Believe

Here is the card I made for my friend to send. That's William the Westie (West Highland Terrier) with a little PSE magic (I told you my role model was Samantha from Bewitched!) you can see what William gets up to on Christmas Eve.

St Andrew's Day Tribute

I've blogged about St Andrew's Day, 30th November over on Farmersgirl Kitchen.

Kreativ Blogger Award

Sue of Sue's Snippets has given me this lovely Kreativ Blogger Award. Thank you Sue.

I have to share 5 facts about myself and then pass the award to 7 other deserving people so that we can find out a little about them as well.

Hmm, now I wonder what I can share with you without incriminating myself lol!

1. I used to work for a Member of Parliament.
2. Samantha from Bewitched is my role model (wish I had her powers).
3. I've met Prince Charles and Princess Anne and been to the Royal Garden Party at Holyrood in Edinburgh, where I didn't meet the Queen (they are all very short, in case you were wondering).
4. Two days a week I drive 100 mile round trip to work.
5. I gave up alcohol for a month, but I couldn't give up coffee.

I'm not sure I know 7 deserving people but I'll pass this on to a couple of Trac(e)ys

Tracey - Searching My Art
Tracy - Crafty Me

Ink, stamps and sticky stuff - lets play!

I saw this post on Little Birdie Secrets which showed how you could embed a printed image in a ring blank with resin. I had come across these brooch backs which I'd had for ages, so long in fact that some of them had little cross stitch pictures in them :o

I used a round punch to cut a circle then inked up with Distress Inks in Red Lipstick & Peeled Paint, stamped a design from a Tanda oriental stamp in Silver Brilliance. I stuck it in the brooch blank with glossy accents then more GA round the edge and embedded some silvery beads in it, filled in the middle with more GA and left it to dry overnight. There were a couple of bubbles in the GA so it's not perfect, but I'm thinking that I may have another go with a collage style print.
If you have alcohol inks they would work well for colouring the metal brooch setting.

All in all I had a great time making this, it's not for anyone, it's not a challenge, it was pure indulgence!

Jolly Holly-days

Here is the background provided by Jeanette over on Soartful for this week's challenge.

Here is my take on this background. The Father Christmas image is from Last Door Down the Hall, the ivy is from my own photograph and the snowflake overlay is by Flergs for Scrapbookgraphics. I did a little colouring on the holly berries in PSE too.

All the colours of the rainbow

We've got Red and Green Snowmen

Blue and White Snowflakes

and a Pink Christmas Tree

Yes it's catch up time for me on the Something Completely Different Challenge Blog! It's been a busy old time what with trips to Newcastle then London then flooding and finally going down with a cold, so I got a bit behind with my cards and my challenges.

The Snowmen image came in an image swap, the Joy sentiment is a Studio G stamp which I use a lot. Paper is from Colorful Christmas (My Mind's Eye).

The Snowflake stamp came from a magazine I used to buy in the 90's called 'Insirations' and Joanne will be pleased to know that I managed to use my cuttlebug to cut and emboss the circles - hurrah! Sentiment is a Personal Impression stamp.

The Pink Christmas Tree looks better than that, it is embossed with holographic embossing powder and the stamp is from the same Personal impressions set as the sentiment. Paper is Colorful Christmas again.

A little announcement

I'm sorry to have to say that I've been having a bit of trouble with anonymous comments coming through on my blog. It is obviously some kind of software, but I'm getting two or three of them to reject every day. So I'm going to put the word verification back on for a while. I know it's a pain, but hopefully it will stop these messages and then I'll take it back off.

There'll be tree tops glistening...

Those Daring Card Makers are at it again this time it's Jozza's turn to dare:

"I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas"

I want to see Christmas cards that are mainly white with just a hint of colouring on your embellishments or stamped image. I can't wait to see the cards you all create!

I used the Cuttlebug Christmas Tree embossing folder, swiped it with Dazzle Versamark and heat embossed with holographic powder. Then there's a bit more of that Tesco ribbon!

Happy Thanksgiving

A very Happy Thanksgiving to all my US Blog Friends

Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival celebrated primarily in Canada and the United States. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. While perhaps religious in origin, Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular holiday.

