Oooh check...

.... me out!!! lol - two posts in a week, that hasnt happened for a long time!!  Well I managed to get the card made for my eldests friend.  After checking back last years posts I realised I wasnt going to send him the same image, so here is a fab Mo image coloured with promarkers and using freebie papers from a magazine:

I would like to enter this into:

Bronte & Bellas challenge - anything goes with  a Mo image
Divas by Design - red white & blue
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Sassy Cheryl - anything goes


I really need to get my finger out - realising not got long left before the school breaks up - in addition to a Thank you card to Toms teacher - two other lovely teachers are leaving, one is retiring and the other is moving to Turkey and Toms wants cards for them both - no pressure then - best get my thinking cap on!!

Thanks for looking

Ali
xx

Busy, Busy...

...hello lovelies, hope you are all well and not letting the lousy weather get you down.  We had a big thunderstorm last week followed by torrential rain - however, nowhere near as bad as Newcastle - cant believe the photo's - so hope you are all safe and well.

To be honest not too much crafting going on here - busy at work and then had a couple of things planned - first off we went to Croft motor circuit to see the touring cars - we were all ready for lousy weather and wow!! it was gorgeous - Jack and Ian actually got a bit of sunburn - shock!!  We had a great day and the boys loved it:

Tom & Jack posing with one of  my favourite drivers car.

My favourite drivers :-).


Look at this:

oooooh I want it - a fabby little coffee bar in a camper van - the boys just looked at me and shook their heads when I said I wanted to take a photo of it - lol.

We've also been away in the caravan again just to Helmsley this time I am so not a good passenger though when Ian is towing it. Oh but its such an improvement on the tent - especially with the dodgy weather - we had just got parked up and the heavens opened I had visions of us of when we had the tent - we would have still been trying to put it up in the rain!!

We took advantage of the vouchers in The Times for the free visit into an English Heritage properties and went to look round Helmsley Castle:

 A bit of fun with the statues.  Before we went to Ampleforth for a lovely Sunday lunch.  Mind you my eldest had a moan when we went to have a look round Ampleforth college/Abbey - a strop was building with 'what???? I've already walked round the castle and now you want more walking - oh its boring!!'   A proper Kevin & Perry moment - lol.

My cross-stitch alphabet has been on hold as I needed to get some more threads and rather than keep paying HobbyCraft prices I had ordered a bundle of 5 from ebay so waiting for those to be delived - they arrived today - so guess what I'll be doing tonight.  If I can put down 50 Shade of Grey - cough!! ('fess up - how many of you are reading it).

My card making has slowed down as well - although, Jack came in tonight asking for a card for a friend as he had been invited for tea as it was his friends birthday - looking through my stash - a couple of cards for younger kids but nothing suitable for a 12 year old :-(.  I couldnt even rustle one up as he was going straight out - hopefully we wont have to go to the card shop though as this lad is also having a sleepover on Saturday so he can take his card then.

I did get to make this one last week:

I have used some MME papers and used my new Little Claire stamp that I got for £1 at a recent car boot sale - result!!  I have coloured her with promarkers and added flowers from my stash.  I have also used my Martha Stewart Butterfly punch - that I so desperately wanted and then didnt use - oops and just added pearls again from my stash.


I am really pleased with how she has turned out - I dont know why, but I see cards with lots of embellishments and they look great but when I try to add lots to my cards I am never pleased with them???

I would like to enter this into:
I love promarkers - anything goes.


Right I think thats me all updated for this week :-).

Thanks for looking

Ali
xxx

Hellooooo...

.... oh man chasing my tail again!!!  Right I think I missed last months Tusal and I've seen Debbie's post which has given me the kick up the bum to get mine posted:

Also a little stitchy update - I got loads of stitching while we were away at the weekend, the drizzly rain kept us in - had I mentioned we have a caravan - oh yes!- sorry - lol :

I finished my boat whilst the football was on last night and then started to frame it with a freebie from cross-stitcher magazine - obviously it needs trimming and finishing off - tht is once I've found the instructions :-)  my hubby said "erm the boats alright but I think the frame looks cheap and nasty" - so I ignored him!!!

