Wild about you

I made this card for the sketch challenge over at http://www.stampwithus.blogspot.com/

Thank you to Lorraine for the loan of the stamp set. I think this is one I might have to buy for myself as I've borrowed it twice already. thanks also to Jenny for the blue ink and Joanne for the punch. Other than that it's all my own work. LOL

The stamping up products are:

cardstock- summer sun and pumpkin pie

stamps- wild at heart

punches - scallop edge and spiral

ink - chocolate chip

Just for the record

Checkpoint 6 - 18 miles at 2pm - 6 hours
Almost at checkpoint 7 at 2.36pm feet are hurting and he may stop at 24 miles.
Only just got to checkpoint 7 at 15.10. Nick has offered him a lift home if gets to Le Hocq where his office is. However I think if he gets that far - 31 miles, he would want to finish the lot as it's only five miles more.
Just left check point 8 at 16.19 and he's walking on. Doesn't want us to meet up with him.

Matthew decided to finish at 27 miles at 5pm. So we treated him to a healthy fish and chip supper from the Gorey Fish & Chip Shop.

Well done Matthew

15 miles in 4 hours 45

Going down hill into Greve De L'Ecq means Matthew's caught up some time but going up hill to checkpoint 6 is going to be hard.

I've finished my hybrid layout and I'm really pleased with it. Jessica Sprague's instructions are second to none as her videos take you through step by step and shows you her computer screen. You can stop the video as you repeat the steps and rewind when you don't quite get it right!! Jessica suggested matte photo paper. I opted for Jessops satin and I really like the texture. However I need to buy some more printer ink.

Next I'm going to try the challenge at http://www.stampwithus.blogspot.com/ whilst waiting for the next call. Matthew asked me if I knew where his friend Douglas is ???? And how would I know? Telepathy?

9 miles in 3 hours 15 minutes

Matthew is checking in at every checkpoint on the walk by ringing me on his mobile. He's done 9 miles so far and is at Jersey Pearl. He is behind the 52 minutes per 3 miles needed to get the plaque for doing it in less than 10 hours 15 minutes, but he's happy so far.

Whilst waiting for his call to go and walk with him - hopefully not until the 24 mile point, I've photographed my Weakest Link layout and I'm working on a hybrid layout. Hark at me. Watch this space, I should finish it today.

Spring is here

Love the new spring kit from http://www.houseof3.com/ And if you're quick it's now free to download. We're all up early today. Matthew is doing the De la Salle walk today. Last year he did a creditable 12 miles as we were leaving to go to Egypt the following day. This year he initially hoped to do 24 and according to Elizabeth he wants to do 36. I can see us having to walk with him later!! It's all very well run and has been going for many decades. When I was 17 I did 18 miles and then participated in a table tennis tournament in the evening. Wish Matthew luck.

I have a layout done of my Weakest Link appearance which I will photograph when it's light. I just need to re-adhere an element. I also bought a lovely wire photo display yesterday from the Gooseberry Bush which I hope Nick will hang soon but I will share with you later.

UFO day

Had a great day at a quilting UFO workshop today organised by Sue Harris of Caesarea Quilters. Nobody batted an eyelid when I pulled out this layout to add some machine stitching. I got everything that I took to the workshop finished which is very satisfying.

The layout is a scraplift from 2peas garden girl Stacey Sattler http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/cg_display.asp?g=1&seed_id=26980 I even had the right product. You probably can't see that I put a cross stitch in the centre of each felt flower in yellow/orange. I even managed to find the right letters in three sheets of AC stickers to write Eisteddfod.

Lucky me

I may not have won the big prize on the Weakest Link, but I had a great day at the studios. After a night at the Heathrow Sheraton with Janet and Ruth, I had two days in London. The weather was glorious. This layout is a 2peas free class entitled celebrate the season http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/education_class.asp?cl=2 Lots of scraps of patterned paper used and a green flower I'd forgotten I had. I spent the day in Hyde Park geocaching and did a little shopping and finished the day at White City watching Golden Balls being taped.

Two photos from my weekend

Doing afternoon tea to celebrate Mother's Day, need to get lunch on the go and then I'm going to do a lemon cake, some cheese scones and sandwiches to go with the delicious strawberry tart and fruit scones I picked up from the bakers near the Town Hall.