The date and location of the first Thanksgiving celebration is a topic of modest contention. The traditional "first Thanksgiving" is the celebration that occurred at the site of Plymouth Plantation, in 1621. The Plymouth celebration occurred early in the history of what would become one of the original thirteen colonies that became the United States. The celebration became an important part of the American myth by the 1800s.^{[citation needed]} This Thanksgiving, modeled after celebrations that were commonplace in contemporary Europe, is generally regarded as America's first. Elementary school teacher Robyn Gioia has argued that the earliest attested "thanksgiving" celebration in what is now the United States was celebrated by the Spanish on September 8, 1565 in what is now Saint Augustine, Florida.^[1][2] Today, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. Thanksgiving dinner is held on this day, usually as a gathering of family members and friends. Wikipedia

Thanksgiving is not a holiday that we celebrate in the UK our 'Harvest Thanksgiving' is usually in late September or early October and is celebrated only in churches, not the big deal it is in the USA. However, it's not long until St Andrew's Day in Scotland which is celebrated on 30th November.

Holidays in Hand and a Bubbly Scrumptious Bauble!

I signed up for Jessica Sprague's free class Holidays in Hand which aims to "refocus you on what matters most to you in your holiday celebrations as you go through them this year, and also to help you create an album for recording your stories of holidays past."

I haven't got very far, what with being away in Newcastle and then in London, but I did manage to print off the prompts last week and when I saw the lovely Christmas Pledge Bauble wall hanging that Ruth made on Bubbly Scrumptious I knew I had found the perfect display for my prompts!

Papers are Colourful Christmas and the ribbon is Christmas wrapping ribbon from Tesco last year.

There's cake over on Farmersgirl Kitchen!

If you want to find out more click HERE

Best Friends and a Lovely Lady

I missed out on doing the Soartful Challenge last week what with being away in Newcastle and then away to London during the week. So I'm playing catch up!

This image of 'Man's Best Friend' was last week's challenge.

I thought I would combine Man's best friend with A Girl's best friend - those lovely rocks!

Digital papers and elements by Digitreats, Ellie Lash and Pineapple Plantation Designs.

This week the title is 'Lovely' and we have this pretty lady to work with.

A bit of jiggery pokery with PSE and and we have this lady who is Lovely as a Rose.
Digital Papers & Elements by PTon Designs, Sugarplum Paperie, LLiella and Flergs.

Worst Flood in memory!

We have had one of the worst floods in memory, not just my memory or my DH's, but also the worst my MIL can remember and she is 85! I didn't see all the rain, apparently 4 inches in 24 hours, because I was in London at a conference. I did suffer from it though as my train north from Euston station was going to be halted at Preston, so I had to go to Kings Cross and get the Newcastle train. Yes, I was back in Newcastle last night! I got a connection to Carlisle from there and DH collected me from the station.
This morning we are pretty much cut off. DH went to work in the tractor and it took him an hour and half, because of all the detours and back roads he had to take to do what would normally be a 10 minute journey. The college where I work had it's boiler room flooded yesterday so it is closed and I am working from home, I couldn't have got in to work anyway. Only so much I can do as I don't have my files here.

Here is the Cheese Factory where DH works, looks like it is marooned in the middle of an ocean!


This last picture is taken from beside the house, that pond only appears when there is a flood and this time it stretches nearly to the fence of the next field. Fortunately, the house sits a bit higher than the water level. We have heard that some people in the village have had their houses flooded.

Over the Top Award

Many thanks to Gez for this award, I do like to be a bit 'Over the Top'

1. Where is your cell phone? At the moment it is charging on the dresser downstairs, usually in my handbag.

2. Your hair? I am blessed with very thick slightly wavy hair which my hairdresser tells me will do whatever she wants it too. It doesn’t always behave for me though.

3. Your mother? Is a fabulous inspiration, looks 10 years younger than she is, a talented cook and artist.

4. Your father? Died 5 years ago, he was a huge influence on my life and it is from him that I get my confidence.

5. Your favourite food? Oh dear that is hard, I love food all sorts of food. In a restaurant I would nearly always choose seafood, so perhaps a seafood platter with lots of prawns, lobster, mussels and scallops.