We've had the Olympic torch through the area at the weekend, to be honest (now I am prepared for some backlash here!!) I'm not that interested in it - steps back for the comments!!  However, I am getting a little in the Olympic mood as I've managed to get us tickets for the pre-olympic football warm up of England v Brazil!!!  I'm not really a footie fan at normal times of the year but when they are big championships like the World Cup etc I  dont mind it - and I thought what chance might we get of seeing that calibre again (and at a reasonable price - cough!!).  I'm getting all excited thinking face paints, flags etc - but unfortunately I am on my own - hubby and kids are like"OMG your so embarrassing!!!" - WHAT???? ME?????

On that cheery note I'll love you and leave you, as my bath is nearly run - catch you later.

Ali
xx

Lovely things in the post...

...  ooh yes, I've been a very lucky girl.  Firstly I was so pleased to take part in a swap with the lovely LaaLaa, 

These are the lovely goodies, I received - beautifully wrapped:

Ooh look at all these gorgeous goodies, I was very spoilt so was quite worried about my return parcel as it was the first 'proper' swap I had taken part in. 

Here are some close ups:

Gorgeous CK goodies, mug, key ring, mirror, ribbon, buttons a lovely notepad, a whopping cookie, and a gorgeous hand made needle case.

Beautiful Lizzie Kate Cross stitch patterns, CK pins, magazines, bath bomb, hand made heart with the cutest ladybird, and some chocolate - yum - it's quite a size so could possibly last until Christmas lol.

Huge huge thanks Lynda - I love everything.

Then, just the other day postie brought a prize from a giveaway I had won over at School Gate style,
now I wasnt aware of this blog until I read a feature about it in the Daily Mail.  Now, I'm hooked since I've had kids I 've sort of lost my way - clothes wise and (occasionally) buy some lovely things but still tend to be in jeans - but this blog gives lots of fab ideas & heads up to bargains to be had in the sale.

Anyhoo, here is a piccie of the bag I won - it will be great for my holidays:

So if you need a bit of insipiration in the clothes buying department (oh and handbags, and I'm not a shoe girl but I think I could be lol) pop over to Avrils blog and tell her I sent you.

Hmmm, think thats all, off to do a bit of stitchy while the footie is on - erm, I'm on a new project now - 'cos you know the caravan we bought well, I'm stitching a little boat to go in the bathroom - my hubby thinks I've lost the plot, but what does he know!!

Here's my progress (and a little bit more of the gnome alphabet)

I'm stitching it on the stripey aida that I got when I took part in the travelling craft box that LaaLaa organised and the pattern is from an old edition of Cross Stitcher magazine - I've loved the designs for ages but they wouldnt have gone in my house - and now I've got somewhere I can put it - yay!!!!

Right off to watch footy and drink some yucky wine that hubby got in a meal deal from M&S, half a glass down and its slowly getting better, but I think I'm going to have to give in and put some lemonade in!! - sorry M&S but yup its bloody awful, if you need a wine taster - I'm available.

Have a great weekend.

Ali
xxx

Bits & Bobs...

... hellooo, ooh lots happening here at the moment.  Came home from work to find hubby had started to paint the kitchen - woah - I know we've had the tester pots for months but you could have warned me lol, plus I really wanted (you!)  to re-tile as well 'cos now the colour of the tiles dont match the paint!!!  Now we are skint so I'll have to have a mismatched kitchen  :-(  .  Oh that sounds really ungrateful, which I am not I appreciate what he has done, like I say though he could have said first - lol.

So in the midst of painting, we decided to look at caravans - we've been camping quite a few times, but with oh having broken his ankle last year, and more knee surgery this year the camping has been forgotten about - no way I could put up a tent on my todd!!  We  decided to sell the camping stuff, but I kept saying how we would regret it as the kids always enjoyed camping.  After reading Lucy at Attic 24's piece about her caravan and how lovely it looks/going to look.  I decided to lower my standards - yes when we looked at caravans previously it was at lottery winning standards lol.  Thanks to ebay and a local seller - we are sorted - a good clean and a spruce up and we'll be off.  I'll have to get some photos sorted - we've got our first weekend away next weekend - just somewhere local to see how we get on, so thats why we can't afford the tiles :-).

Anyhoo, been keeping busy on a night with a bit of card making and a lot of cross stitch:

I finished my Lizzie Kate easter stitching off a little while ago and am on the hunt for some eastery fabric to make into a cushion - totally wrong time of year to look for that, but I'll keep my eyes open.  I want to say thank you to June  who very kindly sent me some hand dyed thread for me to try which is what I used on the Hoppy part - beautiful - thank you!!  I also stitched the freebie crown that came with cross stitcher magazine - except I ran out of the blue, went and bought some more and its not the same colour grrrr...  lastly, I've started my gnome alphabet ooh been looking forward to starting this.


