What do you think?

This pic was done on Facebook Sketch Me application. It takes your profile picture and makes a sketch of it. I think it's really clever. What do you think?

So excited

Sorry, but I doubt I'll have time to do crafting this week. Got lots of orders to sort out for the dragon website and I'm so busy with my packing for the holiday - yipeee!! I'm soooooooo excited. 4 more sleeps!!! Mind you I need to make a birthday card for my FIL and my dad for when we're away, so I'll have to find time.

Corrrr!

How about this for a pic??? (see previous post Is he hot or what??)

http://www.jamespurefoy.us/

Is he hot or what?

Sorry, I know this has nothing to do with crafting but I was watching A Knight's Tale today. I love that film, Heath Ledger RIP is great. But I think James Purefoy who plays Thomas Colville, the Black Prince is absolutely gorgeous. He played Marc Anthony in Rome too but I never saw that, wish I had now..... What do you think?

Sister In Law's wedding invitation

Look what we received in the post today! Hubby's half sister is getting married this year and she's made all her own invites. I think she's done a lovely job. (I'm not jealous of how good they are honest LOL!)

Sorry

Hello everyone. Sorry I've not been posting much. Been preparing for my holiday and sorting loads of orders for my dragon website. Had about 8 this week. Doesn't sound like much, but you know what it's like for us mums. School runs, washing and ironing, housework, cooking etc. Plus working part-time. There's not enough hours in the day. Don't know how I had the time to work full-time before!! Hope I can get some crafting done before I go away. Will miss my cardmaking when on holiday. May have to sneak some bits in my case! Better not put my craft knife in though, may get stopped at customs!! LOL.

Mum's Mother's Day Goodies

Hi all. Hope you had a good Mother's Day. I know it's a sad day for those who's mums are no longer with us but I am sure they are all looking down on you to make sure you're ok. Fortunately, even though my mum drives me nuts sometimes LOL, I am lucky enough that she's still here so I make the most of it. Unfortunately, as I work on Sundays, that means I can't visit her on Mother's Day. But mum and dad are coming over later so I'll give her the goodies I made then.

I made a bag and covered a candle (fire hazard I know!) with Papermania papers and used flowers, ribbon and gems from stash. I bought a box of choc brazils which are mum's favourite and jazzed them up with more of the same range of paper and more flowers and gems. The sentiment on the bag is made on the computer. Excuse the photos of the garden furniture in the background!! The back windowsill is the best place I've got to take photos! LOL. Thanks for looking.

Mother's Day Giveaway

The lovely Sarah at http://wwwcardoasis.blogspot.com/ is giving this fab hand-made gift away to a random selected person tomo so why not pop over for a look and your chance to win.... All you have to do is leave a comment on her blog and say what makes a mum special.... Good luck.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside....

Had a really nice day at Littlehampton. Not really that much different to when I was a child. It was quite windy but sunny. Walked along the beach threwing stones in the sea as the tide went out. Then had full English breakfast in a cafe. Visited the lifeboat station to show Emily where they launch to save people. Then went in the fair. Played mini golf and went on some rides. Ate hot donuts and ice cream. Made sandcastles on the beach. Typical English family day out!

We really enjoyed ourselves so will go back later in the year when it's a bit warmer. Hope they still do donkey rides along the beach. If not, there's always the little land train to go on.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside
Oh I do like to be beside the sea
Oh I do like to stroll along the prom prom prom
Where the brass band plays diddly om pom pom...... sorry got carried away there! LOL!

St George's Day challenge cancelled

Decided to forget about my St George's Day challenge as I've had no entries. Hope I didn't upset anyone, wasn't meant to upset you. Just thought I'd raise a bit of patriotic pride in good old England. Oh well. Never mind.

Woo hoo, I'm off to the seaside tomo

Yipee, we've all had a fairly crappy week this week so decided that tomorrow we're going to Littlehampton for the day. Sod the housework. LOL. Even if we just walk along the sea front for an hour it will be nice to have a change of scene.

Hubby's birthday was on Tues but we didn't do anything as we're saving for our Majorca hols (14 sleeps!!) and he's had bad eczema on his face, which he suffers from now and again, so went to the docs on his birthday and is on antibiotics for the week. Nice present.

Emily has conjunctivitis in both eyes but is getting better thanks to antibiotic drops from the docs. We won't be letting her play in the sand as that won't do her eyes any good, just go for a walk along the front will be lovely.

I've had a bad week as the big Rome order from last week, which I had a nightmare with the couriers for last Friday (see OMG I AM SO ANGRY post). I basically mucked up half the order and any profits made have been lost plus I'm out of pocket rectifying my error!! Tim my son is the only one who seems to have had a fairly good week, touch wood.

