Playing Catch Up

I've been busy trying to catch up with my household chores today before my laundry took over the utility room LOL.

I also found a little time to play with my new metric Scor-pal. I'm really a feet and inches type of gal but I do like this board. It makes scoring UK sized cards sooooo easy and I managed to cut and score 50 card blanks in very little time at all.

My mum phoned tonight to ask me to make invitations for the 90th Birthday of the Jamestown Parish Church Guild. I'm off now to select some suitable cardstock and search for the appropriate logo. Will post my creation later.

Fee x

I went to visit my friend Kerry today to help her package up some of her new stamps. We worked very hard with only a brief stop for lunch (which was fab as usual). I don't know how she finds the time to make home made soup in the middle of the week LOL. She also very kindly gave me several stamps as a gift for helping out and I can't wait to play with them. However, I will have to wait a day or two as I need to focus on some household chores tomorrow.

Till tomorrow.


Fee x

Holiday Monday Outing

It's the long September weekend here in the Glasgow area so Jim, Laura (& her friend Jenny) and I headed northwest to visit Cruachan Power Station near Dalmally. It was a pretty miserable day weatherwise but we had a great time. I usually try to do something fun but educational hence the visit to a power station LOL. You board a little mini bus that takes you right into the heart of the mountain to see the turbines that power the water from the dam down into Loch Awe and then they pump it back upwards to refill the dam ingenious. I also found out is was man called Edward McColl from Dumbarton (the town where I was born) who masterminded the whole concept. You learn something new every day - even at my grand old age. Afterwards we headed into Oban and did a bit of shopping (buying sweeties) and the girls had fun posing for some photos (see above).

I've also posted a couple of photos showing some of the cards I managed to make yesterday when I was supposed to be cropping LOL. The first card is made from Pistachio Bazzill, Crimson Bazzill and the snowflake paper from the Tis the Season range from Bo Bunny. I used my Martha Stewart loopy punch for the edge. The second card image is by Elzybells and it is layered onto Blue Jean Bazzill and Doodlebug patterned paper. As usual it is twinkled with Glamour Dust.

Fee x

Early Riser

I'm up early today cos I'm going to crop with Val, Izzy and Sandra YIPPEE! We are going to try to last 12 hours but as I didn't get much sleep last night I may fall asleep mid afternoon. LOL. I'm so looking forward to trying out a couple of projects that Val and I have been planning so watch this space.

Yesterday, I went to IKEA (again) to get some more bits and pieces for my craft room and ended up spending £110 on drawers etc for my Expedit Unit. I still need a 120cm x 60cm white table but they are out of stock at the moment and I'm hoping DH will find it in his heart to go and get it today if it is back in stock. The room is coming along nicely and all the painting is done, the colours are very pale green and pink. Flooring is laid, unit built and I'm in the middle of putting everything back and tarting it up a bit with the aid of my trusty punches and cricut machine. I hate putting everything back cos I never want to throw stuff out but I'll have to. I've posted a sneak peek but that is all for the moment until I get myself organised.

Till later.

Fee x

Thank Goodness Thursday is Over

I've been chasing my tail all day today and anything I seemed to organise had to be re-organised or rearranged WAHH!!! First of all I had arranged to meet Kerry at Braehead at 12 noon to deliver some My Minds Eye cardstock that she needed. Silly me forgot that I had a hair appointment at 12.15pm and I had to re-organise to meet Kerry at 2pm. The day went on like that and I was held up on the M8 at the Erskine Bridge for 45 minutes on the way home too. I whizzed home after I managed to get over the bridge and made dinner and shipped Laura off to the Youth Club at 7pm. After last nights exploits I was tired and sat down for 5 minutes, the next thing I knew the phone was ringing - it was 9.30pm and I was supposed to have collected Laura at 9pm. I made a mad dash to pick her up and although she was fine I felt terrible for falling asleep and not being there to collect her. When I got there the Youth Club Leader was very nice and announced "Laura - your Gran is here to collect you". Exit one very annoyed Mum LOL. I suppose being an older Mum I could possibly be her Gran but I'm not and I get a bit ratty when people say that. Especially since the guy was a bald, social worker type with a scarf round his neck trying to look trendy (and I bet he is older than me).

