Your radiance lights up the sky

Apologies for the gloomy photo-it looks like it's going to rain very hard soon-typical as need to pop out! Another Sugar Nellie stamp-how could I resist the little birds? I just had a play with this and had tonnes of fun! I paper pieced the girls dress, top, hair and boots as well as the bow in her hair and bird box. I used Stampin Up markers to do colouring in and attempted rosy cheeks for the first time! I used my Silent setter to make the hole in the bird box, or how would the little birds get in and it's baby birds time soon!

I used up a few things from my stash which I'm pleased with. The gorgeous paper rose and other bloom are as I used on the scrapbook layout for 'The beautiful and very brave Sophie' and from Sarah's cards. The bird brad however, is from Papermania and I've had it an age but it's perfect for this card! I have no idea by the way why Mr Blogger has turned my photo around though I suspect he has an issue with the size of it! I'm not very PC literate so won't try and fix it or I'll end up losing everything. Don't get neck ache though by looking at the photo too long!



The star buttons are also something that have been hanging out in my button jar for ever. I wasn't completely sure about them on this card-not sure if they look a bit 'plasticky' but with the Stampin Up chocolate chip grosgrain I think (hope) the nasty plastic look is diluted at least.



Sentiment wise I used an All Night media stamp which was one of the first stamps I ever bought. I always feel I'm lacking in basic, small sentiments but have a few with really lovely messages and I think this one fits the bill on this occasion nicely.

Other than that my Stampin Up scalloped punch got another outing (are you bored yet?) and the rest of the card is a mixture of utterly gorgeous Basic Grey papers-Sultry and Sugared to be precise. I do have some 12" x 12" theoretically for scrapbooking but in reality more for looking at and going 'ahhh'. I love the 6" x 6" for cardmaking though as the pattern is reduced and so is far more suitable for cards.

My favourite Basic Grey paper set thus far is 'Perhaps' (I LOVE IT!!) but the 12" paper pattern is far too large and overwhelming for cards, whereas the 6" is perfect and I mean PERFECT in every sense of the word!!! This card is bigger than 6" in height but it didn't matter as I layered the papers anyway and for 6" x 4" cards the smaller papers easily cover the card if you choose.I just matted with random bits of card from my stash-no need to use really nice stuff when you only see a millimetre or so so my Stampin Up stuff stayed in it's box for this card! Oh, just fibbed a bit! I did use Chocolate Chip for the girl and sentiment but I don't have any other choclate card!




I had alot of fun making this card and have to say that I'm pretty chuffed with the result. I'm really enjoying my cardmaking again after a horrible mojo drought and my confidence is coming on slowly but surely. Having a nice sunny day helps of course, I'm cheerier as regular readers of this blog will know, but also the light lends itself so much better to cardmaking. It's so nice to be able to see colours accurately and patterns too. I definitely feel like making fresh cards, Spring clearly comes to cardmaking land too!

Ingredients:
Sugar Nellie girl with birds stamp by Leanne Ellis
All Night Media sentiment stamp
Basic Grey papers-Sultry and Sugared
Maya Road ribbon charm
Stampin Up chocolate chip narrow grosgrain ribbon
Stampin Up Chocolate Chip card
Stampin Up scalloped border punch
Stampin Up markers
Blooms from Sarah's cards
Bird brad from Papermania
Star buttons unknown
Europa card
Royal & Langnickel hammered card blank

Being a Domestic Goddess

OK, so I've shown you my lemon meringue pie; this is the only other thing that gets me near an oven! I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Nigella Lawson and adored her first husband John Diamond the Times journalist who sadly died from cancer several years ago. The Times isn't the same without him and I still flick straight to the back page looking for him even now.

Alas Father Christmas hasn't been so encouraging of my Nigella crush recently so I've not got her most recent books but I do have a few and the muffins above are from 'How to be a Domestic Goddess'.

I actually haven't cooked for a while now as I got a new oven that was lousy at cooking-ironic huh? This oven actually burnt things, or specifically the bottom of things and I assure you with hands on heart that it was the oven and not me!

Recently I got a new microwave/grill/oven which is fab! It's brilliant for me for many reasons including the fact that sitting on the worktop as it does means I don't have to bend down with heavy things to gain access to the oven. Mobility wise I am extremely appreciative and grateful for this. The oven works in essence as a microwave does, even in it's 'oven' capacity, so you choose the time the food needs to be cooked for. Once it reaches this time, it beeps several times then turns itself off. It has a fan that then kicks in, thus removing the possibility of food carrying on cooking and burning as I continueside-tracked as ever, oblivious to all of this due to my terrible memory problems! This alone makes the most almighty difference to my life.

