Wednesday 27 April 2011

DT Calls

As I have no pictures to share right now, I thought I give yo the heads up on some DT Calls with which I think may be worth your while

Manufacturer:
Due:  15 May 2011 - see the details HERE
(Smooch paints and inks, chalk inks, glitter, etc)

Unfortunately, this one is opne to US residents only at this time but I am lucky enough to receive goodies through the Donna Salazar DT from Clearsnap and I can tell you that their products ROCK. I have been a life-long fan and user of their cats-eye chalk inks and I can definitely recommend that any US girlies (or boys) should go for this gig.

Kit Club:
Due:  15 May 2011 - see the details HERE
I have been a long time fan of Chjristine's Kits and in fact was lucky enought to work with her very first Kit waaaaay back in 2006.Her Kits are an extreme success and the forum is always worth a visit.
This call is open to Internationals too!

Sunday 24 April 2011

Easter Fun

What a GLORIOUS, sunny weekend we have had in the South-East of England. Couldn't ask for anything more when you can sit outside until late in the evening without a cardigan on - and that in early/mid-April. Crazy, but very much appreciated.

On Thursday morning I bought myself a pot of miniature daffodils - they were all still closed. Within one hour one of the blossoms opened completey and by Thursday midday ALL of them bloomed in full.
Like I said - crazy!

Anyway - we have had Mr P's mum over here for the last three days and we enjoyed a few walks along the seaside, indulged again in some chips and (of course) Minghella Ice Cream - yummy.


Yesterday we went for a day trip to Portsmouth - look what poor Mr P. had to put up with when we sat foot on the ferry: his mum texting like mad and his girlfriend getting the crochet hook out



But we did pay him some attention as well once in a while

We shopped ourselves silly, really. I was so pleased that I did not cave in on Friday and gotten a wooden wind chime on the Island, which sold here for £17.99. I was hell-bend on getting it but something made me reconsider. I could gotten the EXACT same chime in Pompey for - wait for it - £6.99!!!!
I went for a different kind of wooden chime for the princely sum of £4.99 and the "saving" of £13.00 I made by not buying the expensine chime on the Island, I spent on lots of patriotic stuff for next weeks Royal Wedding.
And of course I bought and flew the St. Georges Cross yesterday as it was {{St George's Day}}

Even though we spent most our days outside during the lovely weather, I still managed to hook up in the evenings and finished a two-sided pot holder (inspired by {{Alice}}

Front view:
 Back view: 

and a smaller granny-square cushion (inspired by {{MeMeRose}})

What the heck did I do before crocheting entered my life?

And just because I was creatively speaking on fire, I also finished another layout using my {{April Kit}}
Cardstock: Bazzill ** Papers: Scenic Route, Bella Blvd, 3ndypapir ** Deco Tapes: Retro Nana, Pretty Tape **  Stickers: Rusty Pickle, Jenni Bowlin ** Tag: Rusty Pickle ** Mist: Cosmic Shimmer ** Stamp: Papermania ** Other: Pearls, Bling, Embroidery Floss, Blossoms

Hope you all had a creative and fun Easter Weekend too!

Friday 22 April 2011

We have a winner!!!

Memba {{this}} 100 Follower Giveaway?

Well, we have a winner and I am saying  
CONGRATULATIONS 
 to:
Julia 20 April 2011 15:30  
Congratulations on all your follers Kim! Great giveaway too!! 

Woohooo, chickee - well done!
And just so you all know - there will be another Giveaway once I have hit another landmark followers. Not sure which number yet as they seem to be climbing pretty steady on their own, so let's see how generous I feel when I reach 150...

Wednesday 20 April 2011

Twisted Sketches #97

Come and play along with us at {{Twisted Sketches}} where we have another sketch with twist (medium) for you.

Of course I had to go wild with my mists, right :) and I dipped into my Kit for {{April}} - you know just how fun it is to use up some so-called "old" papers to scrap with? I have had this particular Scenic Route paper for years and it almost feels like anew discovery :)

**click on image to enlarge **
 Want to re-create this layout? You can purchase most of the ingredients directly from Papermaze
Cardstock - Bazzill "Sandbox"
Paper - Scenic Route "Salem - Boardman Street"
Mist - Cosmic Shimmer in "Ancient Copper", "Golden Mint", "Meadow Lush"
Scalloped Circle - Pink Paislee "Artisan Elements"
Stickers - Rusty Pickle "Merry Grinchmas Alpha"
Punch - Woodware "Star Regular"
Distress Ink - Ranger "Peeled Paint", "Walnut Stain", "Black Soot"

Donna's Tuesday Tutorial and Easter Eggs all around...

