Thursday 4 December 2008

OMG it's nearly Christmas!!

And I haven't posted in over a month! Sorry folks, mind you not sure who I'm saying sorry to, there are not many people visit my blog - I know they probably would if I updated more often but I'm so busy off looking at other peoples blogs that I don't spend much time on my own!

Anyway, here are a few cards that I have made recently (I have been doing something with my time, in the words of Paul Daniels "not alot" but something).

This one was made for my friendship partner for November on Docrafts - I didn't send it to her until yesterday so it was a bit late but as they say, better late than never (well I hope she likes it anyway.




The next two I'm quite proud of as they only took me about 10 minutes to make in a mad flash of inspiration one saturday afternoon. I have discovered however that it is better to use standard card sizes as these were made with odd bits of card and don't fit into standard envelopes.

Ah well.... I'm off again, no promises when I'll be back.

Sunday 26 October 2008

Where does all the time go?


I seem to spend most of my time apologising for my absence on here - I spend quite a lot of time blog hopping & not an awful lot of time making things - occasionally I have to force myself to turn off the computer and actually make some cards! & then I realise how many more talented people there are out there than me & can't think of a thing to do.

Having said this though, I did make 3 cards recently for a fall card swap with my SBS12 sisters, but I won't post those until I know they've got them - all I'll say is that I was really pleased with the results, even if I did leave it until the last minute and put myself under loads of pressure to get it done.

The one card I can post is for the October friendship card swap on Docrafts - as you will see the theme was halloween, and I didn't think I had that much stuff for halloween (other than a CBug folder with a spiders web that I bought at Exeter last month). But then I got out my paper dolls Cricut cartridge and cut out most of the Frankenstein stuff - I really do not use my cricut enough, there is such wonderful stuff on there! It still took me ages to put the card together as I really wasn't sure how to arrange everything. In the end I used some of the bits on the inside & thought it would make a nice surprise when the recipient opens it. I also remembered one stamp I bought many years ago (probably 15 if I'm honest) and have never used on a card, it seemed to fit perfectly as a border at the bottom, especially with the white embossing powder, it really pops off the page.

Anyway hope you like - I'm off to try and get some more inspiration from Create and Craft who've got a whole weekend of craft - have already got a few ideas for some unusual cards.

Bye for now

Sunday 5 October 2008

Thanks


Well, it's been ages since I posted (again!) - sorry, spend so much time blog hopping that I don't get time to update my own - haven't been making as many cards recently either.

I did find time to go to the Craft Fair at Westpoint last weekend & managed to spend all of my birthday money (& then some!). It was a really good day out, but my feet were soo tired at the end of it & I was suffering from severe caffeine withdrawals, it was several days before I played with any of my goodies. I managed to increase my Magnolia collection by 6, and although I promised myself no more christmas stuff I could not resist a Penny Black clear christmas critter set.

Anyway, this week a friend of hubbys was moving and had a clear out, and gave me a whole load of crafting stuff - I've never met this girl & thought this was really sweet, so I made her this card to say thank you (& at the same time got to play with one of my new magnolia stamps and one of my new cuttlebug embossing folders).

Hope you like - no promises on when I will next find time in my hectic schedule to post.

Thursday 18 September 2008

Sorry for going AWOL

Okay, sorry about being absent for so long, loads to do & so little time to put it all on my blog. I have a friend who's going through a rough time at the moment so I've been trying to help there & this has cut my time down a bit. I've still been making things & taking pictures, just no time to post, so here they all are in one big hit!









Saturday 23 August 2008

More Playtime



Yay! I have had soo much time to make cards this week - think the weather has been conspiring in my favour (although we did spend an entire afternoon at the cinema on Thursday).

I finally got my card made for the docraft friendship swap for August (may just manage to get it in the post for the end of the month). Its the first time I've used this fancy fold on a card before, but I really like it and may well use it again. The flower image is one of my favourite stamps that gets used quite a lot (not recently though) and surprisingly enough, its a Dawn Bibby stamp. I don't possess many of hers but I have to say that they are very versatile.

