Kool Kitty Musings

My weekend has mostly been spent...

Cleaning the house - long overdue - which included trying to sort out the flipping washing machine with some service washes, think I will need to get some of that oust washing machine cleaner again. :o(

Trying to keep up with what was going on in the garden:

My white blush peonies finally exploded and I almost missed it!

And making something with this secret ingredient...

That ended up looking like this:

I also made a card (with the aid of Sarah Milican Live on the DVD player) and hung a big reframed family photo that is over 100 years old now with my dad's help but more on that when I can get a decent photo.

So, 48 hours whooshed by like nobody's business!

And most annoyingly of all I woke up at 5 a.m. not just yesterday, but this morning as well so not even a weekend lie in for my trouble.

No doubt when the alarm goes off tomorrow morning for work I will be dead to the world and catching up on that list sleep!

Oh well, with any luck the sun will stick around (I missed most of it this weekend while attending to various other things) and I'll manage a couple of hours after work soaking up the rays... I sound so optimistic eh? ;o)

Right, nearly time for The White Queen - I'm off!

Photography fail!

Well here I was hoping to share a "new" card project on the ol' blog this evening, but since I left taking a photo until far too late (due to wrestling with roses and an unruly clematis in the garden) I have nothing to share on that front.

I don't even have the excuse of being out in the sun relaxing on the beanbag with a good book...

Smelling the scent of summer...

Nothing quite as glorious has happened this evening.

And I've made zero head-way with the catch-up card for week 22's feathered friends prompt, however I did have a moment of brainstorming and an idea has formed...

Just need some time and inclination to get it made. ;o)

One step closer to crafty times

This evening I had to resort to some guerilla crafting on the kitchen table (excuse the mess):

In the years I have lived here I have never once crafted outside of my craft room/office. It was very odd, but definitely the only way to get done what I needed to as everything was still packed up from Saturday's crop, and with another crop tomorrow night, well, I was not relishing the idea of lugging things upstairs or running up and down getting things as I needed them.

Now need to repack it all, however I did take time to look through a few things and have come up with some ideas for cards I need to make:

Always nice when you have a moment of clarity!

However I've not had my tea yet and I have a bit of a yearning for egg and soldiers!

Best check the bread situation!

Chances of crafting time before Friday are very slim!

I don't know what was going on at work today, but suddenly the backlog of May's quiet period all came in at once - and alas that means that not everything can be accommodated let alone in a normal work day. :o\

So, will have to see how this plays out and whether I'll be working a few evenings this week and possibly the weekend. Yet again annual plans with Zoe of a trip to Alnwick gardens may have been scuppered - every year for the past 4 it has been the weather that put the nail in those plans. We set a date that works for a full day outing then the weather is absolutely appalling and we call it off hoping that next year will be "the one"! This year it could be that I'll need to work on Saturday as well as Sunday so... ho-hum!

I've got a crop on Friday and still not managed to unpack from Saturday's outing, but as I need to get at least one card made before Friday that will have to change! I wonder if I can craft on the lounge floor as that is where everything is currently residing. ;)

Now I rather wish I'd got my finger out yesterday and got some crafting done, but I do have at least half of the decking nicely cleaned in the garden which took some time yesterday morning and afternoon - lots of elbow grease, decking cleaner, brushing and washing down with the hose made for rather stiff manoeuvring out of bed this morning. LOL

So since my chances of peace and relaxation are quite slim this week, I shall just have to resort to looking to my "Wish I was Here" board on Pinterest for a nicer view and thoughts of calmness and serenity... like this pin:

Ah yes, it's helping already. Anyway, we'll see what tomorrow brings! ;o)

52 Cards challenge 2013 - Week 22

Happy Bank Holiday Monday morning! :D

I don't have a card to share as yet today - but if the weather goes down hill I am sure to have one soon. ;o)

This week's prompt is all about feathered friends.

Birdies have been very popular in recent years in all shapes and sizes.

From shabby-chic vintage swallows:

To that old favourite the owl:

And most recently feathers are a big trend in paper crafting, so if birds elude you there is always the option of incorporating a feather design or embellishment in your project:

And if you're wondering about your Christmas Cracker card already... well I think it's time to search out any robins in your stash! ;o)

I'll pop back later with a card - if not today then soon. Happy crafting! :o)

ETA: here's the sneaky card I made for this prompt - with time lacking I went with a "birdhouse" as my tenuous birdy link. ;o)

Paper: MME, Crate
Dies: PTI
Stamp: PTI
Other: 3D foam, sewing machine

This weekend I have mostly been...

...enjoying that elusive creature that is the British summer sun!

Up until yesterday the weather had been cold and damp and most definitely grey:

What a difference some actual seasonal sunshine and heat does to the soul.

Yesterday I spent a lovely day cropping with the gang - not getting much done I might add, but we were in beautiful surroundings so had to take a little stroll and snap some photos. :)

I mean it's not every day you are cropping next to a castle now is it?

And a very pretty church with lovely gates...

And I couldn't resist a snap of the dandelions - I rarely see them these days...

And since the sun has continued today... you've guessed it, I made the most of it and took to my garden beanbag with a couple of books!

Needless to say between the reading and snoozing, oh and taking in the delights of a summer's day...

...not much did get done creatively speaking.

I'm just going to get the post for tomorrow's 52 Cards challenge post drafted and then set about having some tea - and then no doubt it will be time for this evening's episode of Case Histories which I really love. :D

Something pretty

There aren't a huge many things that have caught my eye on Pinterest this week, but these gorgeous bright mugs did:

Aren't they lovely? Typically only available from a US site, but there are lovely plates to match too.

Oh well, it's not like I do that much tea and coffee drinking!

One week on...

And you'd think we'd travelled back a few months!

This time last week I'd got home from a thoroughly lovely Bank Holiday crafty weekend in Whitby - we'd had a thoroughly glorious time and the weather had been excellent too.

This was our home for the weekend, the beautiful grounds of Sneaton Castle:

After dropping our bags and crafty goods off a few of us set off down to the centre in search of coffee and cake, or in my case the largest Lemon Merringue Pie in the world!

I had a couple of bites but couldn't finish it so took the waitress up on the offer of a doggy bag - delish! It was just my luck that the dessert for that evening with our full-board menu was lemon merringue pie. ;o)

It was a bit cloudy Friday...

But the sun was out in full force Saturday - a very nice way to spend your down time, sitting out in the sun in the beautiful grounds:

Sunday morning we managed a quick jaunt down before the BH crowds descended:

Wandering around the shops again...

Along to the pier...

In search of a true lemon top, only to find it wasn't a proper "lemon top" - but any excuse for an ice cream in the sunshine and sea air!

A lovely last view of Whitby before heading back to get some more scrapping done before having to pack up and go home.

Yesterday after the rain we finally had sunshine in these parts again, which was jolly good as we were off out to celebrate my mum and dad's anniversary:

Lovely meal out, despite my taste buds still not being quite right and everyone enjoyed a nice dash of champers x 2!

Today I have been working away to finally get my Whitby Weekend project finished - and it is done!

Here are some snaps of the inside, I will try and share better shots soon - it's so rare I actually have scrapping projects to share on my blog these days that I might as well make a song and dance of it. ;o)

Behold - the album from start to finish:

...and on that note I'd best tidy up a little and get my tea made. ;o)

52 Cards challenge 2013 - Week 19

Well, almost 12 hours late, but I'm feeling alive enough to share this week's prompt with you, although not a card sample.

I went away this weekend for our crafty retreat specifically hoping to work on (and finish! Ha!) one project:

I didn't take any cardmaking items with me - basically so that I wouldn't be sidetracked. So hence no sample today.

But the prompt for this week is to use...

Texture

...in some way on your card.

This could be in the form of embossing/debossing:

Source: bestbusinesscard.net via Tomoko on Pinterest

 

Fabrics:

Source: megduerksen.typepad.com via Anna {Rusty Cottage} on Pinterest

 

Creative stitching:

Source: lh4.ggpht.com via Rhonda on Pinterest

 

Chunky lace and trim:

Source: fancylinda.com via Second on Pinterest

 

Wooden embellishments and findings:

Source: prima.typepad.com via KikiK on Pinterest

 

On-trend cork elements:

Source: iminhaven.blogspot.com via Carol on Pinterest

 

And my old favourite... felt:

Source: molliemakes.com via Annika on Pinterest

 

The possibilities are endless, but I'm sure you'll find some lovely ways to incorporate different textures on your cards. :)

Happy creating!

