A Layout!

I have had this layout nearly finished for the longest time, really just needed to stick everything down and add a few little accents.

This is the "official" photograph of me finishing the Great Scottish Run 10K race in Glasgow at the beginning of September. If you had said to me in September 2009, when I first started running, that I'd be doing a 10K race a year later and finishing it, with a decent time, I'd have declared you crazy!  My goal at that point was a 5K in the spring, and I was rather doubtful about that.  But somehow, strangely, I started to enjoy running more and more, I managed the 5K race, and when my friend asked if I wanted to do a 10K with her, I agreed.  I can't really say I enjoyed the actual race in Glasgow - parts of it, yes, but other parts were definitely a challenge - but I felt really good after I finished it :)  So good that I'm now aiming to do a half-marathon in 2011!!

Something Bright

I promised a non-Christmassy post, and here it is!  I'm not sure how well the colours are going to come out on screen, but they are certainly very bright and cheerful in real life!!

First up, I have FINALLY finished the crochet cushion cover for my daughter that I started (coughing nervously in embarrassment...) about a year and a half ago.  It did go missing for a while, which is an excuse, but again, slightly embarrassing...  Anyway, here it is:

I'm very pleased with the way it turned out in the end, and it sat there quite comfortably on our sofa, so I'm contemplating making something similar for the living room, only in more muted colours.  Most importantly, eldest daughter likes it and has given it pride of place in her bed :)

Secondly, a card:

A friend celebrated her 40th birthday last week and I was entrusted with making her card.  I looked out my wintery My Mind's Eye papers - and then ended up using only the bright shades :)  However, with all the snow lately, some sunny colours will not have gone wrong.  Unfortunately, I ended up being unable to go to her party, so I'm really just hoping my friend agreed with me ;-)

Well, the big thaw is still on, in theory at least - I was pretty much dancing on ice when I took the dog out for a walk earlier!  The main roads are clear though, just need some gritters out now in the residential areas and on the foot paths.

Hope everybody is having a great weekend and staying warm - thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Cards

Well, I have to admit, I have not been particularly busy making my last batch of Christmas cards, but here are two more that I made with my new Stampin' Up! set Welcome Christmas.

 The first one is fairly CAS, the wreath image embellished with red liquid pearls and the word JOY cut out and adhered on top, slightly raised.

This second card uses the children image from Welcome Christmas, the trees from Lovely as a Tree, and the sentiment from an old hostess set (the name of which escapes me just now).  I've also used some of the new and very lovely satin ribbon, very festive, don't you think?

Crafty, inky time had to take a back seat over the last couple of weeks because of school closures, public transport failures and a very full and noisy house suddenly where usually peace and quiet reign during the day ;-)  Yes, the children have been home and hubby had to work from home, too.  Very distracting!!  Alas, we haven't had any new snow since Monday (when pretty much all of Scotland broke down), and temperatures are rising, so I'm listening to the constant drip drip drip of melting snow and icicles.  Music to my ears!  The younger ones are having their first full day at school today (after heating failure and early closure yesterday...), and eldest daughter will return to school tomorrow for a Friday half day.  Hopefully, hubby's trains will be running again on Monday, and life will finally get back to normal!! :)  I have still so much to do preparing for Christmas, panic is starting to set in!  But I'll get there, might just be slightly more frazzled than usual :)

Thanks for stopping by, non-Christmassy post coming soon.

Change from the usual programme

I'm afraid I haven't got any new cards to share today, but I thought I'd let you all see our unusual and pretty extreme weather:

This was Sunday afternoon, after it had been snowing on Friday night and then again on Saturday.

Our back garden yesterday, it's got an extra few inches on top of all the snow today!

Dog after his walk yesterday, we had to stick him in a lukewarm bath to melt all these snowballs off!! :)

This is earlier on today, it looks beautiful, but boy is there a lot of snow, and nobody knows when our street will be cleared. A lot of the neighbours have been shoveling not just their drives but parts of the road, too, but a proper snow plough would be much appreciated.

I hope you are experiencing kinder weather where you are, but if not: keep warm!  Mind you, my girls are ecstatic: school was closed today and will be closed again tomorrow!  That just never happens!