Good morning everyone - what a superb day it is supposed to be in the UK today...well into summer like temperatures...and I have to work *sighs*

Anyhow, while I soldier on through I would like to leave you with a link to the most recent {{Tuesday Tutorial}} from {{Donna Salazar}}. If you haven't watch on of them yet you have missed a bomb.Not only is Donna extremely funny, her tutorials are totally wicked and she has the most generous giveaways lined up.

Speaking of giveaways, did you know the annual Easteregg hunt is back at {{Papermaze}}? Yup, that's right - read the skinny {{here}} and you could be the winner of a £25.00 gift voucher...woot woot.

Sunday 17 April 2011

Sunday Musings

We had a lovely weekend, Mr P's sister, brother in law and nephew came to stay and we really a had great time. Thankfully the weather played ball as well and we were able to have a nice walk along the coast yesterday. Of course it would not be a proper walk on the seaside if we hadn't indulged in some chips and on the way back stop off and get the famous {{Minghella ice cream}}. There is nothing like a bit of Rum'n'Raisin...yummo.

I also managed to get myself some real great bargains for my balcony - some totally cute bird ornaments for 50p each but the best one had to be this baby:
When I went to pay for the ornaments the shop assistant pointed the tea-light holder out to me noting that it was on sale and when I asked how much I fully expected her to say "£7.99" or something like that. Well, it was the princely sum of £1.99!!!! 
Yeah, I know!
At that price it would have been utterly rude not to buy it, right?
If you have a {{Nauticalia}} in your area, you should definitely go - I understand that all of them have sales like this happening.

Of course I had to start getting my balcony ready for the new arrivals, and I started to clean up the mess he last winter left. Here is my favourite corner at the moment (excuse the ladder in the background - we will have to find another home for it, as it bugs me there)

You may not think so but we do get birds to visit our wee bird table. Generally it is very early in the mornings but we have seen some later during the day too.

And you didn't seriously think that I would go a weekend without crocheting, right? Just in time for our visitors I put the finishing touches to my brand new granny stripe cushion.

Now please excuse me while I carry on the balcony and catch some rays at the same time - later on my stepper is calling out my name *sighs*

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone.

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Out in the fields

Even though I did not make the DT for Lily Bee (which is totally fine - I am not upset about this at all), I told you that I would continue to showcase layouts using their fabulous products, right?

Well, here is one I created combining two of their challenges - one being a {{sketch}} and the other the recent {{paper accents}} challenge. 

** click on image to enlarge **
Cardstock: Stampin' Up, Papers: Lily Bee, Stickers: Jenni Bowlin, Mists: Cosmic Shimmer

And on the crochet front I am on a roll right now - I finished another pillow case the other day. I am so pleased with this one - so much so that I have a hard time NOT taking it into work and using it to rest my back against the chair. ILOVESIT *sigh*
Time to complete: 3 days
Yarns: King Cole Premier DK, Sidar Country DK, Patons Fab (all left-overs, so no idea on the total grams used)
Cost: no idea...but cheapo for sure

Oh and quickly before I forget - one of my good buddies{{Lacintha}} has opened the doors to her scrapbooking business {{The Paper Passion}}. I am so excited for Laci and her shop and wish her nothing but huge success. It looks fabulous so far and I know that I will definitely be shopping with her (she has Mr Huey's in stock.. eap...need I say more???!!!)

And last but by no means least, here is something you should all check out too if you are into grungy vintage chic crafting, here is an amazing online class for you all. 
 The fabulous {{Donna Salazar}} is holding this 5 week class over at {{My Creative Classroom}}. Check out all the deeds{{here}} you'd be surprised at how fabulously affordable the sign up fee is (lots of bang for your buck, girls).


Sunday 10 April 2011

100 Follower Blog Giveaway

I was totally surprised the other day that even without me doing anything specifically I have now broken the 100 Follower mark on my blog - how wicked is that?

Thank you all who follow and read, and to those of you who also stop by and comment - I appreciate you all more than you can imagine. 

And because you are such a lovely bunch of peeps, I am having a lil giveaway. There is nothing you need to do other than leave a comment before 20 April 2011 and I will randomly pick one of you to win this lot:

6 sheets of 12 x 12 Bazzill cardstock
6 sheets of 12 x 12 double-sided papers from Scenic Route, Pink Paislee, Prima, Cosmo Cricket, Dream Street Papers, Scribble Scrabble
2 clear stamps from Stamps Away
2 wooden stamps from Hero Arts
2 journaling cards from Fancy Pants
2 journaling cards from Rusty pickle
2 die-cuts from My Minds Eye
1 set of wings from Melissa Frances
1 pack of journaling spots from Jillybean
1 metal plaque from Karen Foster

Like I said, I am not asking you to jump through hoops to qualify for this giveaway - just comment and you will be entered in the draw.