I'd best go and have another dose of Venos before bed as in typical fashion I returned home with not only an almost complete scrapbooking project, but a cold and cough too! Oh and no voice. I was just glad I didn't need to be in work today - but it was a truly fab weekend! ;)

ETA: Here's the card I finally managed to make:

Paper: Crate
Stamp: PTI
Button: Prima
Die: MFT
Texture plate: PTI
Other: hemp cord

Where did the week go?

This time last week I was battling with my sleep-in curlers - which had left me with no sleep at all through the night - getting ready for Miss Anja's big day:

And even when the Fascinator is in place, the volume they give makes all the difference, but alas, if worn overnight the only way you can sleep is on your face (not so comfortable or good if you get a pillow crease), or sitting up like a vampire... hm...

Likewise Miss Anja and her mum were also decked out in their Monsoon finery - in fact Anja and I had almost matching outfits on - our colours matched perfectly. :)

After the Christening and lovely meal and party we enjoyed the rest of the evening with friends and family and Miss A definitely wasn't quite ready for bed any time soon.

The album and card I made were revealed and went down really well. :)

There were also some more traditional gifts included for my Goddaughter, including this fab breakfast set for when she is older:

I hope it's something she will keep, I still have my Bunnykins egg cup from since before I can remember and a little mug from my childhood.

But there were also some things she could enjoy now, a cute soft duck raffle (yes keeping on the theme!) that caught her immediate attention and some little outfits I couldn't resist:

I was really surprised to receive a gorgeous card and gift in return:

Just a really fantastic day and I was honoured to share it with Anja and her family. :)

Didn't get home until very late and the lack of sleep due to my curlers meant I was a bit of a zombie the rest of the week... so not much crafting got done.

By the time the work week ended and I got home Friday I was ready for some restorative weekend fun.

Wasn't expecting this type of April shower to have hit on Friday afternoon:

But yesterday I got down to crafty business involving some of these:

And got caught up with what I needed to do:

But I now need to get ahead but also share my catch-up projects for this week's 52 Cards challenge - I shall be back later to do just that. ;o)

52 Christmas Crackers 2013 - Week 16

Well, better late than never!

I've been rather busy every evening this week so not managed to share the Christmas card I made for this week's negative die-cutting prompt.

But the time has arrived!

It wasn't really worth the wait, since it is ultra-simple and plain, but I rather like how it looks in real life. ;o)

Paper: Crate Paper
Die and stamp: PTI
Other: bling, 3D foam

Very simple no? But I really wanted to have a red and white stripe behind whatever word I ended up using this week. hehe

So, just what is it that has been keeping me so busy and off the blog?

Well, my lovely house guest Lola and I spent a lot of time out on walks, including a 5-miler to my mum and dad's which was totally spur of the moment!

The rest of the time Lola enjoyed recuperating by the fire:

She also "assisted" me in cleaning the house ready for a family visit for cake and tea:

Yes, how exactly are you supposed to make the bed when someone is enjoying it so much...

And speaking of bed hogging... she was caught in the act the next day trying to get under the covers in the afternoon:

I had to use the Meerkat toy to tempt her out of the kitchen Sunday morning when I baked muffins, tried out the Hazelnut Praline nutella muffins from the Hummingbird Cake Days book:

Don't worry, we all took Lola for a walk in the park after those!

I said bye-bye to Lola Monday evening, then Tuesday afternoon went up to see miss Anja ahead of her Christening this weekend. And she was very much looking forward to her tea:

And from then onwards I have been trying to get a certain crafty project done, with little success...

But I have managed to sort another thing on my to-do list - get my phone changed at long last since it is now out of contract:

Bye, bye htc and hello (hopefully) a much better phone for my needs! :)

The porting doo-dah should be done tomorrow and I hopefully won't be left without a phone this weekend, as I will definitely need one on sunday! Anyway, I suppose I should start back on the crafty task I need to get done this evening.

I do have a DVD to watch, but it's not clear whether it will be a help or a complete distraction:

I'll let you know!

It's a mixed bag alright...

My Pinterest board hasn't been getting that much action lately, however I have just added this recipe to it:

You may wonder what all the fuss is about... until you look more closely at what Biscoff spread is exactly... well, I wasn't going to pin this last night when I read it on my blog roll as I thought I'd never see this Biscoff stuff in a UK supermarket (plus it sounded dangerous... like crack for sugar addicts - one smidge of this and you could be lost and end up in a sugar coma!).

Oh how wrong I was!

There it was in Sainsbury's today right next to the Nutella (an ingredient for a culinary experimentation this weekend) and it was even available in smooth or crunchy. I went with smooth as I wasn't quite sure what it had looked like in the recipe.

Now I have had to hide it in the very back of a cupboard so it is out of sight and I am not tempted to open it until I have time and inclination to make these crispie treats - definitely after next week's Christening as I need all the help I can get to get hide all the bumpy bits when zipped into my dress (even an £8 reduced to £2 magic body-sucker-inner-thing from Tesco has been drafted into operation flab concealment!).

I am hoping this weekend's dog sitting and walking will also assist in this goal and I will be able to sit down comfortably in church! Oh boy...

Yes, Miss Lola has come back for a weekend visit and I had plenty of walking planned for us - we have done our 40 minute walk this evening just before it got dark.

However, no crispie treats allowed this weekend or next! No, no, no, no...

Now let's see what else I've pinned of late... oh this cute project on the Crate blog caught my eye:

Source: crate.typepad.com via Natalia on Pinterest

 

Birthday boxes - seriously fab! A party in a box including candles!

I must have had a thing about box projects as I also really liked this one for a wintry setting:

Anyway, I'd best vamoose as it has suddenly gone very quiet here and Lola has disappeared...

I wonder what mischief to expect!

Has it only been a week??

This time last week we were tucking into our lovely Polish Easter breakfast and well, a few different vodkas too...

But here are a few pics of the lovely decorations:

My mum used onion skins to dye the eggs as she always does, but after seeing some great pics on Pinterest where someone had decorated their eggs using a white sharpie I went in search of my sharpie and set to work decorating an egg on Good Friday.

My attempt was the chevron egg (of course!). One egg was enough work for me! But it seems my mum got itchy fingers and also wanted to play so she picked up the sharpie and personalised the rest of the eggs - so lovely. And at last my Polish wooden eggs could be brought out and put to good decorative use. That aqua egg is still my all time favourite!

Aside from all the celebrations and food, another big Easter treat was finally opening this amazing gift I received from Ang over on Paper and Ribbons:

We totally oohed and aahhed over the contents and the girls at my crop of Friday night were also oooohing and aaaahing too!

The photos just don't do it justice.

Full of beautiful little bits and pieces...

I loooove the cameo and the tiny bottle of glitter and look at that teeny spool of twin!

There was lovely trim and lace and buttons, and flowers and... gorgeous silver charms including an amazing ladies watch face.

Oh man, it will be a while until I can feel I can use any of these little bits as it's just too much fun opening the box and looking through all the contents.

Really fantastic. Thank you again Ang - it really blew me away! :D

Coming back to today... well, I would love to spend it dozing on my bean bag/reading one of the many books I have and enjoying the last of my indoor tulips:

But I really need to get on and get a couple of cards made from this little collection:

A hard life right? Otherwise there will be no prompt this week for the 52 cards challenge... I am really flagging today and it's not even 1 p.m.

I really should be packing for tomorrow's crop...

But as usual procrastination has set in!

I even have a project planned that involves photos:

And this collection kit from Echo Park:

And my PTI order arrived earlier this week:

Lots of scope for new crafty projects but quality time is required...

I have already organised all my new items and even tried a few out - namely these two:

But I also picked up my entire reserve list from the library - basically everything I have reserved the past month and a bit all came in today and well... there is a big temptation to just dive into a book and pack for the crop tomorrow. ;o)

So what's it gonna be? Book or packing?