In contrast to previous posts...

... here's a little boy's birthday card that I made for youngest daughter's friend last weekend.  Three guesses which team he might support ;-)

I used SU! retired Glorious Green cardstock, Kraft cardstock, Papertrey Ink's "Have a Ball" stamp set, and the little boy image is by Me and My Big Ideas.  Very handy that he's got a stripey top on :)  I also tried making a little banner for the sentiment and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

Well, that's all for today, hope to have other things to post soon.  However, since youngest daughter is home from school thanks to chicken pox, it's anybody's guess how much time I'll get to craft.  Her statement: "I'm not ill, I've just got chicken pox!" hit the nail on the head!! :)  Thanks for looking!

Warm Happiness

We went up north to the Moray coast during the October week, and I took a few crafting supplies with me, in case of inclement weather ;-)  And we definitely had our fair share of that, but I only really got round to crafting on one day, when I sent hubby and girls off to the Macduff Marine Aquarium and I stayed behind with the dog (who did a lot of sleeping that day, thankfully!).  I took Papertrey Ink's stamp set "Warm Happiness" with me, a few background stamp sets, a pad of patterned paper and some coordinating ink and cardstock.  And with my limited supplies, I created a few cards:

There was one more, but that found a new owner at the craft fair last weekend, and I also made a bookmark (because I needed one and I had all the supplies there!) which I've not photographed yet.  I really like this stamp set, although I haven't really used it all that much, but this is a start :)

Despite the weather, we had a good time during our holiday, and for the kids, the highlight probably was eldest daughter's birthday treat: a visit to the Landmark Centre at Carrbridge.  Great place, lots of fun, even in the cold and rain!  And because it was eldest daughter's birthday, I let her talk me into doing the higher of the two obstacle courses with her... Me in a harness, balancing across ropes, swinging logs, clambering along suspended car tyres, the works!  And I'm not great with heights.  But I managed it and felt pretty good about myself afterwards :)  And eldest daughter was pleased that she got to do one of her favourite activities with her old mother ;-)

Wow, I feel like I've been quite productive - must get back to actually making more cards now, seeing I'm going to have a stall at the school's Christmas fair in a couple of weeks' time.  Just glad that I have my mum's scarf out of the way - it has made its way across to Germany and was very well received :)

Thanks for stopping by and "listening" to me jabbering on, have a great weekend!

Christmas is a-coming!

Who would have guessed? ;-)  However, I'm finding it difficult to get into the Christmas spirit, although the shops around here have been trying since the end of October with their decorations up in full force!  But now we're well into November, and I guess I should really crank my Christmas card production up a notch, so here are a few samples of what I've made so far:

The first three cards are using images by (the sadly closed-down) Elzybells, the pup in the last card is by Lily of the Valley.  I've kept them all fairly simple, with the images mainly watercoloured and few embellishments.  "Less is more" definitely works best for me, I find it very difficult making cards with lots of patterned papers and embellies.

Thanks for stopping by, I should have a few more cards for you tomorrow :)

Where to start?

Another long absence, I'm afraid, it just always seems to be busy round here.  I have, however, been making cards for a craft fair last weekend, and I will put up a few posts now showing a wee selection.  But I'll start with something very new to me: one-layer cards!  I was thinking that I could really do with a design that doesn't require lots of cutting, punching, embossing etc. and that is nice and flat to post.  So I played around a little and came up with this:

The images are from Papertrey Ink "Sign Language" and the sentiment is from Stampin' Up!  Colours are also Stampin' Up!: 1. Real Red, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip, 2. Pixie Pink, Pink Passion and Gable Green and 3. Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue and Lovely Lilac.
I'm really quite pleased with how these turned out and I can definitely see myself making more.
Thanks for looking, more to come very soon :)

As promised...

... here are some pictures of Christmas cards I've made, and the scarf I'm working on.  Sadly, I have to admit that the scarf has not progressed much further since the pictures were taken quite a few days ago now.  It's been a busy week and not a lot of crafting was accomplished :(  Hopefully I'll get to create over the weekend, it looks blissfully free so far!

