It must be Autumn ...

.. someone has flicked a switch and the weather has just changed.

I have bought the Stampin Up Wonderfall stamps and Autumn Accents Bigz Die.  They are lovely - so I decided the shed needed to have a new wreath, my existing one was spring flowers.

I bought a polystyrene wreath and got the hot glue gun out.  I really like it, in fact I love Autumn, its my favourite time of the year.

Bye for now - Cx

World War II in Lytham St Annes ...

the weekend after we got back from our holiday we went to Lytham St Annes to see what the World War II weekend was like.  The weather was better on the Sunday so off we went.  As we were looking for a place to park the traffic was halted for this ....

 There must have been about 60 vehicles and lots of people dressed up driving along the main street in the town centre.  Everyone had stopped to watch.

After that we made our way to Lytham Green.  It was really good fun, lots of stalls and events, including this poor chap been made to run up and down (with everyone cheering him on)

 There was so much to see and do - I was quite happy have a walk around.  The vintage clothes and hair dos were fabulous.  I even saw a young lady pushing a war time pram - even the baby was dressed up.

 Next came battle on the front - very loud and entertaining - we had a fab day out.

Bye for now - Cx

Sail away ...

each time the cruise ship left its port there was a sail away party.  To be totally honest we didn't really attend many of these - apart from the final one which was advertised as a 'The Great British Sail-away'.

It was really good fun, a really good old sing-a-long.  We had all been given Union Jack flags the night before, I think the ship made the most noise when singing along to Tom Jones -  it was brilliant fun.

Oh well - now we are back it really is back to reality.  We have to clean and cook for ourselves and I don't come home after a good night out to this on my bed!

Cx

Barcelona....

I've never been to Barcelona before, what a lovely and very lively city, this is only a short post as I wanted to share the photos from a market at La Rambla.

I love food - this place was a real attack on all of the senses - brilliant

 

When I got back to work I found out that one of my ex bosses and a very dear friend was leaving the company I work for.  Sad to see him go but great to know that he is happy in his decision to leave.  This is the card and gift bag I made for him using Mosaic Madness and lovely Raspberry Ripple / Crumb Cake from Stampin Up

 

 take care and bye for now - Cx

The Cruise Blues

I must admit I had heard of the cruise blues but never ever experienced them - probably because we have never been on a cruise before!

We booked months and months ago and even though J thought it would be "like Butlins on water" even he has come back to dry land wanting to go on another.  We booked with P&O and had a lovely holiday in the med.  We all agree it really is a holiday, none of the old taking it in turns to read your book, look after the kids etc.

The cruise ship was massive ....

 

 

 apparently there were over 3000 passengers on board and 1500 employees, but with 19 decks and all that space it just didn't feel crowded at all.

This is a picture of the atrium.  I spent many a happy hour in here, having a coffee and people watching whilst J sat out on deck - he sat out that long one day he ended up looking like kung fu panda - forgot to take his sunglasses off whilst he was sunbathing !!

Most afternoons saw ballroom dancing classes.  It was lovely to watch, J wouldn't take part so I got him to promise we would learn when we got back to the UK.  That's another story. 

I found a dance class and off we went last Wednesday.  I was sooo looking forward to it but we didn't even walk through the door.  Stupid, but when we realised we would be the oldest in the class both of us chickened out.  How silly, I'll never get him back to another one.

For the record this is a photo of us both on one of the formal nights, we really enjoyed dressing up, the entertainment was superb as well

 

I met this guy when I went to buy his CDs after watching his first show... he was absolutely brilliant.  He is a fabulous musician and vocalist.  J led the standing ovation on the first night -  we went to see him again for his second performance - his name is Elio Pace, he tended to do cover versions on board the cruise - think Billy Joel.  This is his website, he makes my drive to work a lot more bearable at the moment - http://www.eliopace.com/EP/Elio_Pace_Official_Website.html

Anyway, bye for now - Cx

 

Dance like crazy ..

We had a great night last night.  A friend from work, who I've actually know for about 26years now celebrated her 50th birthday.

This is the invitation we received

my feet are still aching.  We had a fabulous time.  Julie had booked a live band - I think they are a local group called The Love Rats (electric guitars, drum kits the works).  Absolutely brilliant, everyone danced all night, they even played Status Quo, and I am sure there will be a lot of photos on facebook later today of us all 'rockin all over the world' with our inflatable guitars!

This is the card I made for Julie, made with Stampin Ups Calypso Coral and Simply Stars Stamp set, and as the dress code was GLAMOROUS I had to throw in a bit of gold bling

Bye for now and have a lovely weekend - C x

A first for me ...

In between a lot of things over the weekend I held a craft class with Crafty friend Linda. 

I've never done anything like that before, but I loved it.  Everyone (new and experienced card makers) joined in, shared ideas and had a fab time making these - we managed to get a last minute booking at a local village hall

 

 

We had a lovely time, its was a fab way to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

We used 2 of Stampin Ups stamps for the cards - Swallowtail and Papillon Potpourri and the new colours for the ink pads, just hear the names of these
- baked brown sugar
- coastal cabana
- crisp cantaloupe
- pistachio pudding
- strawberry slush

The theme for the day was summertime and butterflies.  Very appropriate considering we have such lovely weather at the moment.
Bye for now
Cx

An early start to a busy day

Its a Sunday and not normal that the alarm clock would go off at 5am!!.  J is doing the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride again this year.  So with bikes on the back of the car and friends collected off we went. 
J is collecting money through just giving for his sister who died at the end of May (a very sad time for us all in the family).

