Did another....

....Christmas card. The last of five that I made as a bingo prize. The lady who runs a bingo afternoon at a local community centre and receives very little funding for her efforts asked if I would donate a few cards as prizes. No problem..and my eldest son (also a crafter) has made a pack as well. As our styles are completely different it should give a bit of choice...and if they like them we might get a few orders.

So here it is. I know I keep saying this....but....apologies for the quality of the picture.

The tree and flourish stamps are from paperartsy......not sure about the sentiment stamp.

Some more blog candy!!!!

Take a look here for some scrummy candy from Natalie.....

....and Ila has some High hopes candy here.

Didn't I....

..tell you that there was a lot of blog candy about? Course I did....and here are 3 more for you.

Kadoodle....have a stamp to give away every week from now until Christmas.

Donalda....has a Whiff of Joy stamp up for grabs...really want...sorry...need some of those gorgeous stamps!

Deb...has stamps, paper and ribbons!



I'm still in Christmas mode...got some lovely decoupage sheets in post today ...and expecting more from La Pashe....so hopefully I will be able to get some more cards done over the next few days. La Pashe has something new out.....just go to Jak's blog for the lowdown on that...think you're going to love it.

Lots of....

....blog candy about at the moment. I'm sure there is lots more but here are just five, in no particular order.

First......Glenda....has loads of Christmas goodies.

Second...Paul....has some gorgeous candy, including some stamped images and lots of die-cuts.

Third.....Martine...paper crafting double CD...and some stamped images

Fourth...Kimmi....has some High Hopes stamps up for grabs.

Last ..but not least....Natalie.....embellishments, as she says, you can never have too many.

I can...

.....do Christmas cards without backing paper. I managed another 2 today while Theo was taking a nap. I must tell you that they are scanned and so very poor quality pictures..they do look a lot better in real life. They are gold and silver on white CS...and silver and gold always shows as black on scanned images. I was playing around with my new stamps and wasn't sure how they were going to turn out...but I'm pleasantly surprised at the result.....vintage meets ultra modern.

The first one is stamped in silver and matted and layered on silver mirri card....and then a little glitter glue added to the tree.

The gold is made the same way but no glitter.

The background stamp, Santa and the sentiments are from Paperartsy...the tree from Woodware I think.

In Christmas mode...

After making a start on my Christmas cards ....(with a little help from Theo..NOT!!!!)...my brain was beginning to get into Christmas mode, and ideas were flooding my brain. After Friday's swimming I thought that I would make a couple more. It was not to be though. My printer has run out of blue ink and I won't be able to get a refill until Tuesday...how frustrating is that? Ok..I can make cards without the printer...but for the one's I wanted to do, and was all fired up for...I need my printer! I'm miffed now. Just hope that the ideas in my head stay there until Tuesday.


On another note, but still craft related, Peejay is having a sale of decoupage sheets. Lucky dip......£4.99 for 10 sheets......a bargain in any body's book. Just go to her blog and follow the link.

Do you want some really cute candy?

If the answer to that is yes....then you just have to have a look at what Nikki is offering. The cutest little dragons!!

Cats and crafts.....

...just don't mix!! Especially a particularly boisterous 13 week old called Theo. I finally got started trying to make some Christmas cards......but Theo wanted to play too. He wanted to play with my ink pads, unmounted stamps, mirri card, chalks and the bag of cotton wool that I use for the chalks...he had that all over the floor. I ended up having to lock him in the kitchen for half an hour......and the pitiful cries would have had the RSPCA round like a shot if they had heard him! Anyway I only managed 2 cards....simple ones....but at least it's a start.



Again the quality of the pictures is not brilliant.
Think I will drop some very heavy hints for a decent camera for my Christmas present.










The weather has been gloriously autumnal this week...don't know how long it will last though.
I'm going swimming again tomorrow, I really need to, I've been lazy this week.

Take a look.....

..at the super blog candy that Camilla has on offer ....."Whiff of Joy"...... it's gorgeous!

What a weekend...

....it's been. After Thursday's mammoth shop (including a bit of craft shopping) and Friday's swimming I have been cream crackered. I have been so tired but not able to get much sleep which has resulted in me getting up late for the last few days....just when I thought that I had broken that particular cycle....will have to try and break it again. Saturday's weather was atrocious.....wet, cold, windy and dark.....while Sunday saw the sun shining, although it was a little chilly. Today started OK but has now turned wet and cold. I've resorted to putting the central heating on for a couple of hours tonight, just to warm the house through a bit. Winter seems to have crept up on us. I've no plans to for the rest of the week except Friday's swimming, so perhaps I can get started on my Christmas cards. My new Christmas stamps arrived today so I really don't have any excuse. I've also been very good and got my ATC's done for this month's 3 swaps!! They just need posting now. I am waiting for last month's swap from one of the groups but hopefully they should be here tomorrow. It annoys me when the swaps are not sent out when they are supposed to be, due to the host waiting on late arrivals. We have a month to make and send them so why people are late I don't know. If they are too busy and find it hard to meet the deadline they should say so and withdraw from the swap. That's my rant for this week ...LOL

Bone scan..

Went to the hospital for my bone scan yesterday morning. It was a wet, grey day but brightened up towards the afternoon. It seems that there is a problem with my bones so I was asked for blood and urine samples. (Just what do they want all these samples for I ask myself) Unless they get in touch with my GP, I will have to wait until December when my next appointment at the rheumatology clinic is due to find out the results.
The appointment at the DWP was my last (Thank God!!). It was a complete waste of time....just to confirm that I had been on the pain management course and my feed back on it.....not very good.
I was really tired on the way home...it was school rush hour.....and long traffic queues due to ongoing roadworks. A fairly large lady with a tiny baby in a tank, (the "travel system"..which is padding, safety straps, hoods, aprons and full wet weather covers.)..and accompanied by 2 children (twins) about 7 years of age got on the now crowded bus. She managed to block the aisle very successfully and then got off 2 stops later. Why on earth did she get on the bus in the first place! It would have been a damn site quicker and a lot less hassle for her and the bus passengers for her to have walked....and it was all downhill!! Don't people walk anywhere these days.
By the time I got home I was wrecked. Went to bed reasonably early and couldn't get to sleep until the early hours of this morning. Suffice to say I didn't get up until 3 PM and didn't get any cards started which I was hoping for. Tomorrow is shopping day and Friday swimming. Oh well ....there's always the weekend...and I hope the weather improves....it's been so dreary, wet and windy today.