Well, it depends on tonights telly - so I'd best get sorted!

Saturday snaps

Well, I am nearing the end of my to-do list and waiting for a few things to happen of their own accord before I can complete it.... So thought I'd pop on the blog and share a few snaps.

Despite the cold weather this Easter weekend, there has actually been - gasp! - sunshine!

And although I've not had time to sit in the conservatory and enjoy it all day, I managed a bit of reading session while my weekend bake was in the oven.

I have had some fun playing with some papers that I ordered along with the Echo Park Sweetest Day kit for an upcoming project. The papers were just add-ons to my order from the latest Crate release as I wasn't feeling the love for the entire release and had nothing in mind for those other patterns, but I liked these a lot:

I even got down to getting my card for this Monday's prompt sorted... I wonder if you can guess what the theme will be...

Then once I got my project photographed and ready to blog I turned my attention to the big item I needed to do today.

The all-important Easter bake for tomorrow's Polish Easter celebrations. I'd been umming and ahhing over trying this recipe from Mary Berry a while, as I love Yorkshire curd tart and Polish baked cheesecake is very similar to this recipe but I wanted to bake something that was aimed at the British baker (and my temperamental oven) rather than a seasoned Polish domestic goddess - which I am not!

It is currently on its second hour cooling in the oven and while that is happening I cannot put my last minute zesty flapjack hodge podge traybake in.

I ended up raiding the cupboards trying to work out if there was something else I could "bake" to use up the rest of the butter and unwaxed lemons I'd had to buy for the above recipe (since no one sells them loose around here and you have to buy a bag of 5 and I don't use lemons all that much except for baking) plus the porridge oats I had left-over from some other bakes... and well, a lemon ginger flapjack recipe was found online but unmercilessly doctored to also include dessicated coconut (since I ran out of loose oats and had to resort to plain oats so simple packets and some other dry goods to make up the measures...) and mixed chopped nuts (needed using up...) in addition to the sultanas in the recipe.

We shall see whether it is fit for human consumption later this evening when the oven is finally free or whether the birds in my area will have their work cut out trying to find nourishment!

In the meantime, I'd best get some tea...

Easter is almost upon us.

Hurrah!

I somehow doubt we will be seeing much in the way of Spring sunshine and warmth this Easter weekend, but to spread the Happy Easter vibes here are some lovely pins that have helped get me in the Spring mood these past few weeks. :)

Brace yourselves it was hard to pick just a few images!

OK, I am seriously tempted to try this on our onion-skin-died eggs for Polish breakfast on Sunday. I must dig out my white Sharpie paint pen and see if it is still working.

It's a shame they don't make these for "grown-ups" - oh if only I had one of these when I was little:

Continuing with the bunny theme - how cute??

But let us not forget about the chickies!

Source: potterybarnkids.com via Natalia on Pinterest

 

It wouldn't be Easter without a few spring blooms to brighten the house and garden:

I would love this jug of blossom on my table, I can tell you.

And what about some tasty treats? These biscuits are beautiful.

But there has to be chocolate right?

It just leaves me to wish you....

Or in Polish...

And one more for good measure!

52 Christmas Crackers 2013 - Week 13

Well, once again my Christmas cracker card is sadly reflecting the view outside my window!

So much for Spring in these parts... I sure hope it arrives by the weekend but I doubt it.

Anyway, the inspiration pins I chose for my Christmas card are these:

Creamy white and grey colour palette that's a departure from the traditional green and red. I really like it and it still looks cosy to me. :)

Beautiful white on white snowflakes with just a hint of frosty sparkle.

And a bit of winter bling - how gorgeous is this brooch?

I'm afraid photographing my card ended up being rather difficult. The light is really bad at the moment what with the grey dark skies and it's always tricky to capture frosty glitter in a photo without good light!

Impression plate: PTI
Die: PTI
Stamp: PTI
Bling: Prima
Glitter: German glass glitter in white, Rocky Candy Distress glitter
Other: 3D foam

I promise it does look a lot nicer in real life and sparkles nicely when light is on it. :) I made the mistake of using wet glue for the first layer of glitter (the white German glass glitter) which is quite dull, while it was still drying I tried out my spray adhesive and sprinkled on rock candy glitter for added sparkle and left the snowflake to dry over night. I think spray adhesive is the way forward for me. Good job I still have a scrap cardboard box to hand that I can use to spray into and not end up with spray adhesive everywhere. :)

52 Cards challenge 2013 - Week 13

Morning everyone!

This past week I've been doing a fair bit of Pinterest pinning and what I love most about Pinterest... tracing back pins to new sources of wonderful inspiration. I have been on some real tangents this week and have spent many a moment admiring yet more pretty things. And ultimately pretty pictures provide inspiration for all sorts of things in our lives.

So this week, I thought it would be rather nice to take something you have seen online or around you as your inspiration for creating this week's card. It would be really fun if you could share details or a pic of your inspiration with your card too. :)

It doesn't matter how small or great the inspiration is; it could be one little element like a button on a coat, the colours used in a home interiors shoot, some glittery sprinkles on a cupcake... whatever it is that caught your eye and made you think "oooh I could do that!", get it on your card and share it with us all! :)

For my main card the inspiration has come from looking at quite a few pieces of beautiful Polish Kashubian folk art online. Mostly embroidery styles, but also once again I was searching the net to see if any shop now sells the lovely light shade I saw on my first trip to Gdansk in 2010 during our regular family holiday to Poland.

It was at the Velevetka restaurant in case you ever get the chance to visit. ;) This shade would be just perfect over my dining table... If only Cepelia sold it, life would be much easier!

Kashubian folk art is very similar in style to the Swedish folk art designs you currently can see in Ikea. It must be that Baltic connection. ;o)

It really is beautiful and I love the symmetry of the designs and the elements:

Source: images.search.yahoo.com via N. on Pinterest

 

The colours are usually muted primaries, with lots of blues and yellows and the zing of red:

These designs feature on everything from textiles in the home, clothing, and painted floors to Easter eggs:

I must confess I was very happy when PTI came out with their Fancy Folkart stamp set as the designs are very Kashubian in style and I do love a bit of two/three-step stamping with different colours. I didn't use traditional colours for my card though:

Stamps: PTI
Ink: Prima chalk ink

It's very enjoyable to create something with just stamps and ink - it's one of the reasons I love papercrafting so much!

Plus it also means I can create "flat" cards to send to Poland - although it might be a bit like sending coals to Newcastle! ;o)

Weekend antics

Well, it has been a rather nice spring weekend in my household despite the poor weather this afternoon.

I got down to some crafty business yesterday with a mind to getting some Easter cards made:

I also managed to get caught up on the crafty stuff I needed to do, and I may get some more playtime in today before dinner:

I started off today reading this from start to finish as it's been on my book pile a while and I thought there was no time like the present:

I still have a weakness for Regency romance... but my next two reads on the pile are Chicklit. :)

Then by the time I was up for breakfast it was almost brunch time and I was rather craving one of these, as there's nothing better on a Sunday:

But as I didn't have muffins or bacon in the house, I had some toasted hot cross bun loaf instead. Mmmmmm.

Then I got the washing done and the washing up and decided it was the prefect time to get some Sunday baking done:

I haven't baked anything since Christmas and I was also in the mood for comfort baking rather than faffy baking so I made...

Fruity flapjacks! :)

I have managed to scoff one already and they are decidedly delicious.

Now I'm going to sit down and watch Moulin Rouge on Lovefilm Instant (can you believe I've never seen it all the way through?) and perhaps do a bit of stamping at the same time. ;o)

A few snaps

So it's been a while since I shared some non-card pics.

Last weekend I went up for a visit to and some lazy time with little Miss Anja:

She was a bit of a tricky customer when it came to the camera. Every time I hit the shutter she totally changed her expression from a wide smile or laugh to a glum or confused expression. LOL But we spent a lot of time playing peek-a-boo over the top of the jungle gym and she has discovered how to roll over but isn't so keen on ending up stuck on her front after having rolled over.