Most brilliantly of all, this is an oven that cooks and does not burn things unless programmed incorrectly. Hallelujah!

I'm thrilled (yes I need to get out more!) and so have found myself in the midst of a cooking frenzy and am compelled by unknown forces (possibly hormonal or just because I'm female and like scrummy things) to make muffins, and then double quantity muffins, then Lemon Meringue pie and a few more muffins (OK double quantity again) and then a couple more(or maybe more than that) Lemon meringue pies!

In the past

I've also had a Flapjack addiction and have no idea how I've thus far resisted the rather sticky and torn flapjack page in my cookbook (also Nigella I believe) and I've always had a certain fondness for Banana and Honey tea bread (a pattern emerges) which again I've somehow not re-visited as yet! Worry ye not! I will get there I assure you!

I actually have as yearning for something orangey so need to have a good search through the recipe books and see if I can find anything easy peasy to make and yet highly scrumptious to eat. I do have a project in mind, only thwarted thus far by a lack of peanut butter. My dreadful memory is working against me here as I keep forgetting to buy some and the jar we have has been raided to almost extinction already. I must remember soon though, I'm chomping at the bit to make some Snickers Muffins!! Snickers + Muffins = Gorgeousness!

Yep, you've guessed it, another Nigella recipe but come on, this is the woman who cooks with Coca Cola-you've got to admire her for managing to create the most unhealthy and utterly divine food possible.

Oh, dear, I've got a serious issue with crumbs littering my keyboard now and to get them out I did the incredibly stupid yet at the time so obvious idea of blowing them free!

Astonishingly, it appears that banana and honey muffin crumbs aren't the only thing to fall victim to the crevice between 'w' and 'e' and 'j' and 'k' and so forth. A dust storm has emerged from my keyboard and raised the ugly concept that maybe, just maybe we've a bit of a dusty home. My right eye has something (possible many things) in it and it hurts. Why is the obvious generally also the most stupid? Why with the balance of hindsight do obvious things seems so 'obviously stupid'?

Nope, considered the dusty home idea and flung it out of court-one dust storm need not lead to extreme measures-need to calm down, a bit of dust never killed anyone (the fluff could do with C.S.I. to identify it's origins possibly-or maybe not as it'll be skin-YUCK) but I'm certain dragging an extremely heavy Dyson around can and has! ***I actually did do some hoovering or Dysoning today so I can take it easy now and polish my housekeeping halo-seems I am a bit of a Domestic Goddess after all.........

*** Mr Dyson I was just being humorous of course, please don't trouble your legal team to sue me for suggesting that Dysoning can and has killed people!! Gulp!

Showing off my hodgepodge!

I thought I'd do a card using the Polka Dot punches Stampin Up set that was available only during Saleabration. This set is courtesy of Jeannette-a lovely, lovely set, thank you! The hodgepodge hardware is also courtesy of a fab offer from Jeannette where you pay a certain amount to get a partial set to try. Jeannette's also offering this with papers and pretties and I think she may have the odd spot available still on a ribbon deal-not sure-pop over and see.

I've never used the hodgepodge before but I was struggling to finish the card sentiment wise. I'd been so used to not having the hodgepodges that I forgot I did now have some and when I spotted this small frame, I wondered and tried it and think it is just right!

Best disappear for now, need to feed the birds before it gets dark and it's getting darker rapidly. It's also getting extremely chilly-I've just been down to Ernie and Bobbi (for the second time I hasten to add) and given them more food and changed their water as I forgot the bottle of water when I went earlier. The guys wouldn't exactly be short of water though as it rained extremely hard when I was there this morning. As a result of getting soaked, I put my gloves on the radiator to dry and forgot to retrieve them when I went back just now. My poor hands are so cold! Picking wet dandelion leaves and Sow Thistle on a cold still Winter's evening isn't the best idea when you're prone to painful hands when cold! What could I do though? My bunnies want dandelions, they get dandelions and when I've picked them when it's hailing/raining/snowing and snow on the ground, conditions such as those this evening are by comparison a breeze!!

Ingredients:
(All from Stampin Up)
Polka Dot Punches stamp set
Happy sentiment from retired set
Designer paper (retired but still avaialble)
Real Red card
Real Red and Chocolate Chip inkpads
Silver Hodgepodge Hardware (frame and both sets of brads)

A quick hello

Just a quick hello and a card before you all think I've been abducted by aliens! The reality is considerably less interesting as I'm just feeling pretty awful at the moment.The culprit this time is ongoing vertigo which is worsening and starting to really get me down. I've had problems with vertigo before and have had what I call 'background' vertigo for several years which tends mainly to raise it's ugly head when I lie down.

