Things to make you go ahhh!

It's Easter, a time for lambs, daffodils and chicks. We have some chicks! At the moment, I think we have four, because I don't like to keep lifting Zoe, our black hen up, to have a look. We have three fluffy yellow ones, which may turn into white, brown or lavender coloured chickens, and one black chick, who will be black, like Zoe. We have three hens sitting on eggs, so it is an exciting time not knowing if there will be another little face popping out from underneath a hen each morning. However, we keep our fingers crossed that we don't get too many little cockerels to find homes for. They are noisy little fellas, and tend to poop more than their sisters too, which requires more cleaning!

I went to a Stampin Up! party today, which I really enjoyed. I'd been to one before, but it's nice to craft with other people for a change. Made a really sweet little card which I'll try and post this week when I post some of my other efforts. I'm busy making lots at the moment, so hopefully I'll get some on the blog! Had a major haircut this week too, and have gone a lot shorter than I've been for years. Most people are doing a double take when they see me, but a change has probably done the old barnet a lot of good. Some medication I've been on for a while hasn't helped and the haircut has given me a boost.

Have a good Easter folks, Judith x

Keeping Busy

It's been over a week since my last post I'm afraid, but I've been so busy. Obviously I went away to my Mum's, and I didn't get back until Tuesday evening. I had a good time at the Bead Fair, and the GNPE at Harrogate. I saw lots of stuff that I really would have liked, took some photos, and got some bits and pieces. Hopefully, I'll be able to get crafting asap now that the Easter holidays are here, but that normally means that the taxi service just becomes busier! I didn't see any Graphicus Guild members at the show despite my badge, so I was disappointed. However, the lure of all the craft goodies would have prevented them from looking for strange women that they didn't know. I did see Glenda and Lynn frm Graphicus briefly though, and it was lovely to say hello to them.

I have had to work since I got home, and also do a jewellery party for a friend, which went well. This weekend I must tackle the house which has been looked after by the rest of the family for a few days...While I was away, my hubbie managed to lock himself out, put the clocks back instead of forward, and was trying to contact me on my old mobile instead of my new one. He is not old, just used to having me around to organise his life! However, the children are still alive, my cat still loves me, and we have a new baby chick, so not everything was a disaster.

I was reading Glenda's blog last night, you can see the link on my blog (Artylicious) and she was describing having to keep all the balls in the air. I feel like that too, because life gets so busy. I've got sooo much to do, housework, gardening, I need to make cards for the shop where I sell them, etc. BUT, at the end of the day, I will find time to play with a new craft item, or rediscover an old one in a different way. I will promise myself a bit of craft time later on today after the cleaning and tidying, so that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Crafting is such a great release valve, and it keeps us sane don't you think? Sorry no cards today, promise some in the week! Judith x

Stampin Up! Blog Candy

Just to let you know about some stampin up blog candy. I'm putting the link for you http://stampin-n-stuff.blogspot.com/2009/03/little-blog-candy.html so you can check it out. Good luck, Judith x

I should be packing!

Well, I'm going away tomorrow, and I haven't packed yet! I had to make a birthday card for my sister-in-law see picture. I also decided to make a badge to wear to the show at Harrogate so that any Graphicus Guild members could identify me! It is part of the stamp on the card I made, using a piece of stampboard, so I stamped it twice, and used the second piece of stampboard on the card. This is an idea that Glenda from Graphicus has used on her cards many times to highlight an image.

I'm really looking forward to the weekend, to seeing what's going on that is new in the crafting world. Especially as I teach a small card making class, I feel that I have to keep up with what is happening out there. It's lovely to chat to people at Craft Shows too, to swap ideas and find out where they bought this and that and have a brief moment with a stranger who shares a common interest. Crafting can be a bit lonely sometimes, when you are beavering away at home, which is why the blog, and the Graphicus Guild are so enjoyable. My Mum is a crafter too, and she always looks forward to my visits so that we can craft together. I haven't seen her since October, so my visit is long overdue this time.

I live about five hours away from my Mum, and I hate the long drive, so I always prevaricate when it comes to getting ready. I need to do some ironing, get my suitcase out, sort my craft stuff out, because Mum will want to craft, and organise everything here, so that the house doesn't fall apart while I'm gone! I'm meant to be leaving about 9.00 a.m. tomorrow morning, but that deadline will almost definitely come and go. Never mind, I'm not going to Harrogate until Sunday! Judith x

Blog Candy

A chance to win some blog candy? Well I'm passing it on!

I'm also adding the link here http://jennifer-phoenixcrafts.blogspot.com/2009/03/easter-blog-candy.html Good luck folks! Judith x

Getting ready for the weekend

I've been quite busy this week, working at the school; the students are coming up to their French oral exams, and I help them with those. I also took my daughter on a visit to Ipswich Uni yesterday, for a look around to see if she rather go to a Uni closer to home when she goes back in September. Unfortunately Ipswich doesn't come anywhere near Teesside for facilities, so we discounted it immediately.

We had a good day with the 'in laws' on their Golden Wedding Anniversary, they were very emotional, bless them, and the day went without a hitch. Quite remarkable with 19 family members all together! I had a lovely Mother's Day too, Terry and the kids took me to the pictures and we had a meal out afterwards, and I had a virtually housework free day.