So we're off to the seaside tomo so no crafting. Oh well, blow away the cobwebs before work on Sunday (on Mother's Day!! lovely!) Have a good weekend all. Hope to post some cards next week. xxxx

New challenge blog

One of my blogger buddies Denise has started a new challenge blog starting 23 March..... http://oorchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ why not pop over for a look.... it's not a cardmaking challenge for a change.

Blog Candy ends 23 March

The lovely Jak at Crafters Kitchen has lots of fab candy to giveaway, ending 23 March, to celebrate her birthday. Why not pop over to her blog for a look and your chance to win....

http://crafterskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/03/blog-candy-give-away.html

BAD DAY

I am having a really bad day, to match yesterday. I had a big order from Rome last week for 36 wooden wands from my dragon website. I had an email yesterday to say 9 were wrong, I had another email today to say another 9 were wrong. So now, any profit I made has been eaten away and I'm now I have not only lost all profit but am out of pocket! NOT A HAPPY BUNNY.

Sorry no postings

Sorry I've not posted any cards etc for a couple of days. My daughter (who's almost 5) has been off school with conjunctivitis in both eyes poor kid. We got to the docs yesterday and got eye drops so it's getting better. It's really hard to tell a 4 year old to keep her hands clean and not rub sore eyes!! Poor baby. Must do crafting tomo, need to make my mum's mother's day gifts.

RIP Natasha Richardson

I was really sad to hear that Natasha Richardson had died today. She was so beautiful and not that old (only 2 years older than me) and it's such a shame that a small thing like a bump on the head had such awful consquences. My heart goes out to her family.

MIL Mother's Day Card & Gifts

Memory Box Lid & Inside

I made these for Mother's Day for my MIL as she's coming over today and I work on Sundays. The card is made with 2 sheets of paper patchworked together. Then I've decoupaged flowers from one sheet. The memory box is made using 4 different sheets from the same range of papers from Papermania. Gems, ribbons and blooms from stash. I made the sentiments on the computer. The candle was bought from Asda for £2. Hope you like them, hope she does too.

OMG - I AM SO ANGRY!!!!

Can you believe it? I waited in all day for a courier to collect a parcel from me. It's for a customer in Italy who ordered £500 items from my dragon website. It cost me £61 for this collection with insurance.

I had to pop out for literally 10 minutes to collect my daughter from school. I left a big note on the door for the courier's attention saying gone to school round corner back in 10 mins. When I got back OMG he'd been. B***** typical. There was a card through the door telling me to ring to reschedule collection.

The customer service operator I spoke to was very helpful, he could tell I was angry and when I explained that I have to take/collect my daughter he rescheduled for Monday taking the times into consideration.

I then rang the call centre where I booked the courier through (who I paid £61!) The girl I spoke to was not at all helpful. She obviously didn't care that I was spitting mad. Didn't care that I have spent lots of money for a courier for an important customer. I didn't lose my cool even though I am furious until she said "don't speak to me like that I'm trying to help you" (clearly she was bored and didn't give a stuff!) So I said "well you're not, don't p*** me off any more than I am already" and slammed the phone down.

I'm not proud of myself for swearing at her. I know I wasn't here so it's my fault!! But why can't these places be more specific with their collection times, ie 9am-1pm or 2pm-6pm instead of 9.00am-5.30pm, especially when I am the customer paying loads of money for their service. They clearly don't want my business and I will be going elsewhere.

It's a good job I don't work in the day isn't it? I've now got to go back to my customer and say that I'm sorry you won't get your big order when I promised you would. IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY.

Sorry for the rant!!

Megan 6

This is for my niece Megan who's 6 tomorrow. She's into horses so I thought this was really cute. I used the fab Jolly Nation Horseriding Lady decoupage and placed it on papers from stash. I made the sentiment on the computer and used blooms and brad from stash.

Get Well Soon Nan

I made this using the beautiful Build a Blossom - Monotone which the very talented Jak Heath at http://www.crafterskitchen.blogspot.com/ has allowed us bloggers to download for free. Visit her blog and download the blooms yourself. They're really beautiful. In cream, blue & black and white go take a look.

The card is for my elderly nan who's been in hospital this week with heart problems. I used the backing sheet provided in the free downloads, then made the sentiment on the computer and the beaded hatpin from stash. Sorry the card pic is a bit wonky, still getting the hang of photographing cards, LOL. Thanks for looking.