We had a couple of walks out in the pram including a nice late breakfast on Sunday:

Then it was back to work Monday - I've been working from home this week on a few projects that needed some extra hours putting in. But it did mean I managed to actually see my lovely spring bulbs in daylight and notice how quickly they've changed:

Yesterday brought with it some rather nice surprises in the post.

Firstly a lovely Easter surprise from Angela over at http://paperandribbons.blogspot.co.uk:

Such a gorgeous card but also an egg box filled with a surprise I don't want to discover until Easter weekend. :) It's almost too nice to unwrap, but the suspense will win out by the end of March!

The other package that arrived was my PTI order. And best of all - no customs charge!

I really like the way dies are all packaged together in a dedicated envelope now so they don't fly about the inside of your box:

Here's a snap of what I ordered:

Lots of fun playtime ahead - well, time permitting!

I have also recently bought the pictapgo app designed for the iPhone but being used on the iPad. I really like the filters but wish it was more compatible with Instagram and would allow you to crop the image to Instagram size and save it that size. I think more playing is required, but would be great if they could make it possible to enlarge the app just like Instagram can be enlarged on the iPad so you can see everything better.

Oh well I am sure feedback from users will lead to lots of new updates and improvements, but it's rather nice to have RadLab on your smart device. ;o)

A break from deleting spam comments...

Just logging into typepad and for whatever reason have had 15 spam comments in quick succession from different spammers... such a pain. I mean what is the point for them to do that when commenting is moderated on this blog.

Oh well, just makes things tidier for any readers I suppose as they don't have to see the casino-viagra-ugg-money-laundering "adverts" popping up here. ;)

So moving onto something nicer... Pinterest inspiration.

Here are a few things that caught my eye this week...

As my dad knows very well, I seem to be in a bulb obsession state right now. In fact I am rather obsessed with trying to cultivate some ranunculas this year, simple because I keep seeing beautiful pins like this:

...all the time. And well, I have bought some mixed bulbs to try out and if there is success this year may invest in some specific varieties and colours next year. Fingers crossed! I have also bought a cactus dahlia bulb, some fresia bulbs and possible a few begonia bulbs but can't quite recall... I am obviously hoping for a sunny summer!

I have also been intrigued by many freezer-meal pins I have seen, where the idea is that you buy a load of produce for a list of meals, prep them all ready to be cooked then put them in freezer bags and freeze until needed. Apparently it can save you money and also make life easier, but I am not sure how it will work for feeding one... perhaps I will need to invite the family round when I finally give this a go!

Next up, time for some gratuitous eye candy... who wouldn't want to try some of these?? Milk and cookie cupcakes:

And I love this DIY Easter egg garland, how cute!

And finally, I'll end on a bit of Patriotic glory - what an amazing quilt:

Wish I had the talent and vision to make something so beautiful and unique.

In the meantime, I shall just vicariously enjoy seeing what other much talented people come up with. ;o)

52 Cards challenge 2013 - Week 9

Morning everyone!

Well it's the last Monday of February and to continue on the Valentine/Love theme, this week our inspiration comes in the form of this particular flower:

Roses galore... For this week's card I want to see you feature a rose of your choice on your card. So it can be a rose in the form of:

• A resin flower
• A stamped image
• A rolled flower in felt etc.
• A die-cut flower
• Patterned paper featuring roses
• And any other rose you can find

As for the Christmas Cracker this week...

I understand it may be tricky to incorporate this particular flower on your Christmas card. If you happen to have Christmas roses in your stash collection, then you are already sorted! ;o)

But for your christmas card, take inspiration from roses in another way. Their colour for example, otherwise feature a plant/flower traditionally associated with winter/Christmas. There's plenty to work with there! :o)

In the meantime here is my card for the main dare:

Paper: MME
Stamps: PTI
Dies: PTI, MFT
Pearls: Kaisercraft
Other: 3D foam, pattern wheel

I've been really wanting to use my Sweet Life stamps from PTI again but wanted to try a new colour combination, this time I used Tattered Rose Distress Ink as the base, then Salmon Adirondack ink in the middle, followed by Rose Madder Archival ink for the darker accents.

Looking forward to seeing your rosy creations this week! I shall be back with my Christmas take on this prompt later in the week. :)

Weekend round-up

Well, Saturday saw an unexpected start to the weekend... the snow returned overnight and there was no way I was venturing down the hill to my mum and dad's house to pick up mother dearest. I managed to get turned around and wait for her, but even the 4x4s were struggling to get up it in the snow. Must have caught a lot of folks by surprise as usually loads of cars are parked at the top of the hill before snow hits and the main road between my house and theirs hadn't been gritted properly...

At least we managed to get to town for our hair appointments and then went off for a little cultural excursion to the museum before lunch.

Always love how much more decorative and special older documents and certificates were. Even this one from the Temperance Society - they really went to town on the art work. Case in point, my degree certificate from university looks like anyone could have typed it up, and worst of all it's just in Times New Roman font, most underwhelming when that arrived! The only thing that could have been worse is if they'd used Comic Sans!

After our museum excursion it was finally time for lunch at our favourite Italian place and it had to start off as it always does, with the yummy garlic bread!

After lunch I was definitely operating on less than half-steam ahead!

I didn't quite get chance to get the bedding changed this weekend to my lovely new Orla Kiely grey scribble stem set that I picked up in TK Maxx this week, but there's no huge rush, it'll get done! ;)

And today, I have got this week's crafty projects done and dusted, just need to get a head start on next week's as I'm away some of next weekend. ;o)

Right, best sort a few more things out then it's time for Sunday dinner en famille!

52 Cards challenge 2013 - Week 8

Morning everyone!

I was thinking while we are in February we need a sort of related colour challenge for this month.

Now, I have been wanting to use this pin for some time now as a colour prompt but it's never felt quite right.... but as I was flicking through my Valentine's purchases last week I noticed how many recent releases use colours that sit very nicely in this spectrum.

I would love it if you used the main shades together on your projects this wee, so red, pink, and aqua - even a smidge of gold if you are feeling ambitious.

But if this palette really isn't calling to you take inspiration from any of the colours in the photo - make it work for what you have to hand. :)

Here's my card for this week:

Paper: Crate Paper
Stamps and die: MFT
Brad: Basic Grey
Other: 3D foam

I don't think I am ever going to get bored of my typewriter die and stamp set from MFT - it has some very handy greetings - would be great if they released a Christmas/other holidays companion set. :)

Anyway, I hope you have fun playing with these colours - I look forward to seeing what you make!

Weekend workout...

Well, not of the gym variety!

My brain feels like it needs a good rest as I had to do overtime yesterday and some of today on a big proof-reading project for work... let's just say this time next week it should hopefully all have been completed and normal service can resume.

So, it's not left much scope for anything else.

Typical too, since it has been gloriously sunny in the conservatory and my beanbag was really calling to me for some 1:1 lounging and reading time! :(

I did manage to capture the hyacinths my dad bought for me in their glory:

Spring is definitely on its way! Hurrah! It's these kind of sights you miss out on when you're out of the house all week, and it is rarely gloriously sunny on the days you are at home!

I have managed to get my crafty jobs done for the week too, as there is a chance I will have to do more OT some evenings this week... here is a sneak peek:

I do love the convenience of snapping pics and blogging them with my iPad - but I really do need to get out with my camera more, so far this month the only photos I've taken have been on Instagram and of card projects. Tsk.

Anyway, time to get the last bits and pieces of the day sorted, finally watched Hunger Games today while doing my crafty session and that can at long last go back to Lovefilm!

52 Christmas Crackers 2013 - Week 7

Well better late than never! Here's my festive card for this week using up some old Crate stash... always pays to look through what you have and can finally get rid of in a creative way. ;o)

Paper and chipboard elements: Crate Paper
Stamp: PTI
Pearl: Kaisercraft
Other: Glossy Accents

Short but sweet and perfect for winter lovers everywhere! Not that I am currently one of them, after the yucky hail-snow blizzard driving home. But now I'm tucked up nice and cosy with the heating on while my tea finishes in the oven...