Before Christmas the vertigo increased in severity and it's essentially 24/7 vertigo now. It is not nice and I really struggle to stay on my feet sometimes. I even get big 'waves' of it when I'm sitting down and being perfectly still. I've been back and forth to the GP each 'back' bit clutching another different lot of medication that it's hoped will alleviate the symptoms; each 'forth' because it hasn't.

I feel very nauseous as you can imagine living in a world that's forever spinning, and I'm utterly exhausted. I'm always tired thanks for M.E. but this is different, quite simply I feel I could go to bed to sleep throughout the day and by the evening I'm struggling to keep my eyes open when Eastenders is on!

My GP says the tiredness is due to the strain mentally and physically of trying to keep a 'grip' and stay on my feet and hopefully walking in the direction I want to (which is harder than it sounds for me). She said it's also tiring as it's so frightening and it's true it isn't pleasant at all and I am worried about what is causing it and if it will go away or carry on like this forever which is an unbearable thought.

Anyway, I have more tablets to take as well as some other tablets I've been given so this is the big guns by the sounds of it! I have to go back again in a week, so back along that well trodden path again...

Not sure if you're all totally asleep (other people's health can be so boring I know) but back to more interesting matters. I latterly have discovered the joys of Sugar Nellie. I'm not into all of the children stamps (and there's a phenomenal amount of them on the market), but I do like Tilda though not the baby who's a bit scary! I adore the girl on the card above part of the range by Leanne Ellis. The range is so pretty and lovely. I really, really, really like them!

This is my very first attempt at a card and I hope I've done the beautiful stamp justice. I wanted to do a pretty card to reflect the character's prettiness and I'm pleased with the result-I'm getting better at playing with papers I think though still lots of practice to be done.

Sorry I've not been here alot but been shattered, too tired to blog and too tired to play-too tired even to blog hop!!! Shock! Horror! Gasp!

I'm trying to play a bit with my cardmaking but it's alot of looking up and down and it's not good with vertigo alas. I'm off to cuddle my bunnies now ( my calming medicine) and I'm sure Basil will take part as when there's cuddling going on Basil always seems to know and appears from nowhere to join in! Ahhhh!

Ingredients:

Royal & Langnickel cardblank
Sugar Nellie Leanne Elllis rubber stamp
Pebbles paper
Paper blooms from Sarah's cards
Pink lace from haberdahery department
Stampin Up sentiment
Stampin Up Old Olive & Barely Banana card
Stampin Up markers
Papermania gems
Stazon black ink

Another bunny & a bit happy/sad

All this lovely sunshine is contributing to a really positive and sunny outlook hence this rather cheerful card. I've been struggling with my colouring in of images (an ongoing battle) and thought I'd be brave and tackle my constantly overlooked and much feared H20's. I got some H20's a good couple of years or so ago and had such high hopes for them as everyone was talking about them at the time. When they arrived, I adored the little containers full of jewel like colours but apart from doing paper swatches of colours I never managed to do anything especially productive.

Inspired once again by Jeannette (honestly her blog is choc a block full of so many techniques) who is clearly a HUGE fan of H20's I set about the transition from paper swatches to full blown colouring in!!! Well, Rome wasn't built in a day, but I managed to find just about the right colours for the above bunny and flowers in my teeny weeny H20 collection. The bunny colour I'm especially pleased with. I do have a problem though. I don't actually know what colour I used to colour in my bunny as I just took the tops off all the H20's, spritzed them with water, waited (all of about .5 of a second!) and then did a few colour swatches and then dived straight into colouring the bunny! Brave or what?

Whatever the colour is (and I will of course work it out one day), I'm really pleased with it. It's a lovely sort of caramel (nope none of the H20's are called caramel). The roses are a sort of reddy-pink (Ok, hands up I can't remember that one either) but the green was called (drum roll please) SAGE!!! At least I think it was! hee! hee! It's not the perfect green but it's the only green I have so sage green it was. Oh no, just remembered, there's actually two browns used. Oh dear I am useless!

Moving on swiftly, I adore this Elzybells stamp and it was one of the first stamps I bought. The bunny is so gorgeous and I'm sure he's smiling. Yes, I think he's a he too-not sure why, probably as women don't tend to give bunches of roses though this image could be a lady bunny thrilled at having received a big bunch of roses....um..got you thinking now!

I'm being a good girl and doing quite well at using up stash. The papers are K & co (and very nice they are too) and I've managed to find a use for one of my lovely Love Elsie chipboard buttons that I have and never seen able to find a purpose for on one of the hydrangea (love hydrangeas) blooms. I did struggle to use the ribbon as I think I'd like to just keep it to look at but it works so well I think that it was a 'meant to be kind of thing'. Oh, just from a local haberdashery shop-ooh I love that word-haberdashery, haberdashery, haberdashery.