Help

Oh boy, I'm tired. But I'm trying to get ideas to make cards. I need one for hubby's birthday next week, my cousin just got engaged so I need to make a really original one, my nan is ill so needs a get well card, my niece is 6 on Saturday and I've only half made her card. It's the Jolly Nation Horselady decoupage which I've made but need a background and have no idea. So many cards, so little time. Oh well, will think about it. Any suggestions will be gratefully received. Night night....

Fab Candy till 15th March.

This is the fab candy on offer at the lovely Karin's blog to celebrate 25,000 hits and 1 year blogoversary. Congrats to her. Pop over for your chance to win.

http://karinhoeve.blogspot.com/2009/03/heading-towards-2500-hits-candy-time.html

It's a Patchy One - Daring Cardmakers Challenge

The challenge this week over at http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/ is "it's a patchy one", they want you to use patchwork on your creation. So, here's mine. I used Dovecraft Floral papers and cutout the butterflies from the green sheet and decoupaged them. I used glitz it sparkles on the bodies then created a sentiment on the computer. I added a charm bought at the Make It show and beads on wire from stash. Hope you like it.

These are the papers I used.

Raffle ticket book

I'm selling raffle tickets for my mum and dad's Easter raffle for the kids ward at Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton where Tim was treated in 2002. I decided that the raffle ticket book was boring so spruced it up a bit with dovecraft papers and flowers/gems from stash. Hope you like it.

Marie Curie Create a Card for Cancer Care

I made this using new Papermania Spring papers for the Do Crafts / Marie Curie Create a Card for Cancer Care Campaign. For details on how to join in go to http://www.create-a-card-for-cancer-care.org/ They ask for donation A6 cards which will be sold in their shops for £1 which all goes direct to the charity. The website shows where to get your special card bags and where to send the finished cards. It's a very worthy cause so join in....

Daisy & Dandelion

I made these 3 Daisy & Dandelion cards from a decoupage kit I bought yesterday. Very good value at £2.99, which gives you 4 sheets of die cut decoupage and 4 sheets of backing paper.

Milk carton

I made this milk carton when Funky Fairys had their challenge, but then realised that it's not their papers so didn't finish it. I decided to finish it today. Flowers, brads and paper from stash. Hope you like it.

Naughty girl!!! Hee hee hee!!

Oh dear, I just popped to the local craft shop to buy Do Crafts Creativity magazine and some Daisy & Dandelion bits, Papermania paper and Marie Curie stamp set just fell into my basket. How did that happen? I don't know. Wasn't me.

Exploding memory box for mum

I finally gave my mum the exploding box I made for her. She's said everyone loves it and she's really pleased with it too. I'm so glad. It took a long time to make but I enjoyed making it. http://clarescrafts.blogspot.com/2009/02/exploding-memory-box.html

Copper card

I made this card last night from my craftwork cards goody bag I bought at the Make It Show last month. I used an idea from their website www.craftworkcards.co.uk I think it's simple but effective.

Fab Candy

Wow! There's some fab stamps from Pink Gem Designs on offer for 2 reasons. Janet is celebrating her 1st blogoversary and 50,000 hits. Well done. Pop over for a look.

http://pinkgem-janet.blogspot.com/

Roman Gladiator Tim

My son Tim probably won't thank me for posting this, but at least I didn't post it on Facebook where all his mates could see!! LOL!! When he was in year 6 at juniors (4 years ago) they did Romans and had a dress up day. We made his costume all out of card and paper mache. I think we did a really good job. We made his "kilt" out of strips of paper with 2p coins stuck on. The reason I posted this is that I was talking to a colleague Ellie last night about making kids fancy dress and how easy it is if you put a bit of thought and effort into it. So I've posted this so she can see my handiwork. Hope you like it.

Pirate Emily

This was the pirate costume Emily and I made for Talk Like A Pirate she had at school in September but I forgot to post the pics. The costume (trousers, waistcoat, eye patch and red headband) was fancy dress from Asda £4. We made the sword, hook and parrot on her shoulder from card and paper mache. Hope you like it.

Another award woo hoo....

Thanks Joanne, http://www.craftingjoanne.blogspot.com/ for giving me this Top 10 Fav's award. It's really appreciated. The rules are that I must pass it on to 10 others so here goes:

1. Han www.han1173.wordpress.com/
2. Sam www.yetanothercardblog.blogspot.com/
3. Lea www.englishautumn.blogspot.com/
4. Susie www.susiescards.blogspot.com/
5. Clare www.clarescraftroom.blogspot.com/
6. Denise www.craftycrafterdenise.blogspot.com/
7. Lana www.sweetpeaspapercreations.blogspot.com/
8. Karen www.cozy-frog.blogspot.com/
9. Sue www.hammersue1sblog.blogspot.com/
10. Rozzy www.rozzyb.blogspot.com/