Good Afternoon Blogland Peeps!

The South of England is recovering from Storm Jude ( which is apparently what they are calling it now??). We were very lucky. In Southampton we seem to be in a little hollow with the rivers Itchen and Test around us, which usually protects us from the worst of the weather, thankfully. We did have a tree down in the woods behind our house, but apart from the neighbours loosing a few fence panels we were all ok, no one injured. My thoughts go out to those who weren't so lucky. Apparently we are in for another battering down here on Friday!

On to cards. I looked ahead on my diary and panicked. I have three family birthdays in the space of two days!
Here are my offerings.....
 This one if for my Cousins Wife, and the next is for an older Cousins Wife, who happens to be the Mother in Law of the first Cousins Wife....confused?    you will be.......
Both made from the Shoes CD Rom by Katy Sue....love her designs.
The next for my Nephew, who is just 3 years old...
I used Tumble Ted for this one. Hope you like.



After a lengthy and, quite frankly, exhausting kitchen make over I have finally got my craft room back to a state where I can actually enjoy being there and making something. Luckily for me there were no family birthdays or other occasions during the last few weeks ...phew!

For anyone interested in the kitchen makeover. here is a before.......

and a few after shots for you....well almost. the after pictures are taken when the wall still had to be painted cream and the sockets need to be changed for nice new posh satin steel ones, but it gives you an idea...



Check out the oven....love it!!!

anyway this is a craft blog, so I had better show some craft I guess!
Here is a card I have just made for my Aunts birthday coming up soon. The images are from the Fabulous Fashion CD by Katy Sue. There are some beautiful designs on these cds. This is just one of them....
Hope you like.....

A few cards to catch up on......

I am really struggling to get back into the habit of blogging, so I apologise and here are a few things I have been working on lately....


Here is the first...I may has shown you all this one already??? Fathers Day card for my Husbands Dad, the digi was from Digistamp Boutique, one of my favourite suppliers. Looked great with puffy stuff put on for the head of the beer.


This one was next, for my Cousin. His Dad and I were bought up like brother and sister, so I always felt particularly close to his boys when they were born. I guess partly because I was an only child....that and the fact that they bought with them Baby sitting duties! The leather effect paper was a free download from Far Far Hill and looked really realistic. The guitar image from a Men's Cards Book I had ages ago.

Next up...this one for my lovely Husbands Birthday last weekend. ( See I am not that behind really). I did the whole think on my Cameo using a MOJO Monday layout cut file created by MichelleMyBelle. I use the background fill facility to drag in papers by Sherri K. The image was from PaperPrintables.com free download.

Nearly there now....
This one is for the afore mentioned cousin's wife. This comes from the wonderful Cd by KatieSue Designs called Fabulous Fashion. This is one of the many many designs on there.....love it!


And finally....if anyone has stuck with me long enough to get this far (Thank you!). This is for my Husbands Neice and her Husband who have produced a beautiful bouncing Boy this weekend, missing my Husbands Birthday by one day. The images by Cuddly Buddly are lovely and this is all 3D, but it doesn't really show in the photo.

well that's me done for now, thanks for reading and, as always, thanks for your comments.

WOYWW 208

It was lovely to be back last week for WOYWW, thank you to those who sent messages and visited. I tried to visit as many as I possibly could.
This week finds me up to my neck in Male cards, not my favourite to do. This time of year in our family it is all male birthdays, even my Niece in law who is due in a few weeks is going to have a boy!
Here's the desk....
I am just finishing of the guitar card for a cousin of mine who has a birthday soon. I found my Fiskars cutter when I was moving some stuff around at the weekend. I shifted everything to make room for my Husband to run a cable to connect me to the internet directly as I will get a much faster speed that way, only to find that he then didn't have a drill bit big enough to complete the job...grrr! but at least I found my cutter. I remember stashing it away when the blade went dull. I bought some blades but they were the wrong ones, they were Docraft ones so I assumed they wouldn't fit, but guess what....they do!
I am busy downloading a paper pack from Far Far Hill who have fantastic freebie papers etc, although the download is a pain as you can only do one per half hour. I tend to have it running in the background while I craft if there s something I need. Can you see my Maggie under the desk? Her favourite place when I am crafting.
Head over to The Stamping Ground to show us your craft space. It is fun to have a nosey around....

WOYWW 207

Firstly I apologise for my very long absence. But if you will have me I would like to come back to the fold, so to speak.

Well straight to it...here is my desk
I can't even remember if I have visited since I brought my craft desk downstairs? Doubt if any of you will remember either so no matter. What can we see....well I used to be teased for being too tidy, looks like that has changed a bit doesn't it?
Lets start bottom right. This is a card ready for Fathers Day for my Husbands dad. The image is a digi from Digistamp Boutique of two bear glasses. I have coloured with Promarkers and done the obligatory clear glaze to look like condensation on the glasses. The papers were from a very old scrapbook kit. There is a nice grungy type label that came off some new jeans that I couldn't throw away...I am sure it will be useful for something. in front of the keyboard my never ending Tesco vouchers for my online shops. In front of the keyboard are two images I have just decoupaged up ready for two male birthday cards I need to make soon. One is a vintage camera and the other an old fashioned gramophone thingy. To the left I have a card sent to me by Di Wray with a die I recently won from her, which turned into a sway eventually, but that's another story. To the left packaging from a delivery of embossing folders from Crafters Companion. I had an email code for 30% off and combined with an offer on the folders that was running, well I couldn't resist. Oh My Goodness. that is embarrassing!!!! I have just seen my bra!!!!!! sat on the table waiting to be repaired. Being a larger lady in that department IYNWIM, they often need attention. This one almost cut my throat the other day. I bent to empty the washing machine and a bone that had been sneeking up the middle got me....right in the throat!!!!I hadn't planned on sharing that with the world at large, I didn't notice it on my desk....but I must empty that bin!
Well that's me....share your desk to the world by joining in at The Stamping Ground for Whats on Your Workdesk Wednesday


Back, but not very happy!!!

I didn't really realise how long it has been since my last blog (this is sounding like the beginning of a confession! LOL)
Without realising it I had got myself in a Blog Rut. I had fallen in to the habit of blogging for the Quirky Craft Design Team entries, and only those posts. Without realising it I had got to the point where I was blogging because I had to, not because I wanted to. Once I left the Quirky Team I just stopped....just like that. It was a few weeks before I realised it myself, and only a few weeks ago when a fellow blogger (hello Di) contacted me in response to a comment I had placed on her blog, did I realise how long I had been away.

Now the funny thing is I have been meaning to start up again and see if anyone (apart from Di) is actually still following me, but I just didn't know what to write about. I looked at the blog and it looked tired, so I have tried to spruce it up a bit to get my interest back.

It is a bit sad that the thing to prompt me back into blogland is something that has made me really cross. I have spent ages creating to frames for my little cousins birthday which is coming up. It is safe to show you because she is far to young to follow blogs. She is mad on Disney princesses so I thought that I would make something she could keep. My Mum also wants a card to send her...hence the two.


 I finished one this morning and put it aside to dry, then completed number two. I decided they would be my blog relaunch post. Out came the camera and then I saw it........the blasted silicone glue has soaked through on the first one (Aurora in blue). That has never happened to me before! The thing that has made me really cross is that if I had seen that first I wouldn't have used the same glue for the second one..GGGRRRRR!
I am hoping that the marks will dry out overnight, otherwise I will have to start again. Can you see the blodges????