Winter Wonderland Challenge - just in time

My playing weekend started early - I've just managed to finish a card for the challenge at Winter Wonderland. I had a pile of card magazine freebie papers which I was going to pass on to a friend at work who also makes cards but then I decided to do this challenge at the last minute and the top of the pile of papers was a Christmas with red and white.............. no stamping on this one as all the Christmas stamps are in a box with other boxes piled on top - that would make too much mess getting them all down! The scanner wasn't really being co-operative but I managed a reasonable scan in the end!

 

 Perhaps I should look through the papers again before I get rid of them! At least I've managed to make a start on next Christmas's cards now!

Happy Crafting

Caz

Back Again

Yet again work has taken over and everything has gone on the back burner! I worked last Saturday and this week has been manic - Wednesday and Thursday we were both involved in presenting some training at our training centre near Newark. It was a good two days but the preparation and setting up took a lot of time and effort, especially while trying to do the normal day job too! One of the advantages of us both doing it was staying away on Wednesday night - the Saracen's Head Hotel is a historic building and we had a four poster bed and a huge tapestry on one wall! The bathroom was a little better than we usually get in company booked hotels:

Next week is going to be just as bad with three days out on meetings so this weekend is going to be play and no work starting with Lou and I going shopping tomorrow!

First Challenge

Well, it may have taken nearly all weekend but I've managed to complete my first ever challenge!! I came across Friday Sketchers on one of my blog hopping sessions and decided to have a go. So this is it although I couldn't scan it as the flowers were too bulky and even with a little bit of pressure to hold the scanner lid down, it still wouldn't focus properly so out came the camera!

I've posted the picture taken with the flash as the one taken without looks very flat and boring!

I used one of the Whiff of Joy Angels coloured with pro markers and some Stampin Up backing papers. The little flowers were an impulse buy from Joanna Sheen's special offer section ages ago that I'd never found a use for and I decided to give it a little bit of sparkle with clear glitter wings, a little bit on the flowers in her hair (although the flash is making it look more than it is!) and some liquid pearl dots on the petals around the "for you".

It's taken so long as I was having trouble finding any card in my stash that the pro-markers didn't bleed with but I managed in the end although I don't know where I got the card from........ I was pleased with how the colouring came out though as I haven't used the markers very much at all.

Even though it took a lot longer than my normal cards, I've quite enjoyed working from the challenge's sketch and think I'll do some more - it's better than staring at a blank card and wondering what to do!!

Well, I'm pleased to say my arm has not given me any trouble today and no pain killers so I hope tomorrow being back at work on a PC all day doesn't cause any problems - I don't mind the time off work, but not being able to craft is no fun at all!!

Happy Crafting!

Caz

Snow Victim

Not much happening here this week! Last Saturday I took a slide on the snow and landed heavily on my arm so no crafting this week while a nursed a very sore and stiff arm and shoulder, not to mention a stiff hip and back but fortunately no blood lost - too well padded to do anything more than bounce!!!
The advantages (?) - no work (yay!!), no ironing (yay twice!!), catch up on some reading (yay!) and remind myself why I stopped watching Create and Craft some time ago (is that an advantage?????).
The disadvantages - no crafting :-( and no cross trainer use............. yes, I know you could say that's an advantage, but for a seriously lazy person like me that had just got into the right frame of mind to do something about the few extra pounds (stones?) that I need to lose, that is definitely a dis-advantage as I will really struggle to get motivated again!

Well, the arm/shoulder has definitely responded well to being rested on a hot water bottle for a few days and I have actually managed to gesso 4 6"X6" canvases today which were the ones that have been sitting very forlornly in the corner of the den since they were bought back from the Graphicus Retreat in November. (Don't ask what was on them - let's just say it wasn't very artistic!!) Now I've got over the sheer panic of being faced with not one, but four blank canvases to fill, I think I might actually do something with them!!

So maybe I'll have something to post on Sunday as I'm hoping I will get the chance to have a little play in the den over the weekend!!

It's so nice to see some grass in the garden now - the snow was very pretty for a couple of days but not for weeks - especially when you have a daft husband that gets his car stuck in the snow and has to walk home ;-)  I didn't laugh- honestly!!!!!

Hope everyone else is thawing out too

Caz

Snowed in!