Are you still with me?????  cor its a mammoth post...  finally some cards, this is for my friends daughter who turns 17 the day before her sister turns 18 (I blogged her card earlier)  I have used one of the lovely Saturated Canary images and coloured her with promarkers,  then distressed the edges of the image and the paper and used my new Marianne die and added pearls and the numbers from my stash.

I would like to enter this into:
Saturated Canary: - anything goes

Lastly the card I made for my youngest to give to his dad for fathers day (the eldest politely declined my card making efforts) as he spotted one in Asda this morning relating to farts and would much rather send that lol.

These papers I've had in my stash for ages cant remember the make I have matted the image and papers onto kraft paper.  The image is a new purchase from the digi-stamp boutique, who very kindly sent a voucher code off for up to a certain value so it would have been rude not to take advantage of it - thank you.

Ian doesnt drink,  but does like the odd pint of guiness - so the glass was coloured black with glossy accents added - the rest of the image was coloured with promarkers and the sentiment from Craftwork cards.

I would like to enter this into:
Dream Valley Challenges - for that special guy
The crafty pad - lets hear it for the boys
Card mad fairys digi days - fathers day
Card making mama - Fathers day
Phindys place - fathers day
Digi stamp boutique - use their image challenge


Thanks for bearing with me, and I'll be back soon with another post on a super swap I did with Laa Laa.

Take care

Ali
xx

Poppies..

... I just wanted to blog my beautiful oriental poppies that started to open today - they only flower for a couple of days:

The petals are so fine like tissue paper and of course the wind started to blow when I tried to take the picture - typical lol xx

Thanks for looking


Ali
x

Cough, splutter....

... just blowing the cobwebs off my blog - lordy, where has the time gone!!!  In my defence we did have a great week away for our annual jaunt down to Henley, for the kids to do the theme parks, I am always surprised that my eldest still loves Legoland, when he goes on the fastest, scariest rides at Thorpe Park & Chessington - every year I think he wont want to go and he does - brilliant.  Being the bit of a geek that I am I loved the mini Star Wars exhibition and took loads of photo's - sad I know - lol.

I always hope for a bit of retail therapy - but it doesnt happen :-( a quick pootle round the ground floor of Libertys before we trot off to Hamleys - funny that they dont mind spending a lot of time there, but 5 mins in my type of shop and oh my the whinging!!!

Hope you are all enjoying the Jubilee Celebrations, very quiet here though no street party - I was going to do a picnic but the weather has been cold and drizzly so that didnt happen, I do have some flags and paper chains up which hubby described as feeble - lol.  Dont know why he was moaning, he didnt want any up anyway - so at least I didnt go over the top.

Right, I do have some cards made so I'd better blog them (or at least one of them):

I have loved this Wee Stamps digi image for ages, and finally got round to buying it, - I have coloured her with promarkers (and also tried out my pencils on her hair), the paper is Echo Park and I have used my new die, think is was a Marianne - it doesnt show to well on the photos but it is under where the pearls are which are from my stash as is the ribbon.

I would like to enter this into:

Bunny Zoe - anything goes
Ribbon Girl - use ribbon or lace
Hotshot crafts - die cut
I love promarkers - use a digi

This LOTV cutie was a freebie with a magazine, she has been coloured with pro-markers and matted onto papers which were again free with a magazine and then I have added ribbon and pink pearls from my stash (apologies for the quality of the photo)

I would like to enter this into:
Lilies little fairies - anything goes.
Ooh la la - make it girly


Lastly a man card:

 

Just a clean & simple one for Ians nephew, a Penny Black image from Ebay, coloured with pro-markers and some glossy accents to his nose, matted onto red card with a sentiment from Craftwork Cards.

Off for a nosy to see if there are any c&s challenges.

Enjoy the rest of the bank holiday, hopefully I'll be back a lot sooner for my next post.

Take care & thanks for looking

Ali
xx

P.S.  Do you ever look at your stats, its not something I often do, but I did look the other day and I'm getting referrals from something to do with Viagra and average penis width???  Hmmm I wonder what they are googling to end up here - sorry if you get here and dont find what you are looking for - lol