Anyway enough of my ranting - here is a little card using one of my favourite Penny Black stamps. Cardstock is Crimson Bazzill and I've coloured the organza ribbon using a copic marker. Hope you like it.

I'm now off to bed and I hope tomorrow is a better day.

Fee x

Being a Mum Can Drive You Nuts!!!

I had a lovely day today with my BF Val. We decided that we would use our collection of Stamping Up stash to make some cards. I managed to make 3 cards (hangs head in shame), I should have been able to make more but we were too busy chatting and munching LOL. Apologies for the poor lighting but its now 1.30am.

When I got home I asked my DD to finish up her project for school which is due in tomorrow Thursday (today now) she said she could not find the document on her pc and it wasn't until 8.30pm that she confessed that she had deleted it. Of course she didn't have a paper copy so it was back to square one. I was soooo mad and she was sooooo upset because she had put a lot of work into it for the last few weeks. For speed I said I would type it for her if she dictated it and we set to work. We have been at it for hours and I am now exhausted. She still has a few bits and pieces to do so she will be getting yanked out of bed at 6am to get it finished. I did feel a wee bit sorry for her because she had put quite a bit of effort into this and I don't know how she managed to delete it.

Anyway tomorrow is another day and as long as she gets up out of bed she may live to see age 13 LOL. If not then ..........................

Till later.

Fee x

Found It *!?*!?

The cable for my camera had fallen down the back of my desk and I didn't find it until this morning when I started to hoover. I wanted to post one of Laura's Christmas Cards cos I liked it so much. so here it is - isn't she cute?

The gloss painting is underway but it is a slow process. This is the first time I've ever done any real painting so I'm taking my time.

I decided to take this opportunity of sorting out some of my stash before I put it back into the room and that is an even slower process. Where did I get half of this stuff and why did I buy some of it I have to ask myself. I think I'll need to donate it to Laura's Guide Company cos there is no way I can keep it all.

More later.

Fee x

It's Official - We Have Gremlins

These little people have managed to hide the lead for my camera. I can't find it anywhere Grrr!Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Today was another busy day and I was up at 6.00 am to give my craft room a second coat of paint. I just finished the third wall when DH's friend Colin dropped in to help assemble my new furniture and put up a couple of shelves. My paint brush was mothballed for a couple of hours to let the boys get macho and impress me with their use of tools. I've now finished the walls and just need to do the gloss painting tomorrow.

I went along to my sewing class tonight and put my name down for the Christmas Classes too (glutton for punishment eh?)

I'm a bit tired tonight probably due to all that rolling, bending and stretching so I'm off to bed now.

See ya soon.

Fee X

Craft Room Update

I've been busy painting my craft room with the aid of my new BF (Percy the Paint Pod). He is so well behaved and has made the job ten times easier than it would have been with my old roller and paint tray.

On the craft front there was a Scor-pal class today and we made a lovely little clutch bag using Bazzill Swiss Dot and Chatterbox Boy Plaid Cardstock. I'd like to say the girls had fun making it but things got a bit heated when they tried to use the Stamping Up Scallop Border Punch LOL. I've never heard so much moaning in my life LOL. Well we did say we would teach you something new!

Laura has to design a Christmas Card for her Art Class at School and she decided to make a few cards today (at the last minute). Good old Mum and Auntie Val came to the rescue to give her a few tips. She ended up with three cards but her favourite was a Manga Stamp from Sugar Nellie. I wasn't sure if I liked them at first but this one is lovely when it is all coloured in.

Till later.

Fee x

Oh the Joys of ...........................

IKEA *?!*?! I've said it before and I'll say it again I hate that store. Not the products but the layout and whole process of trying to lug stuff onto a trolley, wait half an hour to pay and then not being able to take my trolley out to the main car park makes me hopping mad. On a more positive (and calm) note I did purchase my new Expedit shelving and a few other bits and pieces for my new craft room at home.

I was unsuccessful in finding a painter that could do up the room this side of Christmas so I bravely (OR STUPIDLY) decided that I would just do all the painting myself. In order to make it as easy as possible I bought myself a Dulux Paint Pod and I love it - it does everything but put the kettle on LOL. It made painting the ceiling an absolute breeze and I can't wait until I can start putting the emulsion on the walls.

I'll update you with some more progress tomorrow.