This friendly little squirrel came to within 10 inches of me whilst I was caching in Hyde Park.

And this photo needs no explanation, other than I didn't win the money but did get to the final three, voted for the strongest link who I thought was the Weakest Link and in a tied vote, he changed his vote to me. Which is exactly what I would do too. Never mind, great bunch of people and a lovely day.

Almost ready for the off

Send positive thoughts this way as I should be facing the Queen of Mean this afternoon. Then two days shopping, caching and generally mooching. I have a free ticket to go and see Goldenballs being taped tomorrow. Off to the airport now, I wonder what I've forgotten to pack? Medicine - check, tickets - check, credit card - check. all present and correct.

More blog candy

At http://www.sallys-daze.blogspot.com/ Do have a look at the videos.

A new blog

Monica, who I met last year at Gogogetaway, has a new blog she is a very talented card maker. The blog is at Stamp with Us I've just noticed they're going to do retreats too.

Two more crop layouts

Some more photos Nick scanned from slides. I used a page map, added some stitching. I particularly like the cross stitches on the bottom ribbon. Wasn't sure of a title so added a monogram and stamped over the cardstock with a swirl stamp.

I'd pick these photos out to scrap.The quailty isn't very good but they're scrapable. I then picked up some Scenic Route class layouts from a kit I purchased ages ago, which just needed photos. Unfortunately I had hoped to cut the lettering at the crop, but I didn't have the right platform, so it came home to be finished. Again I love the QK blossom font and love the size. Added some journalling blocks and it was finished.

K Werner has a great video on gathering ribbon on twopeas http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/cg_display.asp?seed_id=29135 I'm going to try the same technique but with glue. I'm not a big staple lover.

March crop

Here's the first two layouts I did at the crop yesterday. Two more to come tomorrow.

The photos have been printed for the first layout for some time and came to the top of the pile at the same time as this kit Joanne bought me for my birthday last year. I thought the papers went well with Fiona's top. In theory the layout went together quickly!! I've even used some more Fastenator bars.

I now have my favourite items in a basket on my desk together with other items that I just need to use. Now that they're in view, they're being used up slowly. I've been sorting my cardstock today and even most of my carstock scraps are sorted by colour in a ziplock bag in the same cropper hopper as the full sheets of cardstock. I've even found the Egypt themed cardstock from Club Scrap that I wanted to use up last year but couldn't find!!

Second is Red Nose Day which uses the dotted Heidi Swapp mask on a background of swiss dot black Bazzill. I spotted the felt ribbon in a box of threads I'd brought to the crop for Joanne to use, so I'm definitely using it up. Add a half sheet of busy Rouge de Garance paper that I won some time ago and it's almost done.

Encouragement

Yesterday I went to Grainville to watch Elizabeth and some of her class play in a fun football tournament. Their headmistress (seen here in luminous pink jacket with hands on hips) also came along to cheer them on. They got so close to scoring a goal but they don't kick hard enough and are generally too nice and lack that killer instinct, which some of their opponents had in generous amounts. They also played a couple of friendly games to fill in the time when they weren't playing an official game. Elizabeth (dreesed in green) doesn't really have the build of a typical goalie but she worked very hard.

The photographer from the local evening paper took a photo of their friendly game. It would be quite funny if that's the photo they used to represent the event and not one of an official game.

As February ends

I have to produce one layout today and I've managed to do a Layout a day for the month of February. Several of the layouts have been works in progress that just needed jounralling or my Scrap your Day calendar that has the paper already adhered and just needs photos and some journalling. However my in progress pile is still very big and I need to continue finishing them.

Everyone has enjoyed doing LOAD and I ahve started a new group to continue the idea at a slightly slower pace and ahve called in LOAW. If you'd like to join in the fun and complete at least a layout a week, join up at Flickr and search for LOAW 2009 to join in the fun.

New Look

Do you like it? It's a free download from House of 3 They even have a detailed tutorial (thank goodness) on how to use it on your blog. I also managed to alter the header.

There is also a housewarming party at the website and some free downloads which are only avauilable this weekend. I'm intrigued by the download with the menu planning checklist which only goes from Monday to Friday - don't people eat at the weekend???