Anyway, if any of you are struggling to work out how to feature a heart on your Christmas card... here are a couple of ideas.

Use hearts to create a garland for your greeting or as a decorative element:

Source: allaboutyou.com via Rachel on Pinterest

 

A heart + house design works really well with gingerbread themes - either to decorate a gingerbread man, or on a gingerbread house to decorate the door, or why not use use a heart to represent the puff of smoke from the chimney of a house:

Nordic hearts are a really nice Christmas theme - if you happen to have some Nordic stamps like the background stamps from Waltzing Mouse then you could easily incorporate them into your card - otherwise there are sure to be printables available online:

Include the word "heart" in your greeting:

Use hearts as baubles on the tree:

Or like I did for my first card this week, replace a letter in your greeting with a heart or use a punched heart or button instead of the dot on an "i".

These alphas come with a heart and were a nice and easy solution:

I look forward to seeing what festive treats you come up with. :)

A couple of recent likes

I've just been having a browse through pins I follow and here are some items that caught my eye. :)

It's always healthy to keep your stash wish list up-to-date. Really liked the previews of projects using this new set from WPlus9 - one of these days I may manage to make an order. :D

I obviously have a thing for not only vintage photos but terriers...

How gorgeous are these - so tiny and precise:

And finally, it's never too soon to look forward to spring! Just wish I had the talent and imagination to come up with something like this:

Right, I'm off to enjoy some treats my ma is cooking up as it's Tłusty czwartek in Poland and the only day of the year I get to enjoy Faworki! Mmmmm:

I don't think today has really been my day!

So much for best-laid plans...

I have had a bit of a tiring day at work and didn't leave till well gone the usual time. Popped over to pick up my lovely order from Sarah's Cards at my mum and dad's then headed home - thankfully without stopping off to purchase some food as I had been intending... because I'd only gone and left my wallet at work.

This was deduced after much frantic searching of the floor and seats of the car to make sure it hadn't fallen out and also a call to my mum and dad's to make sure it hadn't fallen out of my handbag when I put it on the chair in the lounge... oh no... it was definitely still at work.

So off I went fully prepared to have to battle with the alarm system, but thankfully the cleaners were still in so I was in and out like a shot and back home for 8 p.m. wallet in hand.

It was time to finally open my lovely box of goodies and think about the project I wanted to get done tonight.

Lots of lovely Crate Fourteen, Basic Grey True Love and other assorted papers - including the new lines by Elle's Studio... But alas the paper I'd been intending to use is missing from my order. Never to mind, I will give them a call in the morning and see if they can send it through as typically it was my favourite pattern from the line and the one I had in mind for this project.

So after all that I don't feel fit for anything other than nodding off in front of the telly tonight. Will just have to hope I have my creative hat on tomorrow evening and work doesn't tire me out completely.

I also need to avoid TK Maxx like the plague.

I popped in yesterday to look at bedding and there was a lovely chevron set in aqua blue but only in Superking... so en route home I visited the larger TK Maxx store and they had it in King Size, but the Harlequin set I really wanted was only in double or super king. Boo hiss... I will have to make do with my nice aqua chevrons, new sateen sheet and matching pillowcases... but I have to wonder at the RRP prices they quote on the labels sometimes:

£120?? For a duvet cover and matching pillowcases by a company I've never heard of and cannot find any mention of online... hm... slightly suspect. But £24.99... I'm happy to pay that... I just need to draw the line at further bedding temptation!

Now that I've scoffed my tea...

and caught up on a few TV programs, I can sit down and share some of the things I've pinned this week.

I've been doing quite well gradually adding things to my stash wishlist that I've seen coming out of CHA - either I am becoming more selective and discerning in my old age or something has changed in the crafting industry! ;o) Maybe it's just me, or perhaps collections are either huuuge nowadays or extremely varied within themselves that there's just no way you could use it all, never mind together!.

Either way a few pretty papers have made it onto the list, but mainly I'm most excited about topping up my Prima chalk ink collection (I have them all so far!) with the new Pastel release:

Oh yes, there has been a big gap in that colour chart waiting to be filled!

And I think they will go very well with Lisa Johnson's new Easter release for MFT complete with matching dies:

Moving away from stash... I absolutely loved this miniature cake stand cake creation by Bakerella:

In the world of colour, I am still totally digging the classic emerald and pearl combination - I can't get enough of greens just at the moment:

I have also been mooching about looking for bedding ideas but nothing has jumped out at me that comes close to my favourite (never on sale) Chinoiserie bed linen set from Butterfly at Debenhams, the closest I came was finding these mix-and-match sets by Harlequin, but alas it is only fitted sheets and pillowcases and without a duvet cover they are even more out of my price range for just half the look:

But they would have been so perfect, I could have easily mixed the zest, turquoise, and peonie shades on my bed and made it work. And I love the chunky stitching...

Ho-hum... the quest continues!

What's on my desk today...

Well I am hoping to get a few things made with this little pile of pink prettiness:

However, whether I'll actually manage to get anything photographed in daylight is debatable. The black rain clouds have just rolled in and unleashed a downpour. So dark now... Best get cracking and hope for the best. ;)

Pin like you mean it...

So, I am in a bit of an organizational frenzy this evening and also need to do some paperwork filing later - multi-tasking of course with the telly on. ;)

But first, here are the last 3 pins that caught my eye.

Hello! What's not to love about these colours together?

Really gorgeous emeraldy shade of teal with champagne and peony tones.. lush!

Next up, there had to be a cake in it somewhere:

I really like the look of ruffle cakes, although I doubt I will ever attempt to make one! Have enough trouble trying to make evenly piped cupcakes. ;o)

And finally this bedding really caught my eye:

Alas not a combo that will work in my bedroom, but I just love this shade of green and the folk-style prints and patterns.

On my desk this weekend...

Well, it's time to get down to something crafty today.

Yesterday I spent most of the day on the sofa with the fire on reading the latest Nora Roberts book from her Boonsboro Inn trilogy. It was a bit of a slog as I've not totally enjoyed this latest series with the exception of the middle book in the trilogy.

However, it needed reading and will be returned to the library soon. :)

Today is another matter, today I need to not end up on the sofa enjoying the heat of the fire and reading yet another book that needs to be back at the library (although I am half way through the one I started this morning! Ooops).

Today, I need to get something made with this little pile of loveliness:

It includes the makings and theme for this week's 52 Cards challenge prompt. ;o)

It's been a bit of a funny week - I have worked from home all week due to the weather playing havoc with how long it would take me to get to work vs. just getting on with it at home.

I have had to ration myself to 1 hot chocolate a day or every other day:

There has been plenty of opportunity for winter warmer evening meals including my favourite comfort food - a tuna melt jacket potato:

Toad in the hole that miraculously came out very well and made for 3 nice meals:

There has been a lot of loitering by the fire in the evenings to warm the bum:

And in the mornings there has been some interesting weather - the ominous red sky indicating more snow:

Then a morning that was just fog and ice:

Followed 10 minutes by the appearance of the sun that made for an eerie sky:

Our snow is sort of melting now, but who knows what the afternoon will bring. There's still plenty of ice about! I'm just happy to say it will be a nice day spent indoors with the crafty stash, a DVD or two, a nice soak in the bath (with my book) and some good telly tonight.

Brrrr....

So, I've been working from home this past week what with the awful icy cold weather we've been having. I finally managed to move my car back in front of the house today - but it took a good 15 minutes to de-ice enough to move it. Minus three at 2 in the afternoon, yikes.

Needless to say I've been enjoying rather a few evenings by the fire, and nodding off rather early as it is so cosy. And have enjoyed a few too many hot chocolates than recommended! But... that's what winter is all about... tomorrow the snow is set to descend, we shall see!

In the meantime, here are a few of my most recent pins on Pinterest. Valentine's day is obviously in the air among pinners.

I love the look of these cookies, and how sweet is that mailbox?

This idea is really effective - not that I have any use for it, but it's a nice manageable DIY project.

And finally, a bit of colour eye candy - I have been really drawn to green shades lately. Emerald is the Pantone colour of the year, but I have a soft spot for Chartreuse and leafy shades:

So there we have it, this week's eye candy...