Fee x

Too Pooped To Party

Apologies for not blogging last night but I had a pretty busy day yesterday and my sewing class was last night. I decided not to do anything else with my roman blind but use use the time to cut out curtains for my craft room. I had been struggling with these for a while mainly because of the volume of material required. Anyway they have all been cut out and I now need to pin the side seams ready for stitching.

I tried waiting up for the new PTI September release party but I was so tired I feel asleep on the sofa with my knees bent and my laptop balanced on them OUCH! I wakened around 6.15 am and couldn't move I was sooooo stiff LOL. I switched on my pc to see what I had missed and saw on the BBC News that the actor Patrick Swayze had passed away from pancreatic cancer. He will probably be remembered best for his roles in Dirty Dancing and Ghost. I loved both of these movies and would watch them continuously no problem at all. RIP Patrick.

Patrick Swayze & Jennifer Grey as Johnny Castle & Baby in Dirty Dancing 1987 - FANTASTIC

Till Later.

Fee x

Friends, Flowers & F(ph)otos

We had a Christmas Card Workshop today and Lesley (my PTI fixation partner in crime) came over to join us. I was afraid we might scare her off because we can all be a bit cheeky to each other and it can be a bit overwhelming when you come into a group of people that know each other so well. I needn't have worried cos she fitted in just fine and could hold her own no problem. Izzy had forgotten half her stuff and kept having to borrow bits and pieces and poor Lesley kept her supplied with what she needed LOL. The bill is in the post Izzy.

I think that Margaret Anderson takes the productivity prize again as she had made 17 cards by the end of the day. Well done Margaret you showed these "young" things (LOL) how it's done.

Here are the two cards that I did with the group to get our inspiration going. The patterned paper on both cards is from My Minds Eye and the cardstock is Bazzill. The first card has punched out snowflakes in various sizes which have been twinkled (as usual) and white organza ribbon. The greeting is by Hero Arts. The second card uses white swirl organza by Creative Expressions and the border was punched using my Fiskars Threading Water Punch. Letters are cut out using the Sizzix serif alphabet and twinkled using irridescent glamour dust. Boy did I get into a mess twinkling all these letter.

I have also posted a photo of a lovely bouquet of flowers I received from the lovely Emma Booth. Emma got married recently to her handsome Hungarian Fiance Zoltan. Val and I had helped her to design and make her wedding invitations. She popped in with the flowers and a card to thank us for our help and to show us her fantastic wedding album which was done in storybook style. I have never seen anything like it before, it was absolutely gorgeous. Almost makes me want to get married again (NOT!).

Enough of my ramblings, I have schoolbag packing to supervise and shoe polishing to check before I even think of sorting out the uniform situation.

Till tomorrow.

Fee x

What A Day!

Bad start to the day when I couldn't find 2 of the card samples for the card class. They didn't turn up until later afternoon when Val found them in a drawer WAAHH. I'm obviously losing it big time cos I'm sure I looked in that drawer. Anyway everyone seemed to enjoy themselves so I suppose it wasn't that big a deal but it seemed like it at at the time as I almost drove myself nuts looking for them.

After lunch it was time to make Val's Exploding Box. As usual she did a great job (even though she says she didn't). The end result was lovely and I'll post a photo of it soon. Poor Val was feeling a bit under the weather today and I hope she feels more like her "old" self tomorrow LOL.

I'm feeling a bit wiped out tonight so think I'll try and get an early night.

Till tomorrow.

Fee x

Where has my mojo gone?

I tried all afternoon to design some cards and for the life of me I just couldn't get my mojo going. My BF Val was with me but I'm afraid we were both suffering from the same problem. We tried to rectify the problem firstly by eating a Twirl, then we had lunch (fabulous Morton's crispy rolls), then we managed to consume some chocolate biscuits and muffins. Come to think of it we probably didn't have time to make cards LOL. Here is the one card I did manage to make (Val helped with the bow as I was being particularly dim at that particular time). I wanted to do something a bit different from the traditional Christmas card hence the reason for the pink/black colour mix and no greeting on the front. Patterned paper is by Ki Memories and the stamps are from PTI Sign Language. Tree is twinkled with glamour dust and the ink is Hibiscus Burst. I do like these stamps but you have little room for error with this set as the images fit together extremely neatly. Perhaps I'll get on better tomorrow - well I can but try.

