Happy Birthday To Me

Woo hoo! It's my birthday today, and I've had a lovely day so far. Hubby and I both took the day off work (although hubby always takes the day off after Super Bowl, but he is insistent that he has taken today off just because it's my birthday - no-one believes him LOL!)

So I have been taken out to lunch today - we had a lovely meal in an Italian restaurant. I had a gorgeous meal - Bruschetta to start, followed by pasta with marinated chicken cooked in a wild mushroom, cream and white wine sauce - oh scrummy! Too full for dessert - and anyway we would not have had time to eat it as we had to leave to get back home in time to collect children from school. The trouble is, the time together just the two of us is not long enough, and the day has gone too fast!

Just getting children to bed now, then I'm hoping to do a bit of crafting with a glass of red wine by my side - a perfect end to the day!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Love, Andrea xx

Stamped Image Challenge for Crafts Beautiful Forum and Creative Inspirations

Happy Saturday everyone!

I have made another photo hanger for a present, along with a bag charm, and decided to enter them (along with the card in my previous post) in a challenge on the Crafts Beautiful Forum, which is to make three items using the same stamp.

The stamp I have used is Queen Charlotte from Whiff of Joy. The papers I have used for the photo hanger are Kay and Co. I stamped Charlotte onto shrink plastic and coloured her with Sakura Stardust pens for the bag charm.

I'm also going to enter the photo hanger in this week's Creative Inspirations challenge, which is feminine - I think this is definitely a feminine project!

I hope you like my pieces - thanks for looking. And enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Love, Andrea xx

Friday Sketchers #86

Just a quick post today - I have made a card to enter in this week's Friday Sketchers Challenge. I have made the card for another friend of my daughter. I'm struggling to keep up with all the birthdays of her classmates at the moment - she came home with another party invitation yesterday!


The image is Queen Charlotte from Whiff of Joy (I know - I'm using that for all the little girls just now - but I think it is perfect for 5 year olds (LOL)!) I have coloured her with my new Promarkers - need lots more practise I know - but this is not too bad for a newbie!! The papers are Kay and Co - I used a metallic pen to go around the edge of the backing paper - flowers are from a daisy punch - the oval frame is from my Majestic Keepsake Board - card, gems and sentiment from my stash.

That's it from me now - must clean the bathroom! Hope to be back soon to show you the pressie I'm in the process of making

Love, Andrea xx

The Sugar Bowl Challenge 27

Hi Folks - hope you've had a great weekend!

This morning, I decided to say 'fiddlesticks' to the housework! My hubby has to work 2 weekends out of 3 and yesterday my son made a comment "I really miss having fun with Daddy"!! That really pulled at my heartstrings, so I thought I ought to do the things with the children which I've been promising for a while - so I made a hair braid with my daughter, and loaded some albums onto an MP3 player for my son - doesn't sound much, but Andrew and Eleri were both happy. I find it's just too easy to get bogged down with everyday tasks, and not give the children the time they deserve - and they are just growing up too fast - soon they will be 9 and 5!!
And, when I do housework, it doesn't seem to make any difference - it seems that someone only has to breathe in our house, and it looks messy again (LOL!). But, having decided not to do housework today , I did still have to do a load of washing, wash up the dishes, cook Sunday lunch and hoover downstairs!

Anyway, enough of that - after feeling pretty rotten for a few days (and the nausea seems to be coming back tonight!), last night I finally managed to finish the card for my daughter's best friend (little girl next door). I have followed the sketch over on The Sugar Bowl. I have used one of the stamps I bought in the Funky Kits January Sale - what a deal! This image is Dress Up Maggie - I have coloured her with water colour pencils, added glitter to the feather boa, and used 3D paint for her beads. I have added faux stitching around the image.