Today is the penultimate day of LOAD and I have just about kept up. Yesterday's was an old class kit that I found whilst tidying my craft room. I used the photos from one of my first layouts that I wasn't happy with. Amazingly I had used a Xyron to stick the photos and they just peeled off the old layout and then stuck to the new one. Just need to do today's layout.

So frustrating

Blogspot has been playing up and I haven't been able to view or post for several days. However that has meant more time for quilting my quilt, which I finished yesterday. Work for the Eisteddfod needs to be in by Saturday and by tomorrow if I want Astra to take it in with the group entries. I have three quilts in this year and the show is at the beginning of March.



Here are a couple of layouts I've finished this week. I've also done about four months in my scrap your day calendar.

Half term fun

M&E enjoyed the afternoon with Fiona yesterday - swimming at the Aquasplash and then playing on the Wii. Why can't the outside of the pool be open at half term, when surely the demand is higher?

Another layout finished at the crop. I had made a journalling block but then mispelt a word so had to start again. Thanks to Liz for the suggestion of a MM journalling block and also for letting me pinch one of hers.

Coincidence

Joanne and I had both pulled the same Pagemaps sketch - mine was for these photos of Saint Maarten and Joanne's were of Jersey live. Same sketch, two completely different layouts.

Marks paper company

My LA friend Ching is on the Design Team for Marks Paper Co and has a giveaway on her blog of some of their new papers. So head to her blog and leave a comment .http://notleftstanding.blogspot.com/

Thank you to everyone who came to the crop today. It was lovely to welcome a new member Emma, who completed two pages of an album for her parents. I completed three layouts including one for my scrap you day calendar. I'm embarassed to say the last month with anything on the calendar is May and even that's not finished. I've taken the photos, but not completed the pages. So I will print out photos next for December and February and do them at the next crop

Wild about you

Crop tomorrow

And more Big Band layouts today. I started this one at the November crop. When I was tidying my room the other day I made a pile of in progress layouts and kits which have been made up ready with photos. So this layout was at the top and only needed a title. The others will be loaded into my crop back for tomorrow.

I borrowed some stamps from Lorraine called "Wild about you". I have made two cards tonight which I'll post tomorrow. E is going to a party tomorrow and the birthday girl is going on safari at Easter and her present is some SA Rands, so these stamps fit in perfectly with the present.

Day 12 of Load

And I'm keeping up. This is another cybercrop layout. My photos are much bigger than those used in the example, but it feels great to use up some old letter stickers and scraps of paper.

Two more layouts

Still keeping up with a layout a day. Matthew was enrolled into the ATC at St Ouen's church on Sunday. They all looked very smart in their uniforms. Ties have to be done with a Windsor knot, eventhough you can't see the tie for the jumper.

I forgot

to post this layout yesterday. I think it will need some adjustment though as the pop dots are too thick for the buttons and the letter stickers don't stick.

And why did I forget, as well as Elizabeth being off school again with a blocked nose, I was playing with my new fancy pants sewing machine. Now if only I could find the little baby quilt I'd made to practise my quilting on. It's here somewhere. I need to ring the shop today (closed mondays) as there are two bits missing that I've spotted.

Off to the gym now as I missed my usual Monday morning workout

ATC

This is a class on Ukscrappers by Taniwha. I got loads of brushes dirty and myself!! Matthew is being sworn into the ATC this afternoon at St Ouen's church. He looks so smart in his uniform. He had his hair cut yesterday as it was getting long over the ears and not regulation length. he's even sewn his own badges on his uniform - 6mm down from the top.

Claire

I'm working through a packet of photos and doing challenges for the My Scrapbook Nook cybercrop where my friend Ching is on the Design Team. I wanted to scrap my only photo of Claire. One of the challenges is to sew a heart which was perfect for the photo. I found the scenic route arrow and went through my tidy stash to find pinks and oranges. Lo and behold a kit came to the surface that Joanne had bought me for my birthday and the fabric paper (called Claire). The only hitch was having no pink E available so I painted it and left it to dry overnight. I stamped the swirls on the letters to make them look more cohesive.

Cybercrop

This is my precrop challenge based on the aqua monochormatic look of the inspiration given. Elizabeth has a sore tummy again today, but fortunately Maria is here this morning until I get back from highlands.

