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 :)