Christmas cards

I sat down and pulled out some 12x12cm cards and a kit from My Minds Eye which I got last year but hadn't used very much.  I had also stamped all the sentiments previously, ready to go on cards.  So now was the time and within a relatively short time, using the kit and just a few extra bits, I had made four little cards :)


Scarf

I'm making this for my mum's birthday in November, it's a teal Arran yarn from Tess Dawson, and I'm using a pattern from a little supplement to a knitting magazine I got last year.  I love the pattern and all the cables, but it is fairly slow going, because there is so much cabling going on.  It would also help if the puppy didn't try and snatch balls of wool every time I sit down to knit...

Now, the cushion cover I mentioned in  my last post is nearly finished.  For reasons best known to myself, I joined the back and front BEFORE weaving in all the ends...  However, it shouldn't take too long, and once it's fully finished with buttons and cushion pad inside, I will post a picture on here :)

Well, that's it for now, thanks for stopping by!

Must Try Harder

Me, that is.  I'm completely out of the blogging groove.  I have a number of blogs which I look at regularly, but never seem to find the time to leave comments, and I find even less time to update my own blog  :(  Don't know when I last joined a challenge!  So I'm resolving once again to change all that!  I AM making stuff, you know!

For example, it was my FIL's 80th birthday at the beginning of the month, and I made not one, but two cards for this occasion.

The larger card is all Stampin' Up! while the little one also uses some PTI stamps.  I like that you can use "New Year's Celebration" for other celebrations, too.  You probably can't see very well on this picture, but the background is stamped with the champagne bottle from this set.

And then there is this tiny little blanket that I made on middle daughter's request for her Build-A-Bear bunny, so that the bunny has her own little bed in middle daughter's bed :)

I have also started making some Christmas cards, but have not been able to photograph them yet (and now the weather has turned horribly grey!), my granny square blanket is currently on hold while I'm knitting a scarf for my mum's birthday next month, and I've finally found the cushion cover that has been in progress for an awfully long time, which eldest daughter has been asking for over and over again.  I was very happy to discover that I am much further along than I thought I was.  Only one more round and then joining of front and back - yay!!  I will post pictures of all these projects very soon, once I've got some decent light to photograph them in!

Hmmm, I'm starting to see why there may be a lack of time for blogging...  But thanks for stopping by, hope to be back soon!

Woolly Stuff

I didn't take any papercrafting stuff on holiday this year, instead, I took a crochet hook and several balls of brightly coloured wool!

I'm still very much inspired by Lucy's creations over at Attic24, and ended up making not one, but two squishy, soft, woolly bags, following Lucy's tutorial.

This is bag #1. 

I love the bright, cheery colours, but unfortunately, I forgot to take into account that my yarn was thinner than the one Lucy had been working with, and I didn't add more stitches into the first round, so when this bag lies flat, its bottom is rather more pointy than rounded.  I also got muddled when I started new rounds and new colours, so the back of the bag is looking a bit funny as well.  Eldest daughter called it "wonky", her favourite word at the moment :)  But from the front, with a few things inside the bag, it looks reasonably presentable.

This is bag #2:

My favourite green, I had to go and order another ball!  This bag is a fair bit smaller, but much more perfectly formed, since I learned from my mistakes with bag #1!  It's still very bright and cheery, with its colourful stripes at the top, and I'm really rather pleased with it!  The only question is: what am I going to use these bags for?  Most likely, they're going to carry my woolly works-in-progress, although, unfortunately, crochet hooks (and knitting needles, too) have a nasty habit of poking out between stitches...  Bag #2 might also go on the odd outing to the shops, only filled with items big enough not to poke out.  Of course, I could line both bags with fabric, but I am not exactly on best terms with my sewing machine, and cutting into fabric frightens me, never mind trying to work out a template to use for cutting said fabric to the right shape and size.  So we shall see, I'll let you know if and when I take my bags out on wee trips :)

Thanks for stopping by, hopefully I'll have some other crafty project to share very soon.

I'm back!