I decided to continue the scalloped theme after punching out the bunny. I'm not sure I chose to do this, more that I am compelled to being as I am utterly bewitched by the Stampin Up scalloped border punch. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! Ok, I'm a bit behind the pack on this but I thought I could resist it. I now know how certifiably mad I was to resist it so long as it is fab and makes a real difference to a card.

I will try not to do every card with scallops but I think some praise is due being as I did resist doing all the card edges in scallops too, and it wasn't easy. My hand (firmly holding the said punch) moved all of it's own accord towards the card edges and it took all my strength to resist and put the punch away and out of sight (though it called to me LOUDLY). Oh, mustn't forget the Making memories rub on-without which the card wouldn't be what it is!

Back to gloomy cards soon according to dear (voice of doom) Len the neighbour. For the past week, whenever I've happily mentioned how cheery I feel when the sun is shining dear (um!) Len has said 'I don't want to be the conveyer of bad news but it's going to get very cold and snow and the end of the world is nigh'. Oh, sorry, he didn't say anything about the end of the world being nigh, it's just when he starts his gloomy weather forecast I can't help but feel he is being a prophet of doom!! Yes, it may well get cold and even snow but Len doesn't have to tell me and change my smiling face into a sad one does he? He could pretend he hasn't heard the weather, it's not as if I asked him for the weather forecast, but no, stomp, stomp, stomp all over my (sun reliant) happy mood!!

On a serious note, I've really come to have a much better understanding of my SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). When the sun shines I feel almost a bit hysterical with happy, positive thoughts and a belief that I can do anything. If it's gloomy I want to stay in bed and I'm useless at everything! I'm not sure if it's getting worse but I certainly believe the poor Summer's have made things worse by having so many negative and gloomy days. I've read a bit about SAD recently and it's actually unusual to have symptoms all year round-most people just suffer from October to February. Trust me to be weird and get it all year round-or is that the SAD and melancholy speaking?! Clearly I've found another reason why I need to move to a sunnier and warmer climate.

My guys would love it too (apart from the travelling, none of us would like that), with all this 'pussy cat and bunny rabbit weather' (as we call nice sunny days!), I've been up and down opening the back door every hundreth of a second for Tom (cat flaps are demeaning apparently). Basil, Jacob and Humphrey have been doing a lot of 'indoor sunbathing'. We've all been much happier, Bobbi and Ernie have been warmer too and we don't want any more cold weather and snow thank you very much!!!

Bye for now.

My blog candy arrived!

Woo hoo! My blog candy arrived!

I won this recently on Sarah's blog Card Oasis and have been so excited waiting for it. Look at all those stamps! The papers are stunning, I'll be using those very happily indeed!

Sarah, thank you very much indeed, I feel a very lucky winner!

Cupcake Craft Challenge (28)

I've never done a card challenge before and only ever tried one sketch which as you recall Linda did a few months ago. I don't really understand how sketches work-sometimes people change so much it seems unrecognisable to me, so I have no idea if anything can be changed, if you can add additional elements and so forth!





Nonetheless Jeannette's role as guest designer on Cupcake Craft Challenges has motivated me to try this weeks sketch myself. Last week I did try to do an altered piece but wasn't happy with the finish (to say the least!). This week, I am going to be brave (I think) and send the link off to the challenge blog. Not entirely confident about doing this but it's good to try new things. I just hope I've followed the rules properly and my card doesn't get escorted off the premises! The sketch I need to follow is shown above. The blog states that you can't move the elements around though you can change the size of them. I think I'm pretty accurate regarding the sketch, fear and inexperience means I dare not try and do anything else in case it's not allowed. I like the sketch as it is though and enjoyed doing the angled matting and layering bit as I've never tried that before.

I first saw this Ophelia stamp on another blog a couple of years ago. I adored her at first sight and still do. I searched long and hard for her-there's not many stamps I've seen and wanted more than 'Ophelia'.

As far as I am concerned the stamp does all the talking-there's nothing I can do to make the image any better than it already it and I thought a monochrome card would work really well. I'm quite pleased with the result actually-it's not overly vintage, not overly feminine either, but the striking beauty of Ophelia means that this stamp can be so versatile-I must get her out more instead of being afraid of not doing her justice.

I enjoyed making this card and I'm pleased with the result. I see a great many challenges on various blogs and think I should try and tackle a few more and hopefully gain a bit of confidence along the way.

Ingredients:
Ophelia stamp from Stampsmith
Dream stamp by Anna Griffin
Anna Griffin card
Whisper White card from Stampin Up
Stazon ink
HOTP embellishments
Papermania glitter brads
White textured mulberry paper
Black card
Lace