The other card is another one for Christmas, I really am enjoying using my old stamps, once you get into it the imagination tends to do all the hard work & before you know it another card is made!

I got brave the other day and put out an ad on the Docrafts website for someone who might like to come and craft with me on a weekend afternoon, well, a lovely lady called Sharon answered the call & we met up today - just to talk and sort out some kind of plan. It's going to be so much more fun having someone else to craft with, and hopefully she will be able to bring along another crafting nut! It's never the same when you show your cards to a non crafter, bless them, they try and seem enthusiastic but it just does not work.

Anyway, hope you like the cards & thanks for looking

Tuesday 19 August 2008

More old stamps


Well, I've been at it again - I found another old stamp and made a card with it, the backing paper is brand new though & I was quite extravagant and used nearly a whole 8x8 sheet!

I love the way the embossed background turned out - I inked with bashful blue onto the cuttlebug embossing folder before putting the paper in and embossing, I actually really like the mottled effect where the ink didn't quite cover the whole folder.

I've had the snowman stamp for years (an old Anita's one) and don't use him much because he's not quite as cute as some other images.

Anyway, happy stamping & I'll no doubt be back soon with some more stuff - I've got a week off work at the moment and as the weather isn't playing ball, we are only doing short trips with DD.

Monday 18 August 2008

Just Playing

Its great - I've started to just play again, trying things out to see what happens, not everything is going to go right, but I'm sure there will be some happy accidents along the way and I need to get away from the formulaic cards that I sometimes produce.

Anyway, I've dug out my Christmas stamps & boy have I got loads of them! Well I split them into ones I use alot and ones I've hardly ever/never used. I'm now forcing myself to make at least one card with the ones I've not used & actually I'm quite enjoying it - this is one of the cards I've made, maybe not the best, but then they can't all be, right?


This next one was made using a new template I got from HOTP - Swirly Doodles, I wanted to see what I could do with some swirls, so I used it to decorate the top of the card, and then on a separate piece of paper and using the same colour I had a go at a simple Christmas Tree, I then embossed the tree, which completely changed the colour of the ink, cut it out, chalked the tree and the card, embossed some snowflakes on the card and put the tree onto the card using some foam pads. I've decided, I love white embossing powder!

Wednesday 13 August 2008

More Birthday Cards



Crikey, where does all the time go - can't believe it's a week since I last posted. Well as promised, these are more cards I made to take into work. They have decided they are not going to buy my cards as they are too nice and may get damaged being passed around so many people, suppose I'm flattered but it would have been nice to make a little money back to fund my hobby!

I have finally started on my Christmas cards, and I'm also trying to force myself to use stamps that I have either not used before (bad stamper!!) or have not used for a long time & have trouble thinking of a layout for - it's quite a challenge & I've had to sort out a pile of stamps to work on.

The other thing I've realised is that I have soo much Christmas paper, I keep buying more every year, but haven't used up last years, or the year befores, or the year before that!

note to self DO NOT BUY ANY MORE CHRISTMAS PAPER!!!!

Over on Tracy and Anna's blogs, I found this "which of the five senses are you?", quite interesting, and apparently I am this one:




You are the Sense of Sight



You are a very observant, detail oriented person.

You are able to take in a lot of information at once.

You often see things that other people never notice.



You have a good eye for design and aesthetics.

You love to be surrounded by beauty - natural or not.

When you imagine how something should look, you see it clearly in your mind.

Wednesday 6 August 2008

Birthday cards for work


Well, I had the most amazing Sunday - hubby was working and DD went into town with a friend for a few hours so I had the house completely to myself - so I sat and made cards.

This is my favourite - I've wanted to do a monotone card for ages, but never found my inspiration, well trawling through split coast stampers at the weekend, I found a monotone card and the light went on! (sorry, didn't make a note of who's the card was). the background papers are from Dovecraft, the stamp is from one of the Anita's SeeD's and the ovals were created using my nestabilities - can you tell that I've only got the oval set!

Anyway, this was one of four cards I took into work to see if they'd like to buy cards from me for when it's people in works birthdays. I suggested a price of £2 each - what do you think, am I over/under charging or is that about right?

