A very quick stitchy update...

... half way there:

A little bit of artistic licence on some of the colours and little bits to finish at the end - but loving stitching this.

Thanks for looking

Ali
xx

3 posts in less than a week....

.... wow!! I cant believe it - lol.  Anyhoo, this is a quick post before I start tea - Tom has a friend round and there is a lot of banging up stairs - should I be concerned???  Just want to post this card - this is the card I made for Toms Birthday and spotted a few challenges it could be entered into:

The image is a Dustin Pike digi that came in a set of super hero characters - and Tom has a bit of a thing for the Avengers and Captain America in particular - thought he would love this image and I'm glad its a bit of a change from Army Cards, the image was coloured with promarkers I punched the stars and die cut the circles, then added a number 9 from my stash.

I would like to enter this into:

Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
My Mums Craft Shop - Stars
Hooked on craft challenge - cards for men
Creative Craft - anything goes
Daisy Doodles - one for the boys
Tammys Scrapin corner - Design a kid card.

Right off to check the banging!!

Thanks for looking

Ali
xx

Another from the vaults...

... yup another card I have had a photo of for ages and I've just checked through my blog and realised its not been blogged and it can be linked to a challenge too - result!!

This lovely image has been coloured with promarkers and matted onto lilac card.  The dp's are basic grey with pearls added from my stash.

I would like to enter this into:

Hanglar & Stangler or Sweet Magnolia - anything goes.

Thanks for looking.

Ali
xx

A card for a challenge...

... I've had this card stored on the pooter for ages - it was for my hubby on our anniversary back in July - I'd forgotten about it until I saw this challenge at Quirky Crafts Challenge (after my initial thought of oh poo I posted a monster card yesterday - lol):

I think the image is a Pollycraft one coloured with promarkers and googly eyes added from my stash - and 3d glossy accents added to the balloon - hmmmm cant remember if the sentiment came with it???  I have kept it quite cas and matted theimage onto red and green card.

I would like to enter this into:
Quirky Crafts - Quirky Monsters
Passion for promarkers - CAS (I couldnt see in the rules if you can enter more than once so hope this is ok - just let me know if not and I can remove my entry :-)
Allsorts - inspired by a song - I only have eyes for you.
The crafty pad - inspired by a song - I only have eyes for you

Thanks for looking

Ali
xx

That was a quick lunch...

... right back to blog some cards:

This is the card I made for Jack to give to Tom for his birthday - Toms response was "Wow - thats weird"- but apparantly it was good weird - lol.

It is a saturated canary image, coloured with promarkers.  The papers are Basic Grey then I hae added black card, brads and sparkly number 9 from my stash.


I would like to enter this into:

Saturated Canary: at least 2 things beginning with B - Brads (x3), Blue, Black & Boy
Just add Ink - children/kids card
Dutch Dare - Snips & Snails (all things boy).
Totally papercrafts - for a child
Cards for men - going digital

This is a good luck card for my nephew who has gone straight from school to start an an apprenticeship and gone to Portsmouth - bless him he's only 16 - but he's doing well and settled in - but he has admitted to missing home a little bit :-(.

The image is Greetings Farm coloured with promarkers, matted onto kraft paper and I think the papers are SU from my stash as are the buttons - the sentment was a freebie from Nettie.

I would like to enter this into:

Crafty catz - buttons
Frosted designs - triangles
Here come the boys - recipe

This was a make to have in my emergency stash.  The Bugaboo image is coloured with promarkers and then I have die cut it out and added silver stickles around the edge - the paper is from my stash but cant remember the make matted onto blue card - again from my stash.

Clean & Simple but one of my favourites.

I would like to enter this into:

Allsorts - inspired by a song (The Monster Mash)
Creative Craft - anything goes
Passion for promarkers - clean & simple


Right I think thats me nearly up to date with my makes - back to the list I need to make, retirement, kids birthdays, good luck at uni!!!

Thanks for looking

Ali
xx

Ola!!!

Yay!!!! I'm back - well our first holiday abroad with the boys was a success - not stressful at all - well only getting a little bit stressed about flying but it was fine - the boys stayed occupied in the pool or in the kids club that they were adamant they werent going to go to, but as they were the only kids in the hotel - they had the entertainment staff to themselves and loved every minute - right time to start saving for next year!!!

