doodlebug; Spray: Tattered Angels; WRMK Corner Chomper; Punches: Martha Stewart; Craftwork Candi; Flowers: Hobbyhorse crafts; Pearls from Imagine That.

Here are the words in closeup

I have just finished this one

Photo was shopped by Phil (thanks hun) My skin is not really so fresh! Its all about the fact that at 45 (ok nearly 46) I have probably lived half my life. The friend who has died was only 7 years older than me which shows you never know...

Details: Bazzill cardstock; Papers:MME; Template: Technique Tuesday; Punches: Martha Stewart; Stamps: MME and Kaisercraft; Ink: Memento; Rub ons: Basic Grey; Bird from a Gottacraft kit; Letters: Papermania and American Crafts; Sharpie pen; Gems from Imagine That.

Don't forget to tell everyone that you love them...

Palm Sunday ponderings

I'm having a few moments away from preparing for Palm Sunday and waiting for the phone to ring with sad but not unexpected news. It may not ring today, which keeps me on my toes. But it will soon. Which makes it hard for me to concentrate on anything - and I am remarkably easy to distract (oh look a car went passed the window! and a person! And a horse drawn hearse!) (Actually a horse drawn hearse didn't just pass but I live within walking distance of a busy crematorium and do see at least one a week. They are growing in popularity round here).

The thing with Palm Sunday is that you can have a fun service full of hosannas and praise to Jesus and donkeys (if you are really brave) and then the next Sunday it is Easter Sunday full of alleluias and praise to Jesus and Easter eggs (we have mini eggs as part of communion and there is always a bit of me that wants people to not eat them so I can take them all home as I love mini eggs so much.).
And in between though, we have Jesus sharing himself on the cross and helping his friends prepare for his death and the acknowledgement of all that we have done wrong that has brought him to this.
So if you miss out on Holy Week service events, you miss out on the sadness that makes the celebrating even more joyful.
So what to do?

Most years I do a kind of walk through the whole lot of events from Palms to Cross but this year it is a little different. More palms than passion but still something about the cross.
I think.

All of this in head chuntering led me to chose the Salt Challenge for this time around.
The Servant King.
I found this rather lovely picture on the internet and thought that these older MME papers complemented the colours. I shoved them around a bit, inked, outlined and then added extra bits where the outlining went a bit off. It is a technique that stops my work being too regular but I wish my hand wouldn't suddenly make a line where I didn't want it!

Details: Bazzill cream cardstock; Papers: MME; Letters: Websters pages; crown and heart: Grungeboard; Cord brad: Nikki Sivils; stars: Jenni Bowlin; Punch: Martha Stewart: Candi (ugh, hate the new name) Craftwork Cards

The blurb is two verses of "My song is love unknown". How cross am I that it just missed filling the space? Very. Does it really matter in the bigger scheme of things? no.

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with a Daring Card, but it does depend on whether the phone rings today or not. If you are waiting for bad/sad news - my prayers are with you

One of those days

when I am not really settling to anything and there is lots I should do.
Oh well.
I am going to divert myself with a quick blog post and then see if I can do something constructive with my time.

I had a fab day with Sue H going round Alexandra Palace on Saturday. I say day but we get there early and were shopped out by 2 which left me loads of time to visit and work the rest of the day. Here is my haul
I didn't get any bargains but did get some things I was looking for, a couple of treats and even something for Phil - the purple prayer paper that is like the material used in floating lanterns. I was her very first customer!

I managed a card making and scrapping time yesterday. Here is the layout first.
It was made with one of my prepacked kits which was actually made up mostly of a Gotta Craft kit featuring Glitz Designs. It is based on Shimelle's sketch but kind of went its own way!
I reinked my Black Soot distress ink pad but obviously overdid it as I was getting ink everywhere. In the end I gave up and addded extra "grime" to the background. The problem with being left handed is somehow you often end up putting smudges on stuff. But perhaps it is just me! The awesome photo is by Phil and taken at the end of March when he dropped H off at Uni. The month thing is a transparency and I painted the back and added it to paper for added visibility.

Here is the blurb
and an arty detail
I also made two cards using left over scraps of Bella Blvd papers.

(I think the green is another company though). Also used Fiskars and Martha Stewart punches, nestabilities, IMagine That stamp and white Candi
If in doubt, use a star die, that's what I always say. This card features my new Martha Stewart punches and some papermania brads. everything else as above.

OK off to mope about and try and think about Palm Sunday now. Or tidy up. Or something