Good luck!

Friday 8 April 2011

Crochet Friday

I know, I know I haven't shown many crochet WIP's (Work In Progess) lately - mainly because I have to FP's (Finished Projects) and only one WIP, which you already know - see {{this post}}.

Last week I took delivery of the final 1200g of yarn to finish bluey
Yarns purchased from:  http://www.purplelindacrafts.co.uk
Bluey is slowly taking shape but because I have decided that it will become a bed-throw, it has turned into a bigger project than initially thought.
I think I have another month to go before it will be finished - but I am not complaining, I love hooking that particular pattern.

And then there was another parcel, the colourful contents make me so happy - but this is only the top row, there are 10 more colours hidden behind :)
Yarns purchased from: http://www.countrycrafts.org.uk

But let me show you what I razzled up last week - I was so quick, that I never had the time to show it to you as a WIP, so here is the FP - a summer scarf/wrap
The pattern is so easy it's not even funny, yet it looks so intricate. Let me tell you - all you really need to be able to do to create the patters is to count to seven and crochet a chain. Yup, continuous hooking of chains of seven is ALL that is required for the main pattern of the scarf. This is going to be a birthday present for Mr P's mum and seeing that she neither has the internet nor has any interest in web surfing, I can be sure she won't be seeing this.

Time to complete: 14 hours
Yarn: King Cole Premier DK (250g total)
Cost: £3.73 (yup...I am NOT kidding)

And while I was at it, I hooked up a table-mat-circle-thingy.
Pattern: Drops Garnstudio

It was supposed to be a Christmas Tree Skirt but I figured that with a smaller hook and thinner yarn it would make a great table-mat-circle-thingy.

Time to complete: 3 hours
Yarn: King Cole Premier DK, shade 265 (40g total)
Cost: £0.59 (I am still not kidding...)

Not sure if you have noticed but on the left and right hand side of my blog, I add pictures and quick links to the crochet books I have read and from which I generally take my patterns. If you are thinking of taking up crocheting and are looking for some good books, they are the ones I recommend.

Wednesday 6 April 2011

Twisted Sketches #95


Join us over at {{Twisted Sketches}} for the latest sketch and twist (paper). I would love to see you all play along.

Here is my take and as for the twist, I created my flower embellishments from patterned paper :)


Papers:  #BLO016. Spring is in the Air,  #UDD0167. Nouveau, #HSH015. Midland Ave, #AVA015. Summit ** Brads#EMB007. Walk in the Park 

The layout also doubles as my second project for {{Upsy Daisy Designs}} this month, where the DT were challenged to create anything with a Spring/Easter theme.
I think you cannot get more Spring feel then to have two flower clusters on your layout, right?

By the way, I created the background by placing the precut flower shapes onto the background paper and then started misting in three different colours. I then used my black Uniball Signo and doodled the outline of the flowers directly onto the background. I love the effect this gave to the overall design.

Monday 4 April 2011

Upsy Daisy Designs - DT April, Pt I


 It is my day to blog over at the {{Daisy Diaries}} today, so I would love if you hop over there and check out my full description of how I created my cards.


But just as a taster here are the piccies of them.

** As always - if you want to see them bigger, just click right onto the images **


Saturday 2 April 2011

Holy Guacomole

Eap......look-see {{here}}
I made the Top 21 as Sass Lass...
That is a REAL BIG DEAL for me,because a year ago I was SHIT-SCARED of Sass Lass and this was the first time I ever entered any of their monthly challenges - so you have to excuse my excitement.

But there is something even better I can shout about - I was asked to join the {{Papermaze}} DT yesterday. The email from {{Wendy}} came totally out of the blue and I am over the moon that she and Vanesssa (Papermaze owner) deem my work good enough to become part of their team. I am so honoured and you can see the announcement {{here}}.
I am off now, hooking up a storm by way of celebrating the above. I just received a delivery of two parcels full of yummy yarns...

Friday 1 April 2011

Create Your Own Kit - April 2011

Another month and another one of my Kits - and you know what? I am just now starting to make a visible dent into my scrapping stuff...that is scary to think that I still have papers (not counting my DT schtuff, of course) to see me through 16 more months!!! 
I know.
It's kinda sick....

But hey, at least that also meant in the last seven months I saved myself around $200.00 and surely that is not a bad thing at all.

** click on image to enlarge **
3 sheets of 12 x 12 cardstock from Bazzill
2 sheets of 12 x 12 paper from KI Memories
1 sheet of 12 x 12 paper from Bella Blvd
1 sheet of 12 x 12 double sided paper from Cosmo Cricket
1 sheet of 12 x 12 double sided papers from Scenic Route
1 sheet of 12 x 12 double sided paper from Fontwerks

Attempted goal:
2 cards