I'm now off to get a few tasks completed then I can have a nice hot soak in the bath with my current read. :)

Sundays should always start...

With a nice long soak and a few chapters of a good book.

They are made even better if you have some of this lovely stuff in your bathroom cupboard:

Has to be the best lemon range in the world - just a shame we don't have CO Bigelow products easily available in the UK. They're even harder to get hold of online now as well. :( In fact I had a tough time getting what I managed to get in Bath and Bodyworks as they seem to be decreasing the product they stock. Really hope they change their mind or that someone in the UK can start selling their products. They are fantastic.

Back in the box for another year...

Looking out the window today you wouldn't think it January in these parts...

It's bright and relatively mild yet last night was the night all the decorations came down and went back in their respective boxes - a bit sad, and I really do miss the mood lighting fairy lights provide... so tempted to have a permanent set around my lounge mirror! Buuut tealights will have to do for now. :)

I kind of left the un-decking of the halls to the last minute as I was catching up with some crafty times yesterday and being slightly distracted by the Lovefilm back catalog of Grey's Anatomy (never get bored of rewatching that series) and The Tudors (which I didn't tune into when originally on telly). So there is a lot of distraction going on there!

But once I get a few organizational jobs out of the way today I shall be hopping in the bath for a long soak with one of my lovely Christmas presents...

My brother got me the Frequent Traveller set from Molton Brown for Christmas and I was so glad to get the Eucalyptus shower gel in it, because I know from past experience that it does wonders for us cold sufferers! Also it's a great excuse to bask in the bath for even longer than is technically necessary. ;o)

Back to earth with a bump...

and a rather full suitcase, or two!

So I am back from the land of sun, oranges, wonderful eating and shopping experiences, but have stumbled back into the land of the sick and cold-virus-ridden. Excellent timing of course, haven't even had chance to put my tree and decorations up, but I have plans to put that to rights tonight!

We all had a wonderful and rather memorable time - ate loads, enjoyed every mouthful, had some great classes including one at the MFT boutique (fab!), laughed a lot and bought far too much... It was a grand caper indeed!

The big news is that despite not intending to come home with an iPad... I kind of did! Will-power zero when directed into the Apple store and stood next to friend who had intended to buy one and she said "she wants one in white"... hm...

Anyway, this has of course meant hours of fun and playing with instagram. Behold what I have unpacked so far:

My Pottery Barn Santa mug, filled with Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses. I am not a fan of Hershey's chocolate usually, I only like Reese's PB cups and had seen these in some baking pins on Pinterest. They are white and red peppermint chocolate swirled together and look most festive, and thankfully the peppermint is nice and strong with the choc. :)

I brought a good few years' worth of PTI cardstock back with me, including the current sampler pack and loads of neutral and well-used shades!

Felt re-stocks plus some of the MFT felt to try....

Lots of glittery delights to play with. It was sooo hard to find any misting sprays on this trip, or indeed Melissa Frances products, or coarse glitter for vintage projects. So I restocked on my most used Distress Stickles while I was at it and got some of the dry Distress glitter, plus some lovely glitter paint oh and some boring Martha Stewart cream paint, it would have been rude not to. Thankfully Whim-so-doodle came up trumps for the Ranger items and some of the Melissa Frances things.

So before I left I had made great efforts to determine which Distress Inks I needed to definitely get to extend my meagre 3-pad collection. Well I managed to get some of the ones on my list, plus a load of other pale/pastel inks at Scrappy Boutique and Whim-so-doodle. Joann's and Michaels were really disappointing for inks. You could only get limited bog-standard colours in single pads or would have to buy sets where you weren't too keen/needed the other colours. So it was great to get the majority from the Scrapbooking stores we visited.

I did get some other odds and ends, in retrospect it looks like I was on a button spree, but this was about it for embellishments... including that fabby retro tinsel from Tim Holtz with plans to use it to decorate my Melissa Frances Christmas houses and bell jar.... one day!

And finally, a selection of the dies, stamps, and embossing folders that came home with me...

Also in that pile is a rather handy item I picked up to try out. The Small and Medium stamp mounts from Martha Stewart. They are similar to the Fiskars stamp press, but smaller. I have already tried the small one out on a fiddly little die-cut and it worked like a charm for positioning and stamping cleanly. And not as bulky as the stamp press which I don't think I'd really use for small fiddly bits.

So there we have it.... I still have other items that need unpacking into bathroom cabinets (mmmm C.O. Bigelow lemon stuff and Bath and Bodyworks purchases, not to mention some items from Sephora...).

Oh and I accidentally bought a new Fossil bag - well it was red, and very light and well... I caved in!

Suppose I should get back to unpacking or maybe, just maybe get my tree and decorations up!

Today's jobs

I can't believe quite how late it already is in the afternoon.

I still need to get a few things on today's to-do list completed.

First up, I need to make a baby card for little Anja. I managed to get some lovely little outfits in Debenhams yesterday that would easily go into autumn weather and colours:

I didn't want to get anything overly baby pink - but thought these two would be just lovely. Why on earth they don't make more ladies clothing with the prints they do in girl's fashion I just don't know. Was discussing the same topic with the girl in Monsoon yesterday when I made use of my £15 voucher in the Sales section - she quite agreed!

Yesterday was a bit of a spendy day as I also spent my £15 beauty club reward at the Benefit counter on new foundation and powder, and while I was there got my eyebrows waxed and tinted... ;o)

Also at last night's crop I was as productive as hoped and have now completed the swatch for all the colours of PTI cardstock and Bazzill cardstock that I own:

I've had a bit of a slow start today as I wanted to finish the book I started Thursday night before getting on with anything else:

I think this might have been my favourite in the Fairytale series by Eloisa James. A nice Saturday morning read indeed. :)

Well, I'd better get down to some crafting once I have tidied up a bit, I also have this to watch while I work:

I do enjoy a bit of Tom Hardy on screen...

Pampering time...

This weekend I cracked open some of the new Benefit items I purchased last week.

Finally, finally purchased Hervana blusher - every time I have had a make-up session at the Benefit counter they have used Hervana on me and I have always bought one of the many other items used in the session. But I was in the market for a new blusher and duty-free deal swung it for me!

I also bought the new make-up remover as my old bottle of Gee That Was Quick - which was the only thing that would cleanly remove Mally mascara and my current favourite mascara:

...finally ran out. It's also oil free and very good.

And to get my Debenhams points up to qualify for a £10 voucher next time I bought the sample set of the new face care range for my trip to Florida - travel size items are always useful!

I already have the full-size facial emulsion and I have tried the thicker moisturiser in samples and they smell lovely and do the job if you want something a bit thicker.

Also I got my hands on some shampoo and conditioner samples for the new Invati range from Aveda for thinning/fly away hair. They smell really nice and I have found a UK site that is selling the spray cheaper than rrp - but I need a few more weeks to decide whether to invest in the shampoo and conditioner and of course the spray to give the full system a proper go.

I also have a good stock of Shampure (one of the best smelling Aveda products out there!) shampoo and conditioner still permanently installed on my bath rack to use up.

So bath-time this week is most luxurious what with my L'Occitaine almond shower oil (alas now running low) and Aveda galore for my hair, it's a bit of a shame to have to get out of the bath!

Packing to do...

I have so many things to do this week in preparation for my hols - but I've managed to tick a few things off the list so far this weekend, and not only that, my lovely new Kindle Touch is ready for action:

It's loaded with enough books to keep me busy, the WiFi connection (after much agro with my router) is working fine at home, aaaaand... the dusky pink cover that I only paid £7.98 for off amazon has arrived and my Kindle is now happily enclosed in it.

Have to say I am really pleased with the cover as it is so sturdy and the velcro strap at the top keeps it nice and snug. It's definitely going to be put through its paces in the coming weeks, but the real issue now is for me to ignore the temptation to go sit out in the garden and start on that list of books to read!

Too many other things to do instead, including trying to plan the prompts for the next few weeks of the 52 Cards challenge. ;)

In the continuing quest for volume...

...of the hair variety, I have invested in yet another "solution".