 

 And finally off they went, as I type this blog, and by the wonderful tracking device on iPhone I know they have left Old Trafford football ground and heading in the right direction.  I'll set off at about 9.30 to drive to Blackpool to collect them.  Hope they are safe on their travels.  cx

He knows a bargain when he sees one

so - I got back from a long day at work with a lot of travelling involved, went to the kitchen on auto pilot to make a cup of tea.  "Did you see the flowers in the sink" said J, they are a present from me to you.

They are nice and I'm not going to say anything but they were obviously purchased from the bargain bucket - he'd left the price tag on - reduced to 35p :) Lets see how long they last.  I suppose its the thought that counts.  Cx

Born to shop ...

... Last week when I went to craft friend Carole's we made some note books.  Born to shop ... Forced to work.  It does feel like that sometimes, but we are so lucky to have good jobs with a great company. However, that doesn't stop us doing the lottery and wishing!!

My book is on the left, Carole's on the right.  In fact we have a craft challenge on a regular basis.  It started when I went to see Carole one Saturday having bought some ribbon that I thought would be a challenge to use ( orange and turquoise dots !!). We managed to use it (of course) and we both loved that it made us think and craft differently.  Since then we've made bird houses, scrapbook pages, shopping bags and lots of cards. It's a lovely way to spend and evening or two.

I'm off to the shed now to start sewing a tunic top. John Lewis had some really lovely amy butler fabric in the sale when we went to Cambridge. I couldn't resist and bought 3 different ones - see I knew I was born to shop. Bye for now. C

x.

New Stampin Up catalogue released today

Well, it's here. The new Stampin up catalogue is released today.  Click on the link, it really is lovely


http://su-media.s3.amazonaws.com/media/catalogs/EU/20130701_3nv82G1a_AC_en-EU/files/mobile/index.html

Check it out, I just love the new stamps and inks.  If you would like to be my first customer please email me.

Cx

Happy birthday (x2)

The first card I made was for Marcus - our neighbour. I used some wrapping paper to bring back memories of music on vinyl.  I don't know about you but I find male cards quite difficult. 

The 2nd card was for my craft friend Linda. I used a woodware stamp with white embossing powder and then used my pro markers. 

 Bye for now. Cx

A busy weekend ...

we have had a lovely time.  Js sister lives about a 40min drive from Cambridge so after work on Friday and following a 5 hour drive :(  we arrived.  We had a lovely time on Saturday...
We saw a lot of this....

 

 

 the weather was lovely so we also saw a lot of this ....

We had a picnic in the park, followed by ice creams from the shop

 

 And something very strange on the trees, it was like a silver plastic,  I am sure I saw this in the newspaper recently, I think caterpillars are responsible

On the way to Cambridge I did a little hooky in the car - and changed my keys from this....

to this.  Much better.

 

 

Oh - and just before leaving Lancashire to travel south - this arrived,

bad timing as I didn't get time to open the box.  Its my Stampin up order, first one ever.  I cant wait for tomorrow, when I'll get to have a play with my new ink and stamps.  Bye for now. Cx

Day 2 - not quite as I had planned

I am on week 3 of a 5k running plan and went out (running and walking) for 21 minutes this morning.  I am really pleased Ive started this again - the energy running creates certainly sets me up for the day.  A few years ago I started to run and managed to complete the Great North Run.  Wow I cannot believe I actually did it.  When I got to work a halt was put on my diary when I got called out of work as M (middle son) was poorly sick at school.  I carried on working at home and then to the shed for a little creativity when hubby got home from work.

T - our eldest son wanted a pocket putting on his Tshirt ! good excuse to get the sewing machine out - he seemed really pleased and started to add up how much he could sell these for - he never misses an opportunity to make a bit of money.

 

 

Have you ever had your craft skills commandeered by a teenager ! its a nice feeling actually.  I remember in my mid teens we would be out in new outfits each week (handmade).  We thought we were the bees knees!!

Bye for now, I'm off to a friends tomorrow night for an evening of craft - I cant wait, we even have an agenda, I need to pack paper clay and moulds and a change of clothes as I'll go straight from work.  Cx

Hello and card making for my friend

Hi, well this is my first ever ever ever blogpost. It does feel a bit well erm strange really, kind of writing to myself and to be honest I've never been one for keep a diary. Oh well we'll see how it goes. 

 This weekend has been very crafty. I've been making some cards for a friend at work, the boys having been playing football and we went to our neighbours 40th birthday party. 

The first of the 3 cards I made for Lindz was a Christening card. I should explain that most of the stamps I use tend to be from stamping up. In fact, that's something else that has happened this weekend, I've joined stampin up as a demonstrator (v excited ! more about that as things progress!)

Apologies for the photo quality - I need to get that camera charged up.  The stamp set for this card is called bundle of love.

The next card was a 40th for Lindsey's friend, i used stampin ups swallowtail stamp isn't it lovely, so much detail.  In fact this is done in ink - you should see it when it's heat embossed - fabulous. 

 And finally, it's Lindsey's mums birthday soon, this card is a 3 sided one and take a peek inside and ive used another of my favourite stamp sets, summer silhouettes. I just love the flowers. 

Right then,  I think that may be it for my first post. Phew. A nice cup of tea is required. Bye for now. Cx