Dilemma

I have had the call with the rescheduled date for the Weakest Link - Thursday, 19 March. I couldn't say yes straight away which is disappointing. I teach on a Friday morning and a 2pm Thursday filming, means flying home on Friday. So I need to consult with my students to see if they are happy to extend the term by a week.

This morning I've done a layout using the first of the Blue Bazaar sketches / challenges. Used a scrap of the black & white paper rather than cutting into a new sheet and more Fastenator bars.

Gran Canaria

Instead of going to quilting today, I stayed in and finished some sewing, pulled this layout together and tidied, dusted and vacuumed in my craft room. I wouldn't say it's tidy, but it's certainly tidier and you can see more of the floor.

The above layout uses some of the Rouge de Garance papers I won a couple of years ago. I split the prize with Joanne as there was two of everything and I still have loads left. The papers are very bold and I find them challenging to use. But when you find the right photos to complement the papers, they don't require much embellishment. I even used some Fastenator bars as they were on the windowsill.

I came across this month long crop Boot Camp bluebazaar.com.au in which the aim is to make 25 layouts, use up stash, try out different techniques and based on themes and sketches given. The sketches are from the pagemaps.com website and I've used several of those used in the Boot Camp before.

Day 3 of Load

Last year I did a Layout a Day with Lain but only did 15 layouts in the month. SO far this is my third. Still loving the threading water punch and the MM journalling spots.

Can't sleep

So here's another layout from photos taken yesterday. No snow here so hoping airport is okay.

Update - staff are having problems getting to Pinewood so I was told not to catch my flight, even though it went on time. So disappointed

Outdoor fun

An old layout which just needed a title and journalling. That's it for today as I need to go and pack!!

More crop layouts

I'm having a desk tidy morning and my flight details for the Weakest Link have just arrived, so it's getting closer. Here are two more layouts from the February crop. All I had to do to the Easter Walk layout was do the journalling, so I reached for the closest black pen and set to work. Big mistake - horrible thick pen which messed up the layout but it's now finished.

Some layouts at last

Two layouts. The first I did last night and is another geocaching layout when we visited nick's family last year and the second is the first layout of our Caribbean cruise. Apologies for the poor photographs but it is night time here.

I have eventually used my Sure Cuts a Lot programme with my Cricut. I had to install two more bits of software to cut the St Kitts title in the font - Pharmacy. This is the font that the Quickutz font Blossom is based upon. I also used some vinyl to cut the lettering which was another first.

I've just seen a link to a tutorial on making pendants using wooden scrabble tiles. they are darling. http://www.makeandtakes.com/links/scrabble-tile-pendant-tutorial

Crop dates for next six months confirmed

Please note the April crop is not the second Saturday as that would take us into the middle of the school holidays:

10 Jan
14 Feb
14 March
4 April
9 May
13 June

See you on Saturday - get ready to be bored silly by Caribbean photos - that is if I print them early enough

We're back

And I managed to sleep through until 7.30am today, after waking up at about 5 past midnight for a very poor fireworks dispaly nearby. No photos dowloaded yet, but I promise to be ready for the next crop which I will arrange on Monday but is scheduled to be 10 January. I am missing my Autumn Leaves calendar on the window sill, they stopped making it for 2009. I'm hoping one of the earlier calendars fits the dates for 2009.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Wow what a crop

I have to admit to being more than a little nervous when Liz, Joanne and I set the challenges for today's Christmas crop. Forty two layous plus some more in Christine's bag were created and most of those layouts fit at least one challenge. Here are the four layouts I made.

Crafty Sunday

Whilst Matthew is at ATC, I've had some time to do some crafting which needs to get finished this week:
* First I sewed the borders onto a baby quilt for one of Nick's colleagues. We are going to a housewarming next Sunday so I have a deadline. No backing big enough to fit the quilt so:
* Dyed a backing to match the quilt, dyed four T-shirts that Elizabeth and Matthew are tie dyeing, overdyed a bag I've made for a challenge. The colour was described as burlesque red but in actual fact it's a gorgeous purple, which I hope works well as I didn't like the colours of the bag originally. I'm going to let them set until tomorrow as Turquoise takes 24 hours for best effect and I can wash all of the projects together. The bag is for our quilting lunch on Wednesday - so another deadline!!
* For WI (tomorrow night) we have a competition and I usually forget to do anything for it. This month it's a place card - for which I've made the attached stack of presents with a tag. I used the Cricut tags Bags and more cart - thanks Lorraine for the loan. the idea came from a video on leah Fung's blog - see sidebar

Nick has gone to collect Matthew so I'm just blogging and cooking lunch. Elizabeth is making the dessert. Matthew has a short Big band performance at the Opera House this afternoon, so I may quickly go and buy one last present and pick up some photos for next weekend's crop.