My bathroom cabinet must contain at least 10 or so styling products all professing to guarantee amazing volume and hold.

Alas on their own or combined together they do provide this for me... for all of 10 minutes before my hair collapses to its usual state.

That is unless I utilise the big-ass-Velcro-curler-collection, which includes such examples as these:

They provide really good results when used and left in after blow drying, but as you can imagine prove rather challenging to sleep in - unless you sleep upright in a sitting position!

I would love it if there was an easy way to get my hair looking more like it does here (after 2+ hours spent in the big-ass-velcro-curlers and hairsprayed to the max ready to leave for a wedding do last weekend - yes not really as much volume there as you'd expect hm?)...

...more of the time, and especially when I get out of bed. ;o)

Wouldn't that be nice?

Well I happened upon a few mentions of such a solution last week and decided to give them a whirl:

You get two packs of these in the bag (got to love a ready-made storage solution):

Nice squishy Velcro rollers with a foam centre that will hopefully be just what I need.

Will give them a whirl tomorrow night and hope for good results. :oD As long as my hair has volume and not a little orphan Annie curl to it, I will be happy. But it means going to bed each night looking like Nora Batty but with bigger curlers!

It wouldn't be a Jubilee without a right royal sponge would it?

It was my brother's birthday yesterday and the perfect reason to make a full-sized cake.

The Victoria Sponge from this lovely book - in fact the first recipe I have tried from the Peyton and Byrne baking book though I have had it and looked through it regularly for a while:

A great traditional recipe and one based on weighing your eggs and then adding each of the the other ingredients in the corresponding weight. So a good one to do if you have a larger tin you need to bake in, like I did. ;)

It was a bit of a monster sponge, but it was just perfect for the occasion and for displaying my lovely Royal cake topper set!

Best enjoyed out in the garden with a nice cup of tea. And the jam inside had to of course be Tiptree strawberry conserve. :D

It got demolished rather well, and was deliciously moist inside.

Oh and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with how evenly it baked and rose - love my oven thermometer so much now, it has really proved its worth with recent baking efforts. :)

How's your Jubilee weekend shaping up?

Despite the freezing temperatures and gloomy weather in these parts, we are trying our best to keep the celebrations going.

I finally got my bunting up at home, although the pound shop bunting for outside has had an epic fail after 2 days and has come down round the other side of the window.

However, at least my DIY Blue Peter-stylee tissue paper fan decorations are up:

Excuse the lack of paint on the window sill there, the old paint has peeled off rather badly after all the rain.

Inside I have the lounge decked out with more bunting.

It's lovely stuff - you can never have too much. The one reflected in the mirror was from Sainsbury's and was very nice for just £2!

Love this M&S calico bunting, great for the mantelpiece. :)

And I had to add my jubliee-inspired card as the centre piece!

Yesterday ma and I braved the cold weather and rain for walk down into town to see if anything was decorated and basically, we fancied a nice lunch!

Loved this retro chic bunting in one of the windows. It's navy blue and white and really pretty.

I am amazed people were sat outside eating!

Even though it was cold, it didn't stop us having dessert at the new ice cream parlour that has opened. I had an almost patriotic sundae - no blue bubblegum ice cream to complete the tricolour homage.

Today attention was focussed on our jubilee afternoon tea.

I started early by doing some baking:

Red velvet cupcakes...

With cream cheese frosting, of course.

Then headed over for family get together and ended up combing the sideboard for items to use on the table (there are lots of items in there that my grandma had had passed on from further up the family tree). Earlier in the week my dad had been looking for the fabric bunting that had originally been used in my great-great-great uncle's saddler's shop in Wakefield for Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee - not in our possession, but residing safely with my uncle in Cornwall instead. :) Too fragile to use these days, but how amazing for it still to be around and kept all these years eh?

Anyway, back to this afternoon...

First of all I had to get my cupcakes finished with their toppers.

They looked fab on the cake stand.

It wouldn't be afternoon tea without a few Mr Kipling fancies. ;)

Continuing on the sweet theme I tipped those lovely limited edition M&Ms into the commemorative teacup and saucer I bought ma... she didn't mind. ;)

The sideboard yielded some wonderful items that were most apt:

The King George VIth coronation mug for our cutlery.

The Queen's silver jubilee mug for the dessert forks...

And of course lots of nice white and blue tableware for the savoury section:

Was rather happy with how my knock-off M&S roast beef, horseradish mayo, and yorkshire pudding sarnies came out. Thanks to Aunt Bessie on that one! Also afternoon tea wouldn't be complete without some scones (cheese in the case - my fave!) and a good cup of tea afterwards.

We were well and truly stuffed and there are plenty of left-overs to enjoy tomorrow.

Mind you I need to bake my brother's birthday cake in the morning and use my final Jubilee decoration on it, can't wait!

Why did no one tell me...

..that my local Boots now stocked Philosophy? And that I didn't need to visit John Lewis in Newcastle just to get my sniffing fix??

Well it came as a very nice surprise while out on my lunch break today hoping to get a pot of the L'Oreal make-up primer I'd tried in a copy of Marie-Claire.

A few more items came home to live with me, including the limited edition 15 ml size of Hope in a Jar which I wanted to try on my skin without forking out the £30+ price for the usual size.

Some Microdelivery face wash to try, and the new Summer Grace fragrance tester.

I was most impressed with the range on offer, and soon I will have enough Boots points to treat myself to a big sized bottle of the 3-in-1 shower, bath shampoo - do I go for Melon Daiquiri a previous favourite, Coconut Frosting or Raspberry Sorbet... Then again there is always my favourite, Inner Grace.

Anyway, I will definitely be trying my Hope in a Jar tonight plus the Microdelivery face wash. :D

Also I managed to snap some of the pots in the garden tonight between sun and rain and also after waging further war against the green fly that have set up camp on my roses and clematis - they are persistent little buggers, especially now all the ladybirds have gone awol.

I do love this time of year when azaleas and rhododendrons are coming out.

The dwarf yellow ones are doing rather well.

The dwarf pinks had a loss in number...

The big pink one only seems to have one proper flower bud at the moment. The other buds could be leaves, but I can't recall how this one looked last year when I got it. So it'll be a nice surprise once it does open up.

Just a shame about the return of frosty mornings after all that nice weather. The roses are loving the weather and thriving, my spring bulbs are a bit less enthusiastic!

Also I can't believe I've still not had chance to post the photos I took at Easter. I think I need to get some of them printed ready for my scrappy weekend away at the end of April - but there are quite a few photos I should get printed for that!

Lovely new stash...

Just not sure when I will actually have chance to play with it.

It has been a pigging long day at work, and basically it looks like I am going to be working every weekend of April - but not the very last one, God forbid!!!

Typically the stress has kicked in tonight with a tension headache and tomorrow is going to be an even longer day... followed by the joy that is Friday the 13th...

But even if I can't play with my new stash, at least I can look at it right?

First up, I finally got some Melissa Frances resin accents:

Some of the fab new Kaisercraft resin blooms as I just love resin flowers like these and the colours are lovely:

Then I went on a bit of a paper binge...

First, Simple Stories' Fabulous line of papers, all Jo Kill's fault:

A sensation of Pink Paislee's Spring Jubilee - the chipboard stickers are "interesting", much preferred the ephemera pack of London Market, but I can work with them...

I couldn't hold out any longer and got the Story Teller papers from Crate:

As well as most of the Pretty Party papers. Just waiting for all the other bits in these two lines to reach the UK....

A little top-up to my alpha collection:

And these have probably jinxed my entire creative time this month:

... page protectors that I hoped to get back into making a few layouts with, or at the very least planning for my scrappy weekend away at the end of April - but with work as it is I will be lucky to pack a trimmer and an ATG gun before that weekend arrives.

Right, think it's time to take some Migraleve to alleviate this headache before it becomes a migraine... :o\ Last Wednesday when I was having such a nice time in Newcastle and then out for a yummy Indian feels like it was last month... how things change!

Good Friday = good mood

Well, it has certainly been a challenging week for my nerves, and I have been really looking forward to the 4 day weekend, I can tell you!