The summer holidays are over, the girls have been back at school for 3 days last week, and slowly, things are getting back to normal.  It's a slightly different kind of normal, since eldest daughter started high school and has to get used to so many new things: getting up earlier, lots of new subjects, new teachers, new classmates and apparently, lots of tall people everywhere she goes! :)  The other two are pretty much settling straight back in to their normal routines, which is nice.  And I've suddenly got lots of quiet time at home, but of course, there's still a puppy to entertain, and then there's all that housework to tackle that somehow fell by the wayside over the summer (read that to mean: major declutter needed in more than one room!).

I have a few cards to share that I've made over the summer, starting with middle daughter's birthday card.  She really enjoys strawberries, so here was an obvious choice for a theme :)

The strawberry paper is by Doodlebug, the stamps are from Papertrey Ink, and the inks are Stampin' Up!

Next is a birthday card for youngest daughter's friend:

Love this Magnolia stamp and used some Basic Grey papers which I just had to have, even though I'm really trying not to buy any more papers...

Next up, a card for my MIL's birthday:

I used some My Mind's Eye papers that came free with a magazine, Papertrey Ink stamps and Stampin' Up! inks again.

And lastly, sadly, a sympathy card.  Don't like making those.

Well, I hope you liked this wee selection, including the photo right at the beginning, which shows the view from our holiday cottage in Glen Quaich, Perthshire.  Aaah, it was beautiful, and I didn't want to come home!

Last Installment

A wedding card a friend asked me to make, finally using my lovely new birdie punch!

Another "finally": finished the layout for youngest daughter's first day of school last August, using a SU! kit.

Birthday card for youngest daughter's birthday a couple of weeks ago - I cannot believe she is 6 years old - she's the little one!!!

Well, this is probably the last post for a while.  Today was the last day of school in our part of Scotland - the last day of primary school for eldest daughter!! - and the girls and I are off to Germany on Saturday for the week.  When we come back, we've got a week to get ready for our family holiday and then we're off to a remote cottage in Perthshire for two weeks!  With the puppy...  I shall let you all know how that goes.  If the weather continues the way it's been, we'll have a lovely time, but summer might have finished by then, because, let's face it, it's been going on for an uncharacteristically long time ;-)  We are enjoying it while it lasts, however, and trying to make the most of it.  If you saw youngest daughter, you'd be forgiven to think she's been abroad already, she's that tanned!

Now we're off to a favourite restaurant to celebrate the last day of term and the end of primary school for our eldest.  See you all in August, have a lovely summer! :)

Back with more

Well, I may not have been getting round to crafting much lately, but I've still got a few cards to share that I made a while back.  So without further ado...

This card is based on FTL#89 on the Clean&Simple Challenge Blog.  I'm not sure I'm entirely pleased with it, but I do like the simplicity of it.

This is a "just because" card, I was in the mood for colouring, for pink and girly and for some big flowers :)

And lastly, I had stamped several flowers from this set - SU!, Petal Pizzazz - and wanted to use them so came up with this light and fresh card, which I'm rather pleased with, if I may say so myself ;-)

Thanks for stopping by, another post coming up soon!

And a few more!

I recently put in a couple of orders with Papertrey... Here are a couple of cards made with my more recent purchases. Oh, if only I had more time to play!

This second card is quite closely based on a card by Nichole Heady, which I can't find just now to link to. I love that butterfly set!! Thanks for looking :)

More Cards

I had this focal piece stamped for ages and finally got round to making a card with it. Lovely Earth Elements colours, Green Thumb stamps from PTI.


More Earth Elements and Stampin' Up! Hello Again stamp set. Nice and simple :)

Thanks for looking!

Well Done!

Two cards for a friend, to say "well done" to two little girls for their gymnastics achievements.

Both use PTI's Star Prints, the second one also uses the swirl from Stampin' Up!'s Season of Joy. I ended up printing the sentiment on my PC, because none of my (mostly American) stamp sets have "well done" in them... The ricrac strips on the first card were cut with my wonderful new PTI ricrac die :) It's a great length, 9" I think, so it'll be handy for all sorts of things, and I really must go and try to use it with felt!!

Thanks for stopping by, watch out for more posts with random, just-for-fun cards.