Well, hope you like - will post the other cards later.

Thursday 31 July 2008

Birthday Wishes



A while ago I was talking to someone at work - we all receive cards on our birthdays which have been signed by all in the office. Anyway, he is charged with buying the birthday cards and is forever taking flack about the type of cards he buys, so he tentatively suggested that they buy some from me. Well I've finally got round to starting to do some samples to take into the office & thought I'd start with a 'joy fold' card I found on Splitcoast stampers. I've taken pictures of the card both open & closed so you can see it properly (although with bad light they're not my best photos.

Hope you like - all comments greatfully received.

Saturday 19 July 2008

Two Posts in one Day!!


I'm so pleased with this card, I made it for my best friend Laura's birthday last week, again I used a card sketch to help with the layout - Mojo Monday 43, which I found on someone else's site (sorry, not quite sure where). The image is my newest Magnolia stamp, I love these as the images are beautiful, they are cheaper than wood mounted stamps and take up less room to store - they are of course stunningly beautiful too!

Good Luck


My daughter's form tutor is leaving at the end of the term (next week), and she asked me to make a card for her to give. Within 24 hours, this had become "mum can you make a card big enough that all of us in the tutor group can sign?".

I don't mind really as I prefer making A5 cards at the moment as you can really layer them up and go to town. I decided to dig out a card sketch for this one (SC153 from splitcoast stampers). I never used to use card sketches because I thought it was a bit like cheating, but now I've fallen in love with the idea of them - it leaves me to do my creative bit with the colours and stamping.

Anyway, I'm quite pleased with this card, but I think perhaps the colours could do with a bit of playing with - the yellow is too bright and the purple on the mats does not quite match the background paper. Ooh and thats another thing I've only recently discovered, is free backing paper downloads. The one used on this card was from the Cuddly Buddly website (link included if you'd like to check it out). Unfortunately as I have a Mac most of the CD's that are on the craft channels and online won't show properly, but hey ho...

Thursday 3 July 2008

Time flies when your having fun!



Blimey - can't believe how long I'm leaving it between posts, sorry, life just seems to be zooming past so fast I don't even have time to think! Anyway, managed to get tea made really quick tonight, so got a little bit of extra time.

Thought I'd post a picture of a card I made a little while back using my favourite Stampin Up stuff (ink and card). The image is one I've had for absolutely ages but never used, so it kind of fulfils Gill's Dusty Stamp challenge - check it out on her blog here.

Anyway, I know I keep saying I'll post more often, so no promises this time, just see how things go - thanks for looking in!

Tags

Sorry its taken me so long to sort this one out - forgot Rachel had tagged me with these!

1. This is the 'This or That' tag.

Chocolate or Vanilla ice cream:
Chocolate every time!
Big Mac or Whopper:
Whopper (because I'm a pig!)
Coke or Pepsi:
Coke
Beer or Wine:
Beer - most wines make me ill
Coffee or Tea:
Depends on the time of day
Apple Juice or O.J.:
O.J.
Facebook or MySpace:
Neither, never understood the fascination of them
Summer or Winter:
Winter
Windows or Mac:
Definintely Mac - have to use Windows at work, nice to come home to my Macbook
Cats or Dogs:
Cats, with both of us working a dog just isn't practical

WHAT WAS HAPPENING 10 YEARS AGO?
Was working at Aaron Financial Services, had a great job, hubby had not long left the Navy & we had a lovely little toddler at that time (ah, but they grow up!)

NAME 5 THINGS TO DO TODAY

Thankfully as I'm at the end of the day, it's all done now - relax, relax, relax, relax, oh and relax!

SNACKS I ENJOY
Chocolate coated peanuts & doritos

THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A MILLIONAIRE
Spend, do up the house, new cars, holidays & invest (boss would kill me if I didn't say that - I work for financial advisers!)

PLACES I HAVE LIVED
Marlow
Tavistock
Plymouth
Really boring huh!

Anyway, as I think everyone I know has already been tagged with these I won't go tagging anyone else, but if by some chance you haven't had these - consider yourself tagged!