The added extra on the challenge is to use distressing - now, I'm not too confident at doing this and don't have any proper distressing tools or inks, so I used the edge of my metal ruler to distress the edges of the papers, used an emery board to scuff the paper a bit, and then rubbed ink lightly around using a kitchen towel. I'm not too happy with my distressing, but I gave it a go! I don't think these Kay and Co Sparkly Sweet papers really suit distressing! I made a charm using beads and chain, punched some flowers and added pearls. I just love the embroidered handmade paper - I bought that in a sale at The Works ages ago. I'm not sure yet whether to add a sentiment to the card - I've got a couple of days to dwell on that!

Sorry the photo's not brilliant, and it makes the colours look a bit wishy washy really, but it's the best I can do in the light we have at the moment!

I hope you like my card, and I hope you'll pop by again soon - I look forward to it!

Love, Andrea xx

They've Arrived .... And I've Been Spending Again!!

Happy Friday everyone - I hope you've had a good week and are looking forward to a fabulous weekend! I have not been feeling too good this week - suffering with a headache and nausea, so I don't have anything to show you at the moment, and I have not been able to knuckle down to enter for the Whiff of Joy DT call, which I wanted to do this week - hope to try next time.

Anyway, my Promarkers arrived very quickly, and I had a chance to have a little play yesterday. I know I need lots of practice, but my first attempt wasn't too bad. I was convinced that the image I was colouring had been stamped with Memento ink, but it was smudging a bit as I was colouring, so I was wondering what I was doing wrong. But then, late last night, a light bulb flashed in my mind and I suddenly remembered that I had stamped the images with Stazon ink (der!). (Why do things come to you in a flash ... about 8 hours too late!! ... or is that just me LOL!) And I can understand the need to collect all these markers - I really do neeeeeeeeeeed more colours LOL!! But I really have got to hide my credit card! BTW - I did admit to my hubby that I had ordered them, and he didn't shout - I really do have a fabulous and very understanding husband!

And I've been spending again (but not admitted it yet!!) - just could not resist the TSV on QVC this week - a Cuttlebug die-cutting machine, which I also really need, and it was on easy payments - well, is there anyone who can resist temptation like that???? So I really do hope that I get money for my birthday - but probably my family will have all had light bulb moments and will get me actual presents instead!!

Anyway, that's enough waffle from me, must get back to work!

Love, Andrea xx

Ssssshhhhh!!!! I'm Not Supposed To Be Spending...

... but I couldn't help it. I have been fancying some Promarkers for a while, and I have just found what I thought was a good deal on them, here, so I've bought some!! Sssshhhh! my hubby's fallen asleep, and I don't want to tell him!!!

But hey ho!, it's my birthday in three weeks' time, and this is what I'm spending my birthday money on - now all I've got to hope is that I have some money for my birthday (LOL!).

I just can't wait for them to arrive (jump up and down, clap hands, tee hee hee!!).

I'd better go to bed now!

Love, Andrea xx

Whiff of Joy Challenge #62

Hello Everyone and Happy Sunday - hope you've had a lovely weekend - mine has been good, but just gone so quick!

I have made another Thank You card, this time following the fabulous sketch on the Whiff of Joy Challenge Blog this week. All the DT samples are wonderful and so inspirational - I just had to have a go.

However, I did struggle with my card. I stamped my sentiment onto the back of a chipboard label from a top I bought in Asda (there's re-using and recycling for you!!). When I threaded the ribbon through (which, by the way, was from a gift set I had sometime ago - hey recycling again, what's got into me (LOL!) - the sentiment was a bit thick to stick on easily, and I managed to get it really skew wiff - managed to straighten it a bit, but not perfect! I also wish I hadn't made the mat for the image quite so big. I was becoming really disappointed with my card. You know how it is when you have something in mind and can't wait to give it a go, and then it just doesn't go the way you want it to - its so frustrating and disappointing!!

But once I added the flowers, which have had some glitter spray added, I felt happier with it, and I quite like it now!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you are able to pop back again sometime.

Love, Andrea xx