But first, something crafty and cheery. :D

This being the first Friday of the month we have a new colour challenge to enjoy on the DCM blog this week.

Leo chose some lovely sorbet fresh colours:

And seeing these colours the first time I knew exactly which stash to use - yep, my dwindling MME Howdy Doody 6x6 pad came out to play!

Paper: MME
Stamp: WMS
Flower: The Ribbon Girl
Dies: Sizzix, Cheery Lynn, PTI
Felt: PTI
Other: Buttons, ribbon, Distress Stickles, cotton thread, chalk ink

This card started out very differently but I'm quite happy with how it ended up - will definitely have to use bitty buttons more on things, they are very sweet. :)

On the non-crafty front I had a nice break from the stress of this week with a day out in Newcastle with Zoe getting some shopping done followed in the evening by a very delicious meal out at our usual Indian - with our usual pickles of course!

Here are my lovely purchases:

Rather uninteresting to some...

But I finally have an oven thermometer which will get tried out this weekend when I attempt to make Easter Malteaser cupcakes.

There had to be at least one Easter decoration - and I loved that little bowl from John Lewis.

Had to have this when I saw it - even if I don't use all the toppers on cupcakes, I could add a few to craft projects. But I just love Meri Meri design and Lakeland had lots of tempting sets, but I could only go for one and this was it!

Fenwick's foodhall is always a must stop place - and how nice to see them have packets of coconut M&Ms at last... and my fave white PB cups!

The main reason for visiting is always to stock up on Kolos rye bread, basically the best rye bread in the world! I bought a little loaf for myself, and two big loaves for the Easter weekend at my mum and dad's - Polish Easter breakfast of course wouldn't be complete without this bread! In fact once I finish up here I will be having some for my breakfast. :D

And finally the last thing I was expecting to buy was some new perfume, but when I saw the new additions to the Be Delicious range (I have quite a few...) I had to try them and to my extreme delight this creamy meringue perfume has a lovely fresh lemon zing to it without being overly sweet and sickly. And for once in the many years I have bought perfume I had a load of free samples dropped into the bag with my purchase. So look forward to trying those out, hopefully they are nice!

Right, I had best get my breakfast and get dressed - later on the menu it's a traditional Good Friday visit to the fish and chip shop plus Hot Cross buns somewhere in there as well. :D

Looks like I have more ribbon sorting to do

I have been "gifted" some more Yankee Candle jars by my mum that need cleaning out and still smell nice and Christmasy.

Not sure when I will get round to it, but that's a good few colours to add to the ribbon shelf. :)

I also managed to pop out for my lunch today and nip into Debenhams to spend my £5 off voucher. It was quite difficult as they are in the middle of a remodel and well, I hope once it's done there will be a lot more stock in my local store! I had trouble finding the right place where they have moved Mantaray and John Rocha clothing to, then I went looking in homewares hoping to snag a bargain like the typewriter cushion I love....

But none to be seen. Nor any of the bedding from the Butterfly home collection that I really, really want:

Still waiting for this to be available (in full) in a sale... one day. I had no luck the last time it was in the sale in the summer as there were no pillowcases available in store or online, just the king duvet cover. It would have been sod's law that if I'd bought the duvet cover it would have been totally discontinued...

So I then wandered back down to clothing to look for Mantaray stuff again and was happy to find a few things that looked nice. I was after a new work-ish top and this is what I bought:

I then nipped into M&S to try and get some sushi for lunch before it was sold out, only to discover they only do two versions of sushi now - the snack pack or the medium fish sushi. I used to love the California roll selection and vegi sushi.

Oh well, looks like I will stick to Sainsbury's sushi from now on as they do a lovely snack set and a delish vegi sushi set for a less.

I did manage to pick up some of the popcorn packs from M&S which are apparently a good alternative to crisps - since I gave those up for lent. Intrigued to know how the strawberry and white choc popcorn tastes. Not enough syns left in my allowance today to try a pack, so will have to wait for tomorrow. ;o)

Back to crafting news, I am currently eagerly awaiting the big reveal of the new Waltzing Mouse Stamps tomorrow, I have my eye on the Compact Greetings set in particular (love the font!) and a few other peaks I've seen... also waiting for new CHA items to make it to the UK. Especially the vintage-y Pink Paislee line and hopefully once that is in I can finally order the odd few sheets of the new MME papers that I really, really want. Didn't seem worth making an order for 6 sheets of 12x12 paper. Question is, do I need the Miss Caroline Howdy Doody pad:

Anyway, I think it is going to be a relatively early night, time for a nice long soak and another chapter of my book.

Sorted...

I have had a bit of a tough weekend with my mojo - alas I have hit a wall when it comes to cardmaking and didn't manage to make anything at Friday's crop.

Yesterday I decided to see if I could kick start things by having a little organizational kick.

So, I finally cleaned up all the used Yankee Candle jars I had under the sink and reorganized my ribbon storage to use them all up. :)

I've used my little used up jars for buttons and resin embellishments.

The flat-top medium jars are a nice way of storing seam binding without having to do a lot of rummaging. I have my Ribbon Reel seam binding in one, and my Ribbon Girl seam binding in another.

Anyway, here's hoping full on creativity returns. I managed to make a couple of cards but I'm not so keen on 'em.

Well, I may just try and see whether the mojo is back this afternoon.

Nice brown paper packages...

Or Jiffy envelopes...

Some nice things arrived in the post today:

Some dies from MFT purchased in their NY sale, including the doily die. :D

These stamps were free with my order, and will be very useful - some nice greetings there. :D

I also have this yummy spring country landscape die to play with from memory box dies. A nice alternative to the winter version. :)

And at long last I have managed to get C.O. Bigelow items in the UK. Have been after a new hand wash as my yummy lemon one is just now running out.

Speaking of lemons I have regretted not buying this ever since Florida 2009 when I had the chance to get it in Bath and Bodyworks but thought my baggage allowance would be tipped over... it wasn't, I could have got this. But anyway, I shall be using it tonight in a nice long hot bath!

Now, I need to remember to buy a new CD thingy to house the new dies and get some more magnetic tape as I'm all out... a die reorganization session is in order!

So long gingerbread family!

It's time to move with the seasons so my blog has had a little face lift to see us into spring. :D

Hearts and birdies courtesy of the wonderful Nancy Kubo - boy would I be happy if she had some new digi sets coming out. ;o)

And on the theme of hearts and birdies I see that Pinterest is awash with Valentines ideas at the moment. It's not a big holiday over here, but I very much enjoy the eye candy and ideas.

I keep saying that one day I will do one of these projects:

It hasn't happened yet!

I don't think I'd ever have the skill or patience for this, but a lovely take on bunting:

I love these plain linen cushions with button designs:

I am even loving crocheted hearts!

Totally amazing heart biscuits...

Now all I need are some heart doilies and I will be a happy girl!

Time for some more baubles I think!

So I was flicking through a few recent pics and thought it time to share some more festive shots:

My knitted angel of JYC fame in her new spot on the tree this year.

I also took some pics at my mum and dad's when we were putting the real tree up (a fine specimen it is indeed) and ma and I have decorated it with just lights, vintage baubles that have been in the family since the 50s/60s (both English and Polish ones that have survived a couple of cat climbing expeditions over the years) and the glass baubles we have been collecting over the past few years, oh and of course the odd sentimental childhood item!

And for once all the pics here are straight out of the camera - got to love cranking up the ISO for bauble pics on green trees! Silver ones are another matter. ;o)

The gorgeous white/silver church ornament my mum bought for my dad this year - it is quite a stonker!

Ma's Gisella Graham winter trees bauble - her favourite, so you know where I get my love of winter scenes from!

The clip on mushroom ornament I bought for ma this year. Mushrooms are big in our house.

One of the oldest baubles in the collection.

My favourite snowflake bauble with my favourite Polish bauble in the background. I love those swirl baubles that have a prismatic opening with lots of pretty colours of glass inside.

Yep, I totally love that snowflake bauble... {sigh}

This little one is simply lovely.

And finally the new addition my mum bought for my brother - a very sweet candy house.

It resides very close to the ornament he made back in primary school that never fails to make it on the tree. :)