Now admitted we did only go away for a week and it's been AGES since my last bloggy post I'm not doing anything differently but my time just seems to go flying by.  Before we went away I managed to get to the quilting and cross stitch show at Harrogate and it was a lovely, the quilts were amazing:

These are just two of the quilts, I've got pictures of others as well - just gorgeous!!

I was very good and didnt spend too much - too be honest I felt a bit guilty with us going away - and I've got loads of sewing bits I could be doing at home - but its always nice to get something new:

I bought a kit to make a quilted cushion - its supposed to be ideal for beginners - hmm not so sure now I've opened it - lol - I told the girl it needed to be very easy and she assured me it was - so I'll let you know how I get on - when I start it!!.  I also got a small pincushion kit it was only £1.99 so couldnt resist it - I also got a new Bent Creek cross stitch pattern and a fat quarter of some cute material with wellies and watering cans - hmmmm what to do what to do with it??

Before we went away I started to get back into my cross-stitch and the gnome alphabet is coming along slowly but surely:

and here is my latest TUSAL (now I'm not sure if I'm early or late- oops)

pop to Daffycat to see how everyone else is getting on.

Right I'm not sure how many photos I can get away with in a post - so I'll go and check how my soup is getting on and I'll be back later with some card makes.

Enjoy your weekend

Ali
xx

At last....

...yay another post.  Right I've got half an hour while the boys are on the x-box to get up to date.  Its been a funny ol' time and I'm sort of looking forward to the boys going back to school - just so I can get in some sort of routine again - I've been doing odd days here and there at work to fit in with Ians shifts so we didnt have to rely on others for childcare. 

We've had some lovely days out of which I've got no photo's because I either forgot the camera or then took it but forgot I had taken the memory card out - doh!!!  But we've had great days at Whitby, away in our Caravan, Saltburn and Stockton Show with combined food festival.  It doesnt seem much but our days seem to have been full???

I've also been busy at home when I have had the chance.  We had an emergency birthday card make for the little boy over the road - when I realised I had no fall back cards I decided to have a couple made 'just in case':

These are just a couple of bugaboo images coloured with promarkers and one with an embossed background.  I need to get a couple of young girls ones made too - just in case!!


I've also been building my confidence in the cooking department too, so a few photos and shout outs to blogs who've helped either with baking or recipes to liven up tea times - as I am sick of cooking the same old stuff!!

My first attempt was this easy chocolate cake:

 Yum, easy to do and with  Nutella (or Asdas version) in the centre and a sprinkling of icing on the top - this went down very well and didnt last long - a big thank you to Froogs for this recipe.

Next were some Banana & White chocolate Muffins from Rosie :

Now these didnt really turn out looking anything like Rosies muffins - not sure why, unrefined sugar maybe???  But they taste delicious - now can anyone help here with a bit of a query  - now these seemed cooked tops springy and golden and had been in the necessary time but when I tried one (purely for quality control you understand - erm with a nice coffee (of course)) the bottom seemed to tear away and stick to the muffin case - does this mean they werent properly cooked???  I didnt like to leave them any longer as they were quite golden - they didnt taste uncooked???  Any help would be appreciated.

Right now for something savoury, tonights tea was BBQ Pork Burritos - this recipe came from a new blog I've found with a great name: Jenny Eatwells Rhubarb & Ginger there are some great family friendly recipes on there and I laughed when reading how her son has a thing about eating things a certain colour - hmmm sounds familiar - lol - anyhoo, here is a pic of my Burrito filling bubbling away:

I had to make a few alterations to the recipe i.e. Paul Newmans bbq sauce and  NO kidney beans  that really would have been pushing it -  I only JUST got away with the red onions - pah! I would have done if they werent so long - lol.

Right I think thats most of it caught up to date - I've got a few more cards to blog - I've managed to get Toms done - at last we've moved on this year and managed not to make an army one we've gone zombies and captain america (not on the same card though!!) - I've probably bored you to tears now so I'll do them another night. 

Okey doke, off to have a rummage through my cross stitch basket and get that started again as I havent picked my needle up for ages - lovely hubby is taking me to Harrogate on Saturday for the Great Northern Needlework & Quilt show and I know I'll want to buy something but will feel a bit guilty if I havent done any for a while - if you know what I mean - lol.

Enjoy the rest of your night - thanks for looking

Ali
xx