Alma's Birthday

Last week, it was my lovely friend Alma's birthday, and since I know that her parcel has arrived safely, it's OK for me to show you the card and little gift I made for her as it won't spoil the surprise!

Alma is well known for loving two things a LOT - tea and the colour green.  So, with these two things firmly in mind, I made her birthday card:

and also her gift, a little wall hanging/plaque:

It started out mainly green, not sure quite how so much pink managed to sneak in (other than that I love the pink/green colour combo!)  Still, Alma tells me that she loves it, so that is the main thing!  She also tells me that it will be hanging in her craft room so she can look at it when she is crafting, and that is such a lovely thought!

Carole x

Cutty Sark

The other day whilst I was searching for something I came across an envelope containing a few photographs that I had had reprinted (you know how it is) some time ago.  As I had been wanting to do a scrapbook layout, I decided to use these photos, even though I have a couple of cards that I need to make far more urgently, but sometimes you just have to go with what you are inspired to make!

I needed to refer back to my old diaries to find the exact date - and I was surprised that it was nearly nine years ago!  Obviously my babies have grown up A LOT but that's not really surprising since Alex was 8 and Hayden wasn't even 5 when these photos were taken, and now they are both 6' feet tall.  Sigh.  I remember the day quite clearly although I had forgotten that we did those other things all on that same day, I had remembered the London Eye flight as a separate occasion!  Thank goodness I have kept all those old diaries.

I used my TK Maxx bargain We R Memory Keepers papers "Blue Vintage" (£3 for about 8 papers, the pink flock ribbon and a little pack of glitter brads - on the flock ribbon).  Maybe the page is a little girly since it features Hayden, but I just had to pick out the pink of Alex's jumper.

I enjoyed doing this page, even if it did take ages of shuffling bits of paper around, and since I found a few other photos along with these, I might just have to do another scrapbook page soon ...

Carole x

Back to Normality!

Having tidied away all of my Christmas stash, and my Crafty Corner, it seemed like I had packed away all my mojo too!  However, friends and family came to the rescue by having birthdays!  Here are a few cards that I have made and sent over the past week or so:

This is a card that I made for my Sister's new boyfriend.  I think he liked it!

It was my nephew Oscar's 8th birthday at the beginning of January ...

and my Father in Law's birthday on Friday (who would have thought that those funny glasses would still be inspiring me and helping me along with my crafting?!)

This is one of my older cards that I improved ready to send to my friend's daughter Amber (apologies to my DC friends who have already seen these older cards).

I have also made a crafty gift along with a card for a certain someone who also has a birthday on Friday, so shall wait until I know that they are safely with the birthday girl before posting pics of them!

Happy crafting everyone!

Carole x

Christmas Journal - 5th and 6th January

OK, this is the final installment of my Christmas Journal, I promise!  I won't bore you any more!  We are all ready to now move on I'm sure!

I was delighted to get the opportunity to take these photos that I had missed over Christmas!  (B.T.S. = Back to School).

A little reflection ...

The inside back cover - the beautiful out of focus photo of our Christmas Tree that Alex took for me - I just had to include it in my journal (thanks Lexie xxx)

Ta da!!!  And here it is, in all it's Wassail glory!  I love it ...

Carole x

Christmas Journal - 4th January

I was looking forward to doing some non Christmas crafting today, but sadly haven't felt very well, so haven't done much of anything, other than walk the dogs.  Maybe tomorrow ...

Carole x

Christmas Journal - 3rd January

So I have finally finished my Christmas Journal (only two days late, i.e. on 8th January!)  I have mixed emotions about finishing this lovely project!  It has been really good for me to do so much crafting, although I will admit to it being a tad stressful on occasion!  However, I have learned that simple can be effective (although not necessarily quick!) and I have gained in confidence in my journalling and doodling.  There are a few pages that are weaker (in my opinion) but overall, the finished journal makes me happy, especially as I have used my beloved Wassail papers and I get to keep them!!!

I will miss doing this project, just as I missed 52 Q&A when I finished that this time last year, but yesterday I had a jolly good tidy up of my Crafty Corner and put away all my Christmas bits and pieces, so now my desk and work area is clear, and that makes me happy too!  I had to live with the clutter during the whole of December (and the first week or so of January!) as I wouldn't have been able to whip up a quick page if I had to rummage around for all my bits.

So, 3rd January.  I had decided, when thinking about things I wanted to include, that aside from my own handwriting, of which there is plenty, I would like some of my family's handwriting too.  Herein lies the problem, and why I haven't yet posted that page.  I have done my bit, and so has Alex.  The men in my life have yet to sit down and do theirs, although they have promised that they will :(

Then I made journalling cards for everyone:

the reverse of my card:

In an attempt to hurry the boys along, I even decorated their cards for them (I had previously said they could choose their own embellishments but then I started tidying up and putting away all the Christmas stuff!)

