Congrats to Sue on her 2nd Blogaversary

Sue at Sue's Krafty Kards is celebrating her 2nd Blogaversary with some fabulous blog candy. In order to qualify she has asked her blog visitors to complete this list of things they have done. I've highlighted the ones that I have done in red.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world/Disneyland Paris
8. Climbed a mountain I've climbed Helvelyn in the Lake District
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (School production of Pirates of Penzance!)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train (yes in Malaysia, from Kuala Lumpur to Taiping)
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Made a Snow Angle
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Stood in the rim of the Grand Canyon
32. Been on a cruise (a river cruise from Moscow to St Petersburg)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (it's just down the road lol)
35. Seen an erupting volcano in person.
36. Taught yourself a new language (learned a little bit of Italian this year)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David (yay, this summer)
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight (not since I was 14 though)
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (had a caricature drawn of me when I was 21)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling (snorkelling in the Med)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre (movie theatre in California)
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (and finished one)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Cookies for charity (lots of times)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Been given flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (only once as they had terrible trouble getting any blood out of me)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter 6
9. Saved a favourite childhood toy
70. Visited Buckingham Palace
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt or blanket
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Been to the top of the Empier State Building
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (many times in our local paper to do with work)
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Prince Charles, Princess Anne, First Minister of Scotland Donald Dewar and Cabinet Secretary for Education Fiona Hyslop (Scottish Parliament)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Thanks to Sue for the chance to win this gorgeous blog candy and well done on the 2nd Anniversary.

The Simple Woman's Day Book

For Today...

Outside my window... everything is very green due to the warmth we have had recently and then lots of rain.

I am thinking...about my little cat who has not been at all well.

I am thankful for... my DS1 and his girlfriend arriving home from the US safely.

From the kitchen... Pork chops in BBQ sauce, corn on the cob and new potatoes

I am wearing... navy cotton trousers, coral coloured t-shirt

I am reading... A Sarah Paretsky novel

I am hoping... that the rest of the week goes as well as today.
I am creating... an altered item from my garden

Around the house... everything is quite tidy as I had a big clean up at the weekend.

One of my favorite things... chatting with my cyber-friends on the forum.

A few plans for the rest of the week... I have a student graduation to attend on Wednesday, not too many meetings and four 17 year old girls arriving to camp in our field on Friday :o

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

The lilies are looking particularly lovely in the garden just now.

Another Cupcake card

I based this card on one created by Di Oliver for Bubbly Scrumptious I loved the torn squares and stitching, so used the idea for a card for my son's girlfriend's birthday. The chippie flower has been painted with acrylic paint, with a bit of pearlised card for the centre then covered with glossy accents. Papers are Stemma 'Something Sweet'.

Lunch and Dinner !

More details about what I ate today on my other blog Farmersgirl Kitchen

Something Completely Different - Postcard, Faces

I haven't been keeping up the the 'Something Completely Different' challenges due to holidays and general laziness lol! However, I like the idea of the new theme of Postcards, below are details of the challenge:

"POSTCARDS"

size 6" x 4"

any colour any style unless stipulated by the weekly theme
can be used either way, 6x4 or 4x6

So, the theme to kick us off this month is:-"FACES"

I used paper scraps and a peeled paint Distress Inkpad to create a collage background. Then stamped the Comedy and Tragedy Masks (from Dimension Fourth) as my Faces. The flower stamps came from the US as a gift so not quite sure what they are, but to me, flowers also have faces. The flowers are coloured with Sakura pens. As it was a postcard, I wanted to include a stamp, so you get the Queen's face as well!

DCM - Blue & Green

Hi there, Vanessa set the dare this week for Daring Card makers, this is what she has dared all the card makers to do: Finally, onto this week’s dare, and as you will tell from the title...I want you to use blue and green on your cards – they must be the predominant colours, and as the old saying goes...they should never be seen together!! But we all know how they can work beautifully together – so show us what you can do!!

I used K& Co Garden collage Flat Paper, card is Coredinations. 'It's your Day' stamp is Studio G, flourish stamp is Paperartsy. I 'card-lifted' the layout from a card by Rachel Jackson in Craft Stamper March 2009.

DCM Special for PostPals

Make a Child Smile

This week the DCM dare went as follows:

All I want you to do is make a card with sick children in mind.
It's best to avoid ‘Get Well’ cards and just aim to make something that is cheery and will bring a smile to a sick child’s face.

Now I can hear you saying….so, what make this such a ‘special’ dare?

Well, it’s special because this week we are very proud to be linking up with Post Pals, an organisation that was set up to create smiles for children who suffer from life threatening and long term illnesses.

As part of the dare, and the most important part at that, I would like you to actually post your card to one of the children listed on the Post Pals web site.

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not a sentimental type, but reading the stories of the children on the website really got to me. I was hoping to make a card for each of the children featured, and if I get time this week, I will complete the job. Anyway, here are three to be going on with.

The Flower Fairy came from a freebie calendar from a craft mag, stamp is 'Stampin Up'. Sketch Kathy's Waffle Sketch File No 9.
The Boys Rule card is all papers and stickers from the Doodly Doo Boy kit by SEI. Sketch by Inspirational Card Sketches No. 20
The Charlie card uses some of the Doodly Doo papers and some digital elements by Ellie Lash from the 'On the Move' freebie, which I printed and cut out.

I'll get these posted off to the kids on Wednesday.