6. Your dream last night? I had a very strange dream last night. I dreamt I drank a bottle of Coke, I don’t really like Coke, then I dreamt that someone called out ‘Elizabeth’ and that was my name lol!

7. Your favourite drink? Coffee, I recently gave up alcohol for a month but would find it much more difficult to give up coffee.

8. Your dream/goal? Hmm not sure about that, depends on what which aspect of my life I am talking about.

9. What room are you in? Our upstairs living room.

10. Your hobby? Hobbies....card-making, cooking, blogging, photography, sewing, felting....and on an d on...

11. Your fear? - Being out of control

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Same place I am now.

13. Where were you last night? At home

14. Something that you aren't? Precise

15. Muffins? Chocolate every time.

16. Wish list item?

17. Where did you grow up? On the east coast of Scotland

18. Last thing you did?

19. What are you wearing? Baggy old cords and cosy fleece top

20. Your TV? I’m watching ‘Miranda’ it makes me laugh!

21. Your pets? An aged kitty called Jenny.

22. Friends? Yes, although I am a fickle friend, finding it difficult to maintain friendships when I don’t see people very often.

23. Your life? Very busy just now.

24. Your mood? Usually positive

25. Missing someone? I miss my boys sometimes, not that often though!

26. Vehicle? Currently Toyota Avensis Estate, planning for Peugeot 308 Diesel.

27. Something you're not wearing? My contact lenses, glasses on tonight.

28. Your favourite store? Right at the moment it would be Fenwicks in Newcastle.

29. Your favourite colour? Turquoise

30. When was the last time you laughed? Ooh not much laughing today, but I'm laughing at Miranda now.

31. Last time you cried? Can’t remember, long time ago.

32. Your best friend? After my husband, it would be my friend Avril

33. One place that I go over and over? M74!

34. Facebook? Sometimes

35. Favourite place to eat? Thai Orchid, just 2 miles down the road.

Here are the blogs that I am nominating for an award:

Craft Life
Judy's Kitchen
Tattered & Lost Ephemera
The Imperfect Housewife

Newcastle

I've been on a little trip to Newcastle with some friends. I've blogged about the lovely food we had a the Blackfriars Restaurant over on Farmersgirl Kitchen but I thought I'd give you a bit of peek on here. The photo above is of Grey Street, with the statue of Earl Grey at the top of the hill.
and here are some of the amazing chocolate shoes and handbags in the food hall at Fenwicks.

Those Sixties Hairstyles!

Another episode of 'Down on the Farm' the story of my husband's childhood!

Those 60’s Hairstyles

"This must be around 66 or 67, I would be around 10 or 11, the yard had been concreted, but unfortunately, my dad still cut my hair with, believe it or not, the electric cow clippers, which I am sure had exposed cable hanging out the back. Despite my protestations about wanting a Beatles haircut, it always looked like this. I think this was taken shortly after such a haircut.

I'm sure my sister's was the height of fashion at the time, not sure about mum's though, but at least she was wearing her nylon coat which she used to go into the henhouse to collect the eggs and then clean them ready for collection."

Kit & Alpha - Strawberry Fields "Designs by Redju of Digiscrapbook"
Fonts - Ravie & Fingerpop

Lest we forget.

The Bubbly Scrumptious weekly challenge this week is 'Remembrance'. I decided to do a digi LO to remember my DH's uncle John who died in 1945, right at the end of WWII. He was a flight engineer in the RAF and left a wife and young son.

Kits: Remembrance of Times Past - Digital Craft Cottage
Babs Dreaming - Digiscrap Girls
Never say Goodbye - Mistica Designs
Time Lines & Generations - Roxi for Digital Craft Cottage

Hello Pumpkin!

Soartful

This weeks challenge

'Vintage Seed Packet'

Here is my take on the pumpkin girl.

Kit: Digital Craft Cottage, Monthly Designer Kit Autumn Whisper

A thing of beauty...

I am sooooo pleased with this photograph! It's a lovely sunny day here today, so I grabbed my camera and the telephoto lens with the intention of getting some pics for the Digital Craft Cottage 'Snap -It' challenge. For November the Snap-It challenge is to take photos of animals or other creatures, I couldn't believe it when I saw this beauty flitting about on the brambles.