The old ones are the best ones

Matthew's 13th birthday party is almost over. They watched Quantum of Solace, ate rubbish, enjoyed the chocolate fountain and finished the evening playing Crossfire. Ching made a layout of Matthew's ninth birthday, I think, and they played the game then. Mostly the same boys again, so I must print off a photo of both parties. The boys are definitely MUCH taller and smellier.

Poor Elizabeth spent some time at the dentist today under Nick's supervision. I haven't spoken to her yet as she's getting lots of attention sleeping over at Bronte's. We didn't want to risk her having dental problems whilst we are on holiday so she has had some of the nerve removed and a filling poor thing.

What have I Done?

I had a call from the Weakest Link to ask me to keep 2 February free. They'll confirm next week whether I am needed on that date.

Countdown to the Christmas crop

Less than two weeks to the Christmas crop and we have some special fun and Christmas giveaways for you. To win extra tickets for the draws you can participate in one or more of our challenges:

1. Joanne’s sketch challenge – uses five portrait orientated photos – 1 4 by 6 and 4 smaller photos. Uses scraps of patterned papers 5 extra tickets for participants

2. Completed layouts 1 extra ticket for each layout

3. Product challenge 1 extra ticket you will be given the product when you arrive (and it's gorgeous, I might keep them myself)

4. Packaging challenge use the packaging from one of our prizes in a layout or card 2 extra tickets

5. Sue’s Inspiration / sketch challenge Original layout uses two 6 by 4 landscape orientated photos, but you could also use one large portrait photo too. Circle punches and buttons might be useful

6. Liz’s challenge 5 extra tickets for participants – details to follow


So pack some extra photos in your crop bag and be prepared for fun, participation is entirely optional but there are some lovely prizes – some of which are new products to me. Everyone will get two tickets just for being there. Gingerbread muffins are in the freezer, so the countdown has begun.

Last Blues Brothers post

Well at least for this year. The show was brilliant, I had no idea what to expect. A minor blip in that I hadn't made it clear to Joanne where the show was being held. She was at the Opera House and we were at Fort regent. Joanne made it to her seat with two minutes to spare, both amazing and worrying!!

The school band have been asked to perform again next year and also do four numbers. They have been renamed the Black Rhino Orchestra. They got a good write up in the local paper too. I would recommend seeing the show next year.

Time to get ready to go and see Beaulieu Year 6 sing at the Soup Kitchen in the Royal Square. Elizabeth has raging toothache despite having a temporary filling put in yesterday so is not in the best of moods. However I have an appointment for a proper filling for her with my dentist tomorrow. I don't think toothache and Caribbean islands would be a good mix.

More Blues Brothers

Well the day has arrived and in 30 minutes the Blues Brothers Xmas show will start with the Beaulieu and De la Salle Big Band doing two numbers to open the second half. here's a link to the local paper of a photo they published last week with Matthew in it. Can you spot him? http://www.thisisjerseyphotos.com/cgi-bin/store/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=2008/October&image=0596893.jpg&img=0&search=blues%20brothers&cat=all&tt=&bool=or&tfile=tn_0596893.jpg&numtolist=45&sortfiles=1

Getting ready for Christmas

At our quilting group which meets on a Wednesday we have two Christmas lunch traditions -
1. a handmade gift swap and
2. a challenge
I was feeling very pleased that I had finished my gift pictured here, when Matthew brought home a letter asking for us to make up a goody bag for a lady at the Jeanne Jugan residence. Another job to add to the list!! Fairy cakes are already baked for tomorrow's Beaulieu Xmas fayre and Elizabeth has just asked if she can test them - NOOOOOOOO was my immediate answer!!

I just need to find the pattern for my challenge item which I have started but mislaid the pattern for it. Just 10 days left to find the pattern and complete the bag.