We were sent home from work early yesterday and today we've been working from home. Unfortunately we can log in to the work system from home so no day off for crafting etc - shame!! We had 4-5 inches snow last night and some heavy snow showers this morning but it's been clear all afternoon. We went for a walk through the village at lunchtime just to see how bad the roads were - I think getting out tomorrow after the predicted freeze tonight is not going to be very clever so maybe it'll be another "work at home" day.

It doesn't really show to good effect here, but the tree outside our dining room window looks really pretty.

This is the path up to the village - I was busy making a mini snowman on top of the post while waiting for Ian to finish taking his snow pictures, not realising I was being photographed! It was so pretty and such a shame we had to get back to do some more work!

I'm off now to try and get an hour's crafting in before bedtime. I'm still trying to get the projects finished from November's Retreat weekend. I've finally got my last assignment sent off for my Psychology course now so I should have plenty of time to finish off the projects and get some photos posted.

TTFN - stay warm!

Caz

First Post of 2010

Well, this has got to be good - not only another post so soon, but a few more photos that I found buried in the wrong folder on my laptop and also a facelift for the blog - impressive!!!! Just a couple of cards and a reminder of what the Den looks like on a "good day"!!!
I hope everyone enjoyed their New Year celebrations - whether partying or quiet. We went for the quiet option apart from when Big Ben struck, then we were swapping mobiles as we spoke to various family members scattered around the country and it got a bit manic for a while!!
Today has been spent trying to get my head round WordPress as I was going to swap the blog over to there - I must be really stoopid as it's supposed to be easier to use but I got so tied in knots, I ditched it and am staying with Blogger!! Also had another little play with my Christmas present - the wonderful Wizard - I'm looking forward to Sunday when Ian's Dad has gone home and I can spend more time in the den having a good session with it - I must remember to put the camera on charge and keep up the good work of putting photos on here.
Well, that's my bit for today - just off to wash the kitchen floor  - it never ceases to amaze me how much mess two cats can make!!

How Long??????

Well, I can't believe how long it's been since last posting on here! This year seems to have flown by as we have been so busy.
The most important event must be my "baby" leaving home and moving into her own flat. After the three of us having a week's "holiday" and putting in a lot of hard work cleaning, painting, rewiring and wood floor laying, and then Lou having an extra week off too to finish off moving and us helping out in the evenings, it was finally in a fit state to move into and we've been "on our own" since 13th December - not that we've had much time to think about it with all the Christmas preparations that seemed such a rush this year.
I did have a long weekend away at the Graphicus Retreat in November which was a weekend of learning new techniques and for meeting up with lots of people from the Graphicus Guild Forum which was great for putting faces to names!! I've also been spending time doing an Open University Psychology course which has been very interesting but hard work - hopefully after my last assignment is finished and submitted for middle of January, I will be back on track for blogging and picture posting more often.
Happy Christmas and New Year to everyone following my blog!!
A few pictures from this year - mostly my cards are finished "just in time" so I never manage to get photos!!:

Ink Pad Storage Unit

Well, work has well and truly taken over for the last few weeks but things are improving now and the new computer system that I have been helping to test will be rolled out on 3rd May whether or not the bugs have been fixed!! No more testing now so time for me!

I have had a little bit of me time in the last couple of weeks though and the above photo is the result. I was fed up of lifting the box of ink pads down from the shelf and getting concussion from escaping pads - plus one pad hit the floor and its lid flew off and no matter how hard Lou and I search, we just can't find it!! The unit is based on one for Stampin Up pads found on Rebel Inker's blog which I've adapted to fit Ranger and Stazon type ink pads (hopefully the link works). It's made from foam board that you can by packs of in Hobbycraft. 5 sheets in a pack which is plenty for one unit but unfortunately we needed two!!! I didn't realise we had so many ink pads (plus Lou has the Whispers carrier of 30 pads on her desk-they're half dried out though so they don't count!!!).

I've also spent some time this weekend finishing off all the monthly club cards from Little Clare so they're all in the 'completed' box now. I was a bit lacking in inspiration after I did the last Guild one stamp challenge so these were quite good to get me back into making cards again! So out came the elephant stamps - Pickle and Onion - from Papermania to go with the elephant cards from Little Clare. I think that's enough cute cards for the moment and I might now get back to something a bit different.








Lou's been adding to her My Little Pony herd for the last few weeks - I didn't know you could get big ones!!! I'm hoping she'll put her photos on the memory stick for me tomorrow so I can put some on here - they are amazing!