I was so excited when I realised that I could also use this LO for the Bubbly Scrumptious monthly challenge 'A thing of beauty is a joy forever'.

Texture Overlay: Shauna Burke Smith (Pineapple Plantation Designs)
Font: LD Infusion
Staple: sorry just can't find this one at all!

The Pudding Challenge!

Find out more about what I've been up to with this Christmas Pudding over on Farmersgirl Kitchen!

Of all the trees that are in the wood...

"...Of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown"

Those nice people over on the Something Completely Different challenge blog have a new challenge out for November, here it is:

So, its November...and a new challenge....this month we are changing the rules slightly. For this month each theme will be a colour and subject theme....we are hoping to help you get ready for Christmas by making Cards!...and this weeks theme and colour has been chosen by the very talented Dawn and she has chosen.....

HOLLY AND THE IVY - USING THE COLOURS, GREEN, RED AND GOLD

This was a simple card to make, I won the Holly stamp from Gez in a charity auction so it was an obvious choice for this challenge, I stamped the image with Dazzle Versamark in Champagne and embossed with Chinese Red embossing powder (it's sort of red and gold), then I used Ranger 'Worn Lipstick' Distress ink blended with a bit of sponge round the edge, a blast of Irridescent Gold Glimmer Mist, mount the image on gold card add a green ribbon and a pin featuring red, green and gold beads.

So Krafty

It was such fun to be a Guest Designer with the Daring Card Makers, they are a lovely bunch. However, I'm back on the other side of the fence now checking out the dare on a Friday to see what lovely ideas the girls have come up with. This week it is Jo's turn to set the dare and here is what she says:

"I thought that it would be fun to use a product that seems to be 'Bang on Trend' so this week my dare is....

Using Kraft cardstock :) Either as a card base or somewhere on the card - if you don't have any you could use some card board such as corrugated or even a brown kraft envelope... "

I was pretty sure I had some Kraft cards somewhere, I've had them for a long time and used them one year for my Christmas cards at the time when I was less obsessed by card making lol! So I had to rummage through my drawers, in fact I had to take a lot of stuff out and found some other things I'd forgotten about while I was there, and eventually I did find 4 of these brown Kraft cards which I'm pretty sure I got from Lakeland Limited.

The ribbon is stuff I picked up in the January sales at Tesco and the little scrap I bought in Avoca when I was in Belfast in the summer. The greeting is a Lakeland stamp (Kathy, I've got those one's too and mine still stick, hee hee) and I fancied up some plain brads with some purple glitter glue.

Happy Birthday Jenny

Jenny Cat is 17 today.

If I couldn't join an Irish Boy Band...

Journalling:...If I couldn't join an Irish Boy Band, I might try my hand as a Andy Stewart impersonator (a one time favourite Scottish singer). My failure to break into this market left me so traumatised I never wore a kilt again...and that yard still hasn't been concreted!

Continuing the series of of layouts featuring my husband's childhood photographs for Friday Photo Flashback. Here we see him in a kilt, indeed he has never worn one again, but hee hee hee, all that will change next May as our son is getting married and yes, you guessed it, it will be a kilt affair - so you will see him in Scottish national dress after all.

Kits: Time Passages - Lisa Bowman, Rebel without a pause for Digital Craft Cottage
Remembrance of Times Past - Digital Craft Cottage
Denim Fancy - Donna, for Digital Craft Cottage
Frame/Tag - Finuf

Beltane

Here is the digi-LO for the Spring Festival of Beltane as part of the November Quote It Challenge on Digital Craft Cottage.

The quote at the top of the layout reads:

It is Beltane! The Earth softens under the caress of the sun and all the world is new.

We emerge from the darkness of a long, difficult winter; our eyes drink in rolling

green hills budding branches and tender shoots. We breathe deeply the fresh fragrance

of radiant blossoms. Merriment calls!” – Selena Fox, Circle Sanctuary

Note that I am wearing my glasses, so it must be Sunday as that is the day I rest my eyes from my contact lenses. Also my fetching overalls complete with Massey Ferguson logo!

Kit: Digital Craft Cottage, Gift A Day May 08
Font: Century
Sketch: Pencillines 158