Blog candy alert!

My friend Nikky (aka Freddie Foo Foo) is giving away a set of stackies as candy over on her blog at the mo. Stackies are gorgeous flowers that you cut out and use however you want on your projects. They are yum yum yum. Nix actually gave me a set of these a while back and they are so fab! I have made another card with them today although it kind of went to pot. It was looking so good but then when I added the 3rd flower I ruined it. I guess you win some you lose some eh?

I recommend you pop over for a browse around Nikky's blog. She is very talented at craft and designs all sorts of fab papers and images too which she sells in her shop. Go on...you know you want to! Here is the card that went awry!

Funky Word Books

Anice showcased the new Funky Hand CD "Funky Word Books" on Ideal World on Monday. The show was a great success and I'm so happy to say that the CD sold out live on air (I had a feeling it would because it is awesome!). The CD is not available to buy from Funky Hand until 11th May so there is a while to wait for those of you who missed out. Anyhow, I thought I would flash the samples I made for Anice for the show :o)

The word book uses the Bad Ted collection (my fave!) and is basically a book containing my fave things as I ran out of ideas! I put the whole book through my Cuttlebug and really like the embossed effect :o)

What a fab day!

We have had the most fantastic family day today. Last night Abigail went to her best friend's for a sleepover (her first time!). I fretted all night of course but she was fine. Loved every minute of it. There were 4 7/8 year olds there and they went to sleep at 1.30am when the responsible adults removed the bulb from the bedside lamp. This is why we will not be hosting a sleepover at our house! NO WAY! lol Apparently the main topic of conversation in the small hours was who had trumped the most and who had done the smelliest! Classy eh?

Anyhow, she was clearly wrecked when we picked her up which is a recipe for disaster were we to stay at home today so we decided as the weather was nice that we would go to Dalby forest which is between York and Scarborough (nearer to Scarborough to be honest). Dalby forest holds so many wonderful memories for me and it is a beautiful place to be. We took a picnic lunch which we ate near the play area, then the kids played for a while and had a paddle in the stream (hilarious! the water was freezing and I filmed them psyching themselves up to get in - may blog that footage one day!). We then decided to do the Bridestones walk which I just LOVE. I have done it so many times I have lost count (although the last time was almost 2 years ago now). It is not a long walk (just over a mile and a half I think) but it has a couple of very steep hills to tackle. Once you get to the top of the first hill and walk across to the first of the Bridestones the view is breathtaking. Isn't it amazing how alive you feel when you do these sorts of walks? We all literally felt on top of the world.

Before we came home we called at a stunning village called Thornton le Dale. I have many wonderful memories from there too. We all had a yummy ice cream (2 scoops each - I had turkish delight and toffee flavours!) and wandered up to look at the thatched cottage by the river which is absolutely beautiful. A year pass for Dalby forest is £42 and I am seriously thinking we need to invest in one and get our butts there more often. I thought I would share some pics from our fab day, sadly my camera batteries died before we made it to Thornton Le Dale :o(
Maddie sitting on a fab log with a snake carved in it. Not sure what the aeroplane arms are all about (bless my eccentric girl!)
Pretty pretty pretty!

Took ages for Abigail to pluck up the courage to go in for a paddle!
Mads in front of one of the Bridestones

This was meant to be a shot of both girls. Maddie wanted to put her arm round Abigail which Abigail thought was a fate worse than death (that is what lack of sleep does for her!)
Love this one. I was at the foot of one of the stones as they were coming down with the sun behind them.

Little bugger pinched my shades! Have to say they suit her but they are MINE!!!

Thought I would finish with a card! I made this several weeks ago for my mate Carol who celebrated a special birthday recently (except for some reason the fact that it was a special birthday passed me by! Durr!!). I have no idea why I haven't blogged this before! I think my marbles are lost again!

DCM - Big is beautiful

Friday again - new dare time! This week the super fabby Lythan wants us to...

SUPERSIZE ME!
I have loads of enormous paper flowers that I have bought and never used. So I want to see some really big embellishments on your cards.

I loved this dare so much! I have a fair few mahoosive flowers that I haven't got round to using yet. Out came my favourite papers again (Bloom & Grow) and my favourite Penny Black stamp had another outing. Here is what i came up with.
I'm going to try and craft more this coming week. One card a week is ridiculous! lol

Fun in the sun and sneak peeks

I know I've been terrible lately. One post a week if I'm lucky! I need to make more effort on the cardmaking front or I am going to forget how to do it. I seem to have had a busy week again and before I know it the week has flown by. I really wish there was a way to slow time down. The older I get, the faster time flies. No fair!

We've had glorious weather this week. The other day I took the girls to the lake near where we live. We had a lovely peaceful hour there. The kids took bread to feed the ducks but sadly the ducks were not interested so the girls ended up eating the bread. Typical ha! Anyway as I have been so quiet lately I thought I would share a few pics from that day.

Abigail striking a crazy pose and Maddie scoffing bread!