Till later

Fee x

Hanna Card

Todays card is made using one of my favourite Hanna Stamps. I just love her outfit and can only imagine what she must have in all those bags (a girl after my own heart LOL). Papers are a bit of a mixture of Bo Bunny (Green), SEI (Dotty) and My Minds Eye (Stripe). Her hat is twinkled and decoupaged to add a little bit of interest. Ribbon is plain brown satin from my own stash and she is coloured with Copics.

I heard today that my sewing class will also be offering a short 6 week class dedicated to Christmas crafts and I think I would like to have a go. Anyone who knows me knows that I am no seamstress but I really quite fancy doing this and I think I'll sign up. Watch this space!

Till later.

Fee x

Today's Temptation

Mmmmmm a yummy coconut cake doesn't this look tasty. It actually puts me in the mood for baking but as I forgot to buy eggs I won't be baking tonight. Well I suppose tomorrow is another day.

I'm feeling quite tired tonight but I think it might be my new medication as they did say that it might make me a bit drowsy. I've been busy helping Laura with her maths homework tonight and thankfully it wasn't too challenging. The problem for me is that the way they want the kids to work out the math is different from when I was at school (yes I know it was a long time ago LOL).

Clever Boy

Today was a day for catching up with friends. First of all I met my friend Janette at Silverburn and then I had lunch with Kerry at Starbucks (also in Silverburn). It was great to catch up and lunch was great so thank you Kerry. On the way home I stopped off at IKEA (on how I hate that store). I think it is because I get so disoriented in there. I was looking for a £5 sewing set for my evening class which I managed to find after about a 45 minute search LOL. I decided that I was going to make a Roman blind for my kitchen which is particularly brave since I don't have a clue when it comes to sewing. The class went quite well and I managed to cut my fabric and lining, pin it and machine stitch it. Not bad for someone who is challenged in the sewing department. Roll on next week.

We had a special visitor in the shop on Sunday when my BF Val brought in her gorgeous little grandson Jack. He is such a good natured wee boy and he played quite happily with his toys and the cupboard doors. Just before they left he discovered he could twirl the paper racks round and round and he was also able to take some of the papers out too. Looks like we'll need to keep an eye on him cos he can now move like lighting and I have no doubt that he could strip a rack of paper in 60 seconds LOL.

He is a picture of the card I've been making since Saturday - YES Saturday! I kept getting interrupted and it took me until this afternoon to get it finished. The image is from Everday Button Bits by PTI and I twinkled a couple of the buttons for some extra bling.

Till ra morra.

Fee x

Sometimes you just gotta have .........................

Nachos! Laura and I had a mad notion to have some nachos today and they were fantastic. All the sensible, health eating rules were thrown out the window and we tucked into this plate of nachos - naughty aren't we?

Today I met up with a lovely girl called Lesley to take delivery of some stamps from PTI. We had decided to get together and share shipping and customs charges as it works out quite expensive to import these babies but boy is it worth it. I hope to get some time tonight to have a little play and if I do I'll post the results. Thanks Lesley for meeting me in Glasgow it was very kind of you. Off now to see what I want to order next month. Till later.

Fee x

Looking Forward to ...................................

One month to go and counting down! A friend of mine brought it to my attention today that World Card Making Day is on 3rd October this year. No pressure everyone I just thought I'd mention it LOL.

Does this cake look fab or what!!! I'd like to say I made it and I certainly would like to eat it as it looks absolutely yummy but I didn't and I can't. This gorgeous creation comes courtesy of Martha Stewart.

Now I've got the munchies - again!!!

Till tomorrow.

Fee x

Bit of a Health Scare

Apologies for not blogging since last week but last Thursday morning I got up as usual, went downstairs, sat down on the sofa and then experienced tingling in my arms, shortness of breath and chest pains. To cut a long story short I ended up in hospital for the entire day getting a range of tests. I'm happy to say that my heart seems to be okay and it may have been caused by a reaction to some new medication that I am on. I did get a fright as I have never experienced anything like this before and I hope never again.

Today my BF Val and I spent the day crafting, or to be more precise Val crafted and I faffed around trying to make some cards. Not my most productive of days but I did like the cards I made. We did find the time to eat a whole apple tart though LOL. It was yummy!

Till tomorrow.

Fee x