Thursday 19 June 2008

Back again


Blimey, can't believe its been so long since I last posted (not that I have many visitors, but for those of you that do visit - sorry for not putting stuff on sooner) time flies when you're having fun & I seem to really be enjoying life at the moment, my new job is fabulous, the people are really friendly and I seem to be settling in really well.

Hope you like this card, it was made for another of my nieces birthdays, and pretty much everything is stampin up, well, the card (bashful blue and perfect plum), and the flower and sentiment stamps, the other bits were from my stash, the card sort of created itself, but was based on a card I saw over at Kristina Werner's blog it was the Make a Card Monday for 9th June.








Next up was the card I made for my dad for fathers day - again using the bashful blue card and Chocolate Chip inkpad (god I love their inkpads - I've even learned how to open & close them without covering myself in ink!). Its a simple and stylish card which I made right at the last minute (11 am sunday morning!). Anyway, I think this is one of my favourites purely because its soo simple. Hope you like.

Saturday 7 June 2008

Proud Mum

My little girl has posted her first Youtube video of her jammin on her guitar, I think she's brilliant, but then I would I'm her mum. Please go and see her here & form your own opinion, I'm sure she'd love the hits on her video.

Friday 6 June 2008

Money Card


Well, it's my nieces birthday today & she's 17 so doesn't really want a little girlie card.

I've had this sheet with the jeans picture on it for ages, it was a free download, but I'd never managed to find a use for it. I backed it onto some card & cut out the size I wanted for the front of the card, then I used a sharp craft knife to cut along the edge of the pocket, then I glued it to the front of a card blank (making sure to not glue too close to the cut area). Stamped greeting onto card cut using nestabilities & mounted onto another piece of card again cut with nestabilities, then put this onto the main card using foam pads. Finally put £10 in pocket.

I really hope she likes it!

Monday 2 June 2008

Hooray for Stampin Up!


As you may have guessed, I love their stuff, it makes it so easy for me to create a card and match everything.

The image in this card is one that I received as part of some PIF candy & I love it (its a House Mouse stamp), but the card, stamps and ink I've used are all stampin up (bashful blue & chocolate chip). I even used some of the chocolate chip ink on the cocoa in the cup to help tie it all in.

Hope you like?

I will definitely try and create more, regularly, and I'm trying to use card sketches to help me use pieces I've had in my stash for ages but haven't managed to find a place to use them (sound familiar, I think we all have them).

Anyway, take care all, happy blogging & happy stampin!

Wednesday 28 May 2008

Sorry for going AWOL



Well, sorry I've been away for so long - I've been enjoying settling into my new job, and getting used to working 9 to 5 again after so long has been a little bit wierd & the blogging suffered. Still, now things are starting to return to some sort of routine, I will try and fit in some time to work on cards and my blog.

This card was made using an old card sketch from Splitcoast Stampers (SC166). I decided that as I was lacking inspiration, I would use an image I stamped a while ago and a card sketch & see how I got on. Not sure its one of my best cards, but I am pleased with it none the less. The background paper is Papermania Amethyst Infusion pad, the cardstock is Stampin Up! (yeah, I finally have some stampin up stuff) in perfect plum and pale plum, the best wishes is also stampin up from the simply sentiments set. The image is coloured with watercolour pencils.

Anyway, hopefully the cards will improve as I get to spend more time on them - all comments gratefully received.

Sunday 4 May 2008

Yeah Magnolia stamps!


Woo Hoo! I'm finally the proud owner of a Tilda and Edwin stamp (hopefully the start of a large collection!!) The images are lovely, only I'm not sure whether I should be adding a nose and mouth? What do you all do?

Again not sure I like the card, but having stamped and coloured the image, I wanted to make use of the image rather than having it sat in a box for ages until I could find something to do with it. Used background paper from The English Paper Company, embossed some purple card with the swirls cuttlebug embossing folder, a heart shaped paperclip. The Edwin image was edged with Brilliance ink in pearlescent lavender and then mounted onto some pale lilac gingham card. after the straight lines on the backing paper I wanted to keep all of the bits on top angled (failed miserably as the three jewels at the bottom are in a straight line).