Bless Maddie in this pic. I swear I only bought her that dress a couple of months ago and it is age 4-5 (she is not 4 til July)

Abigail - 7 going on 17! Managing to look chic in Maddie's peppa pig sunglasses.

Hmm! Less said about this one the better. Lets just say it has inspired me to start taking the iron tablets again!

Now the sneak peeks. The latest CD from Funky Hand is released on Monday 27th April at 6pm on Ideal World. This CD is an absolute cracker - Anice has done it again and pulled together the most fabulous colour collections and designs to enable you to make word books for any occasion. It's not just for making word books either - the only limit is your imagination :o)



I'll be back tomorrow with my card for the Daring Cardmakers. xxx

DCM - games and toys for boys

It's the fabby Rein setting the dare this week.

Games and Toys for Boys
put a race track, dart board, vehicle... on your card

Like so many crafters I find male cards a complete nightmare. I have had a rubbish week. I had a tooth out last week which turned into a bit of a nightmare (took an hour to extract the bugger!) and I have been in excruciating pain until yesterday when it finally started easing. I had been putting making this card off because I felt so rough. Finally last night I sat down to make it. I really hope that a flying saucer counts for this dare! I drew it onto orange card and added a fab alien sticker from a set that my mate Ruth sent me (a bargain from the pound shop I believe!). I added a planet and some stars and doodles. The sentiment uses Doodlebug rub ons. It ended up being a very quick and easy card.

DCM - Hide and Seek

Friday again and time for another dare. It's my turn to set the dare this week and I chose the theme hide and seek - include a hidden message or element on your cards. Anyhow, after setting the dare I then thought hells bells what am I actually going to make? After a little think about it and with a rough idea in my head I trawled t'internet for tutorials on making slider cards. There are some fab tutorials out there it has to be said!

I actually made 2 cards for this dare. The first one I made using this fab tutorial here.
I used Bazzil dotted swiss card, Crate Paper, ribon & lace from stash and my favourite stamp by Penny Black. I also used Papermania alphabet stickers which don't show up great in the photo.

The second card was made using this tutorial here. I think this is my favourite! I loved making these cards so expect to see more...

I used an array of coloured card from my stash, My Mind's Eye papers (bloom and grow), Papermania stickers and a very cute stamped doggy image that came from one of my Funky Hand team mates in an image swap. I'm afraid I've lost the list of who made what stamp.

Right I'm off to get ready to go out for the day now. Abigail is at my mum's house for a couple of nights, and I'm taking Maddie into town to meet up with my sister in law and family for lunch, then it's on to kids club at Borders book shop for easter craft activities. Really looking forward to the all new Red Dwarf on Dave tonight. Yippee! I can drool over the yummy angular headed Kryton. Haha I do love a square jaw and they don't come much squarer that that :o)
Just have to put a pic of the delectable David Coulthard in now. What a guy! What a jaw! Phwooaar! David, sadly you will never be mine - you prefer model types who weigh 5 stone, not Tubbs Tattsyrup lookalikes. However I can forever console myself with the fact that I have cupped your left buttock in my hand *sigh*

Happy Birthday Ruth!

Well okay happy birthday yesterday Ruth (Tip Top)! lol

As usual I was a little disorganised and the card went late. Oops. But she's got it now so I can blog it!
I used my new Tilda stamp that I got from the Harrogate show. I also made a cupcake using my new nesting dies. I also got out my Dream Street papers again. These are fast becoming a fave of mine. I loves 'em.

PBSC Easter and a toot for Funky Hand!

Over at Penny Black Saturday, the new challenge is Easter. I bought a new Penny Black stamp at the Harrogate show last Sunday and I've been itching to use it so I've used it for the challenge :o) I also used my fabby new papers by My Mind's Eye (bloom & grow). I love them so much I really didn't want to cut into them! I love the green, orange and blue colours. So very yummy! Also I am pleased to announce that I found the "c" plate for my Cuttlebug so I was able to use my new nesting dies by Go-Kreate. Yippee! I love them.
It doesn't show that well but the message on the card says easter hugs. I wanted to use black rub ons but I've run out of the letter "e" again!! Grr. So I ended up using white and they don't show so well in the photo. Ah well.

Now for the toot. Funky Hand have won North Tyneside's Retail Business of the Year award!!! This is such fantastic news and so well deserved. I love Funky Hand and Anice is extremely talented at designing delectable papers and goodies. I'm sure Anice and Ian haven't come down to earth again yet. I just want to say congratulations really. Whoohooooo! x

DCM - Feeling Fruity

The dare this week is set by Keryn...

"My dare this week is to put a piece of fruit on your card. Make your card for any occassion and use any fruit you like the look of. Scroll down and see what the design team have come up with. Cherries seem to be a particular favourite with the team at the moment"

Well cherries are very "in" at the minute - have you noticed? I've been into town this morning to get the new issue of Crafts Beautiful (I have some cards in the little booklet! whoop!) and I also popped in Next. So many of the little girls clothes have cherries on them and they are so gorgeous! I feel a spend coming on! lol

For my card I have used Kirsty Wiseman's Patti Picklicious CD again. I used the Summerbrooke Orchard collection. Possibly one of my faves on the CD!
It's all from the CD except for the cherries which I made from dotted swiss cardstock and core-dinations card. Ooh and I added the 2 u to the sentiment.