Maybe one day I might get these cards written on ... but I'm not holding my breath!

Carole x

Christmas Journal - 2nd January

I have decided that I will keep to my original plan and end my Journal on twelfth night!  I wasn't ready to finish with my New Year's Day page but I don't have much content for the remaining few pages either!  A couple of days are sorted and I'll have to put my thinking cap on ...

The subject of this page is part of the reason I am struggling - once we put away the decorations, it just didn't feel like Christmas any more!  I wanted to use my new Sizzix die (from the sale) before next Christmas so put it into use for this page.  I also hadn't taken any photos ...

I have also been lucky enough to receive a blog award ... not once but twice!  Thank you so much  Valerie who actually gave me this award just before Christmas but I delayed popping it on while I was in the middle of my Christmas Journal, and Alma who awarded it to me today.  I am delighted that both of these very talented ladies thought of my little blog!  One of the conditions is to write eight things about me, and the second one is to pass this award on to four other bloggers. 

1.  I love to read!  Always have, always will!  I always have a book on the go (although I do finish one before I start the next).

2.  I am very much a morning person!

3.  My favourite colour is red.

4.  I have a passion for collecting Emma Bridgewater crockery, and am also very partial to Radley handbags!

5.  My favourite dinner ever is Lasagne!  (and luckily I have a very good recipe which means that it also rates very highly on my family's favourite dinner list too!)

6.  Unfortunately, I am a chocoholic.  I love the stuff :(

7.  I really don't like snakes!  No, I really, really don't like snakes.  At all.  Don't mind spiders though!

8.  One day, I would like to go to the Carribean ...

The four people that I would like to pass this award on to are:

1.  Roxy of Roxy's Creative Hot Spot
2.  Sue of Sue Lesley's Craft Room
3.  Ann of A Mad Scientist's Musings
4.  Suzie of Suzie Boo Crafts (Suzie hasn't blogged for a while, but I know she is itching to get back to it, and her crafting will be worth the wait)

Carole x

Christmas Journal - 1st January

Thank goodness it was Morris's birthday on New Year's Day, as precious little else happened around here on that day!  I blame the extremely late night the night before ...

I love my new bunting stamp, and hadn't had a chance to use it, so here it is, and with Wassail papers it makes gorgeous bunting!  I also added one of my homemade Gingerbread men - I made ten of these little guys back in November but no page had seemed appropriate for them, but knowing that I will soon be finishing, I stuck him on and hoped for the best!

Carole x

Christmas Journal - 31st December

We had another chilling out kind of day today in readiness for back to school and back to work on Wednesday, so I snuck into my Crafty Corner and did another two pages of my Christmas Journal.

New Year's Eve is officially my least favourite day of all 365, however, I was pleased with how my page turned out!  I made life more difficult for myself by doing a double page, and again for New Year's Day.  Still not decided when to finish, mainly because we took all the decorations down yesterday and it does feel like it's all over (but I am enjoying it so much I don't want it to end!)

The holly and ribbon embellishment is actually a gift tag that I had squirrelled away a few years ago because I loved it so much - I knew I would find a use for it one day, and that day arrived!

Carole x

p.s. If you ever see Chinese lanterns for sale, do buy some as they really are beautiful to watch as they float up into the night sky ...

Christmas Journal - 30th December

We didn't do much on this day other than pop to the shopping centre mainly to exchange a few gifts rather than bargain hunting.  So, I wanted to use all the photos that I have taken since Boxing Day when we all got funny hats or glasses.  The only way I could do that was to arrange them as a collage, and make a pocket to slip the journalling card into.  It's not the best page, but each tiny photo makes me smile, so that's a lot of smiles on one page!

Hoping to do a couple more pages tomorrow!

Carole x

Christmas Journal - 29th December

This was one of those days that turned out better than we had dared to hope it would be.  We hadn't seen Phil's brother for six years, so it was a little awkward to begin with but once we had been there for a while it was fine. Their mother was pleased that her two sons were together again.  We were all happy to see Phil's sister and her family, especially my four little nephews (don't know how she does it, we found it exhausting just being with them for a few hours!)

I took a lot of photos that day, but chose to use photos from the lunch table as I managed to get 12 out of the 15 people there (missing are my MIL, FIL and myself).

Carole x

Christmas Journal - 28th December

Firstly, I would like to wish all my visitors a very Happy New Year!

We have been having a bit of a lazy day here, we are all suffering from the very late night last night (and some of us are feeling more delicate than others!)  However, despite not initially feeling particularly creative I persevered in my Crafty Corner and managed to complete three journal pages.

This was a lovely day at my Mum's house in Oxfordshire, and my sister and brother and his family were also there.  My only regret is that I didn't get a photo of my Mum or Stepdad :(

Carole x