Feeling a bit low on inspiration at the moment, but may go and watch Create and Craft for a while to see if that kick starts something - see you later!

More Christmas stuff


Not sure whether I like this card, but I was determined to use the image, which I had stamped and coloured ages ago. It's been sat in my bits box for forever and needed to be used or thrown out, and being a crafter I never throw anything away (drives Geoff nuts!) thought I'd better make use of it. Also used cuttlebug embossing folder for the snowflake panel - it may grow on me before christmas.

Oops, Sorry


Its been ages since I last posted - doesn't time fly when you're having fun!!!

Well I start work next week so that will be great, though will mean less time for crafting (might actually start to remember what day of the week it is though!!).

Anyway, finally figured out what was missing from my fireplace christmas card - hope you like the amended version, I used a Quickcutz shape with two holly leaves on it, took a while to do but was well worth it I think.

Friday 25 April 2008

Yeah - Party Time!!!!!

I've got a job, would have posted earlier, but I wanted it in writing (getting cynical in my old age!). finally I might be able to start sleeping properly & not worry about every penny I spend - in fact I have started spending my redundancy money as I won't be needing it to live on. I have some nestabilities coming from the states along with a couple of Cricut cartridges - Winnie the Pooh and Friends and the Paper Dolls cartridges, then I'm finally starting a Stampin Up collection, when I can get my order in with Tracy next week - Woo Hoo!!!!

Anyway, now I've got that sorted out I can also finally get back to card making a bit more....


As said on my previous post, I recently received some PIF candy, the first lot from Tracy is going to be quite a challenge as it's not things I would normally use, but I like this sort of challenge, moves you out of your comfort zone, which I need every once in a while! She sent me some wood embellishments, which have a hole in the top, so you can use them as tags - she also sent me some wooden sea creature shapes, which I was going to use on this card, but decided to use them as my inspiration & use one of the wooden tags, which I painted with an acrylic metallic paint by adirondack and then stamped over the top with a freebie stamp from a magazine, I then highlighted some of the lines with silver pen & used more acrylic paint to highlight areas of the design. I then mounted this onto silver holographic card (oh brad through hole). I covered the card in K&Company paper from the 6x6 K.Ology Addison collection. I cut a window in the card so that the fish could actually be mounted on the back of the card as it's quite heavy, used a sticker border round the window (slipped with the knife so needed to cover my mistake), and then added three gems as it seemed to need something more. Totally different for me, but I kinda like it!




The next card is courtesy of my other PIF candy, which Wendy very kindly sent me, which included this wonderful stamped image, which I coloured with watercolour pencils, I love these penny black hedgehogs! She also sent me the beautiful butterfly in the corner & the fab orange background paper - I'm really happy with the way this card turned out. Although I have to say I HATE RUB ONS!! It must be just me but every set I've ever had doesn't just rub on like they are supposed to - it took me ages to get this to work & nearly ruined the card in the process - and before you ask no I didn't buy the rub ons, they were a free "mystery prize" in a draw at a local craft shop (perhaps they knew they were duff?). Anyway it worked in the end & this is another card I really like.

I would like to say A HUGE THANK YOU to all my crafting buddies who have left me messages of support over the past few months while I've been going through the mill, it's truly wonderful to know you are all out there & I hope I can be there for you whenever you need it too.

Wednesday 23 April 2008

Opinions Please



I know that it's a bit early for Christmas, but I had the three stockings already made and the idea just popped into my head - only thing is every time I look at this I keep thinking there is something missing. Can anyone tell me what it is, or make a suggestion as to how to improve this card?

Can I say thank you to Tracy and Wendy for my PIF candy (I will be posting some myself in a few days, once I've sorted out the goodies).

Anyway, as hubby has now started new job & daughter has an after school activity, I have some time to myself, so I'm off to play with my new goodies.

Thursday 17 April 2008

Back to birthdays


Well, as it was one of my nieces birthdays yesterday, thought I'd better get back to making cards. The idea for this one came from Sarah's blog - thanks for that Sarah! and uses my favourite Penny Black stamps - would have magnolia's or bellas as my favourites, but I don't actually own any of these, so stuck with the old faithful.