I wish I was sitting down to get the stash out next but sadly I have to don the rubber gloves and get the bleach out because I never did get round to cleaning the bathroom yesterday! Bad Joz! Naughty Joz! lol

The return of the mojo!

It's a great feeling when the old mojo comes back isn't it? Having been without mine for many weeks I was feeling a bit low and lacking confidence. Now the house is getting back to normal and I can access my craft gubbins more easily I sense an improvement. The fact that the sun was shining this morning also helped a great deal.

So first things first I wanted to play a little more with the Patti Picklicious CD. I printed a selection of yummy papers out yonks ago but they've been put to one side whilst the decorating has been in full flow. There is a stunning butterfly image on the CD which I printed onto vellum and made this card. Possibly one of my fave makes yet. I just added a touch of glitter to the wings.
It's all Patti Picklicious apart from the card blank which is dotted swiss, the lace, some green card and the doodling.

My next make was the next DCM challenge so that will go up tomorrow. Lastly I had a little play with some bits and pieces I bought from Craftwork Cards. By then the old mojo was getting a bit tired mind you! I have been doing other bits and bobs at the same time as cards, plus it was celebration afternoon at Maddie's nursery so I went along to see what she's been up to there.
Everything on this is from Craftwork Cards. I love the quality of the products and the little owls are fab! When I was at the show on Sunday, I had a set of the new stamps in my hand but for some reason put them back again. I could kick myself. The other thing I'm annoyed about is that I bought some dies by Go Kreate that are similar to Nestabilities and I can't find the bloody "c" plate for my Cuttlebug. I really wanted to play with those today :o( Grrr.

Had a fabbo time at Harrogate on Sunday

Blimey I really am not doing a good job of this blogging business. If anybody (and I doubt it really!) still reads this blog - hold on to your knickers because crafting is going to resume with a vengeance tomorrow. Honest!

I went to the Great Northern Papercrafts Extravaganza on Sunday. I love this show because it is not too big. I always make sure I go. this time it was extra special because I got to meet up with some fabby friends! I went with my mate Nikky who owns my local craft shop. This gal is a major talent so check out her blog! She also has a wicked sense of humour and we have a riot when we're together. I met up with my good mate Ruth and also got to meet the fabulous Kath for the first time. What a treat it was. We chatted like we'd known each other for years and Kath has the most delightful Scottish accent you could ever hope to hear. I've met up with Ruth a few times before and we're already planning the next jaunt (probably Eureka with the kids!). Ruth is fabbo and we have the same sense of humour :o)

Kath kindly brought treats which made me feel like a right miserable old bint as I had nothing to give. Sorry gals :o(
Now this photo doesn't do what Kath brought justice. A beautiful stamped folder chock full of stamped images, some papers and bits and bobs from Craftwork Cards and a gorgeous gift box filled with mini eggs (YUM!!!). Also she brought an Easter finger puppet kit for each of the girls and also a tube of mini eggs. To be quite honest I was rather blown away by her generosity. Thanks so much Kath. I can't tell you how thrilled the girls were with their pressies too! Expect pics of finger puppets in the near future.

We popped along to see Kirsty Wiseman while we were there. Boy that gal cracks me up! What a hoot although I was annoyed she had her camera with her. I HATE having my pic taken and here is why....

Yep I always end up looking like a DIV! I was not telling Nikky to something off on this pic. I was just saying "gerroff" because she was doin rabbit ears behinf my head. Cowbag! hehehe
This one wouldn't be so bad were it not for my unfeasably large head. Hmm less said about that the better I fink. Ooh and I look like Caspar the friendly ghost too! I'm always pale but this is ridiculous. I have recently found out that I'm anaemic again so I'm back on the iron tablets (yuk).

Right nearly finished now. Today at work a lovely lovely patient and his wife brought me some flowers. I was truly overwhelmed by the gesture. What a love he was. In fact I wanted to adopt him as my Grandad as I don't have one any more. I think old people often get a bit of bad press but I have the pleasure of meeting some truly delightful older folk through my job. Bless.

These are the flowers and behind them is the fancy new wallpaper in my lounge. The vase is standing on my fancy new (bargain) fireplace.
Here's a more detailed picLast pic - Jozza's gammy eye! This is what happens when I get a cat hair in my eye. Swelly swelly pain yuk. I think it happened at the childminders house when I was picking up the kids after work. My eye started itching there and by the time we got home I was near to gouging it out and it was almost swollen shut. After several rinsings with optrex I didn't feel quite so bad but it is still very red and swollen. We have a cat but I am very careful to wash my hands after stroking him and he isn't allowed in the bedroom so I rarely have problems but I sure wish I wasn't allergic :o(
Right that's it. No more waffle tonight. I'll be back tomorrow hopefully with some lovelies to show (mojo willing!). Ooh and I must find time to clean the bathroom tomorrow too (joy). x