The background paper is from the Papermania Amethyst Infusion pack, and the gorgeous ribbon was from a Dovecraft special - 5 metres of ribbon for 99p!!!

I used watercolour pencils to colour the image, and although you can't see it, I also used some shimmering watercolour paints to add further highlights.

I hope she likes it!

Saturday 12 April 2008

Altered School book



Okay, so this is the before picture, yes I'm sure you all know what a schoolbook looks like, but I'm quite impressed with myself for this one.

I've started getting the BBC Easy Cook magazine, and have found quite a few recipes in it that we really enjoy, the only problem is when I go to find them again, I can never remember which magazine they were in and spend ages trying to find the recipe, so I thought I would make a place to keep all these recipes so I can find them again, and this is what I came up with....



The original plan was to cover the whole book in one sheet of paper, but I then realised that it was too big for this, so had to revert to plan B, and use a decorative paper across the spine and different card for the main part front and back. All the bits and pieces were cut on my Cricut (love that little machine!). Thought it best to get a picture of it now, because once I start using this book, it will probably end up covered in bits of food! still at least it's got a very practical use.

Thursday 10 April 2008

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!


Well with the weather we're having anyway!

Thought I'd have a go at some slightly unusual colours - orange & green, have seen this on a few cards recently and quite liked it. Not too sure about this card though....

The background card was plain orange but I used a couple of stamps from the Whimsy Trees See D and the versamark stamp pad to create a watermarked background. the images are from a couple of christmas embossing sets for the cuttlebug, which I swiped over with a peach coloured chalk inkpad to highlight the ridges and then mounted onto green paper, they are slightly raised as I glued them on using silicone glue & didn't press too hard. The best bit of the card is the ribbon, though I still have to learn to tie knots neatly. I did think about highlighting the outside of the card by swiping with a gold inkpad, but decided that might be fiddling too much.

Like I said, I'm not sure if I like this or not, but at least I've got one card sorted for Christmas.

Off to try and find inspiration for some more cards.

Saturday 5 April 2008

Oh Well



Well, finally heard on Friday that the job I wanted had gone to the other candidate - apparently we were very close and they had a very difficult time choosing between us (my heart bleeds for them!!).

There is another job that has always been in the background, but it's not what I really want (means still dealing with financial services & I've been trying to get away from that) & it's also further away than I would really like to be travelling, but it would mean that I wouldn't have to take a pay cut and would get away from daytime telly!

I have also got another couple of interviews next week and an application for a brilliant job, which I could walk to & would also mean a pay increase!! Don't want to get my hopes up on that one though - look what happened last time.

Anyway, back to card making. As a friend of mine took my only stock sympathy card some time ago & I've been in that sort of mood, thought I would have a go at a replacement. Hope you like.

Wednesday 2 April 2008

Interview

Sorry, I know I should have updated yesterday as I did promise to let you all know what was happening & you've been kind enough to pray and keep fingers crossed for me, but I was so p*ssed off yesterday that I thought it best to wait until I had returned to my normal calm self!

Anyway, went for my "informal chat" yesterday, thinking that this was merely a formality, but it turns out that it was yet another hoop to jump through - because the office manager was away when the original interviews were done, they whittled it down from 8 candidates to 2 (me and one other), who he is seeing this week. He did say that we should know hopefully on Thursday (tomorrow).

One good thing though - he'd read an article in the Times this week (The Times!!!) saying that scrapbooking was the new big thing in France, so at least we had a good chat about that - slightly sexist article though, suggesting that women scrapbook because they have too much time on their hands (france have a 35 hour working week) - Please don't shout at me, just google times online & shout at them instead.

Well - sorry I don't have better news, any chance you lot could say one last pray & keep fingers crossed just that little bit longer for me????

Sunday 30 March 2008

Update on Life

For those of you who have been following what's been happening in my life, firstly, thanks for all the support, and second, here's a little update for you....

GOOD NEWS
The company that I went for an interview for on 19th March phoned on Thursday (27th) to say that they would like me to come in for an informal chat with the senior partner and to meet the rest of the team on Tuesday 1st April (I'm hoping this isn't just an April Fools joke!), well actually, they just said sometime next week & would fit in with me, so that's quite promising.

BAD NEWS
Geoff became unwell again on Thursday after returning to work on Tuesday, and we now think he may be suffering from motion sickness on the bus as they have springs on the seats which have the drivers bouncing all over the place. When he went back on Tuesday, he had a brilliant drive and was really enjoying it, but felt a bit odd Tuesday night and didn't sleep well. Wednesday, he didn't do any driving and felt okay, and also slept better. Thursday, he drove in the morning with a few minor mistakes, but by Thursday afternoon, he was making loads of mistakes and hitting curbs - on Thursday evening he looked like he was going to pass out, he was dizzy and feeling sick, and kept waking during the night. He went to the doctor on Friday, who has taken him off the blood pressure tablets to eliminate this as a possible cause (though he doesn't think this is the cause) and said to see how he gets on on Monday. Geoff does not want to do this and does not think the bus company will be happy with this either - he may not be carrying passengers, but even an empty bus can do a serious amount of carnage in an accident!

Anyway, he's resigned to the idea that his dream of being a bus driver is disappearing rapidly and is going to tell the bus company tomorrow that he can't continue.

Some good news though - one of the other jobs he looked at doing when he was sacked still looks like it might be a goer, it would be looking after boys with behavioural and learning difficulties and I think Geoff would be brilliant at it (he certainly has more patience than me & children love him). Anyway, Geoff went out to have a look at the place on Saturday, and they have said he should get in touch when he's had a think about it - which he has & he'll be back in touch with them next week to see if he can go and spend a day or half a day observing at the centre.

Perhaps this is what was intended for him all along and that's why we've had so many difficulties with the bus job.

As for me, I would just like to say thank you to you all for your kind wishes and prayers, just keep your fingers crossed a bit longer & I'll let you know how I get on on Tuesday.

Christmas Gift Box



I made this box before Christmas having seen loads on other people's blogs, I didn't have a pattern to follow & had to make it up as I went along, but it seemed to turn out quite well. Instructions for the bow on top can be found in the resources section of the Splitcoast Stampers website. If I were making it again, I would make the internal boxes stronger, the one's I made were from paper with card in the base, but could probably do with being a lot stronger.

covered notepad



Found a tutorial for how to cover a bought notepad on Chick N Scratch's blog, after some initial faffing about, it was actually really easy, and I just had to use my new watercolour pencils to colour in the Penny Black image.

Gift Jar



I made this just for fun really (just as well as I've eaten half the jelly babies!). I have been saving food jars - god knows what for but I'm a bit of a hoarder!! Anyway, when I got some Jelly babies the other day, the jar just screamed at me to be decorated - I'm not entirely happy with it, but the colours are good - would probably look better if it was full of sweets instead of only half full. Ah well, maybe next time

Sunday 23 March 2008

Happy Easter!



I made this card today - yes I know it should have been done before today, but I was being a bit slow. It's for my friendship swap buddy on the Docrafts website (better late than never). I'm a bit behind as I got invited to a children's party yesterday & spent the entire morning making the most fabulous card - then I forgot to take a picture of it to put on here!!!!

I got a fabulous bargain on Friday as well - 30 wooden letters for £1!!! (so I bought 2), they colour very easily, and you only need to use one at the beginning of words, for anyone local to me they are at Buyology on Western Approach - they also had some other wonderful stuff, but I was supposed to be buying a present for someone else so had to restrain myself (that and lack of any serious funds).

To all who are interested, I had my interview on Wednesday and I think it went okay - it's always difficult to tell and I don't want to get my hopes up, but I would really love the job, it sounds right up my street - so if you could all just say your prayers for me on this one?

Geoff is going back to work on Tuesday as the Doctor has changed his blood pressure tablets to ones that don't make him sick, dizzy, headachy and not sleep (nice side effects huh?!).

Hopefully I will get round to everyone's blogs tomorrow & leave some comments - thanks for visiting and I'll try and update slightly more often.