I'm going to my Mum's at the weekend, and we're off to the Great Northern Papercrafts Event at Harrogate. Hopefully, I'll be able to squeeze a visit into the beading fair too, which is also at the same location on the same day! I'll be hurrying my Mum around the cardmaking fair, so that I can have a supersonic whizz around a select few stands to buy specific items at the bead fair I think, but it will be worth it. Because Mum lives in Darlington, I have to do a lot of driving to take her to the fair, and I'm always really tired, so I'm staying until Tuesday. I'm then going to Graphicus (HURRAY!!!!!!) to see Glenda and the gang. I'm waiting until Tuesday, because Glenda told me that she closets herself away on Mondays to do all things creative. I'll then have to drive home from there, (4-5 hours) hopefully in time to pick my son up from school! Life's never easy as a crafting woman is it?

I'm posting four cards that Michelle has made in the classes over the last couple of weeks, I hold my hands up, they're not mine- I've been too busy, but she's had my guidance! They all use papers from Artylicious CD Roms, the first one she has overstamped with a stamp from the Daisy Collage set. She has then coloured white card with cat's eye inks and stamped flowers from the collage sets and cut them out and layered up with foam pads. The second card is from the Collage sets again using the beautiful butterfly cut out and some lovely fabric flowers. The Greeting is a stamp from A stamp in the hand. The third card is from the mask stamp sets, painted with H2Os.

The fourth card is a Golden Wedding Card made with the Harlequin Rose stamp, coloured with cats eye ink pads. The Rose head is decoupaged. She has used a computer generated greeting.

Well, if I don't post before my very busy weekend, I'll be back next week, full of ideas! Judith x

Mother's Day and a Golden Wedding

Well, I've had a busy day today; I've been invigilating at the school, and making cards. It's my in laws' Golden Wedding Anniversary tomorrow, and we're all having a meal with them to celebrate. My MIL has just had a big operation so is not 100%, and it will be very tiring for her. Her family consists of three noisy sons, three daughters in law, seven granchildren, and there will be three boyfriends and a girlfriend tagging along with the older granchildren, Michelle who made the lovely card).

I'm putting some card pictures in this post of the anniversary card, made with two linked hearts created with paper sprayed with Glimmer Mists. (I used parchment scissors to get into the little areas for cutting out). The background paper is from a GG paper pack and I used a computer generated greeting, as I don't have an anniversary greeting that I like. I'm also including my mother's day cards, both similar but in different colour ways to reflect the different tastes of my Mum and MIL - My Mum likes turquoise, and my MIL prefers stronger colours. The Daisy collage stamp is another Elusive Images stamp, and the background paper is from the Damask Delight CD. I've used Inktense pencils, and decoupaged the butterflies and daisies. Finally, there is a card with a Ventian flavour to reflect my recent trip to Italy. I want to do some scrapbooking with these stamps as I mentioned in a previous post, but time is against me at the moment, so a card was all I could manage. Anyway, I wanted to show Michelle the joys of stampboard at the class last night, as she made an identical card.

We had a sad day yesterday, as a dog got into the garden, and attacked one of our chickens, and she died. This happened back in November as well, and we ended up losing three chickens as a result of the attack back then. We knew which dogs came into the garden before, but the police did nothing about it. We don't know what happened yesterday, so therefore, we can't do anything. Our chickens are very much like pets, and so it's sad for us when something like this happens; they have their individual characters and they are very quirky. All of our animals today appear a bit spooked, including the rabbit and the cat, and it will take them a few days to settle down. Life goes on, but it's sad.

I'm looking forward to Mother's Day, I won't have to cook at least. My poor hubby has just been diagnosed with IBS, and the dietician has given him a strict short-term diet taking away all of his favourite foods. He is not happy. He made her write down the bit that said he didn't have to eat vegetables as he told her that I wouldn't believe him! He is not allowed beer either, so there you go, you win some, you lose some! Have a happy Mother's Day everyone, Judith x

Stampin up! are starting a new blog effective April 1st, no kidding! They have some blog candy to be won. Their link is here http://stampwithus.blogspot.com/

A new card and a very old card!

I made a couple of cards with the Daisy Collage set from Elusive Images. They are similar to some that I have made before, but a different colour scheme, which I really liked. I also found a picture of an old card that I was chatting to a fellow Guild member about, regarding the Butterfly Bliss Cd, so I am posting the picture, showing the glittered butterflies, but using a background from the Damask Delights Cd.

Our trip to Italy

Juliet's Balcony.

Terry and I on The Rialto Bridge, Venice.

We went to Italy on Friday; Terry, (my husband), myself, Megan, Ryan, Megan's boyfriend Niall and Ryan's girlfriend Michelle. We stayed in Verona, and had a day trip to Venice on Saturday. We took the teenagers to see Juliet's balcony in Verona, so all in all, it was a romantic trip for them, ahhhh! Terry and I have been to Italy several times before, I speak Italian reasonably well, and enjoy practising the language. The weather was very good, and we had a really good time.

Views of Venice.

I have the new mask stamp sheets from Elusive Images, available at www.graphicus.co.uk and I am definitely feeling that I want to have a go at scrapbooking. I have never done any scrapbooking before, but I have reams of Venice pictures and these stamps, and the two are crying out to be put together. I may try some 8" x 8" pages first until I get braver, I'll see! I have some ideas in mind, so I'm going to give it a go, and I'll let you know how it goes! Judith x

My Son's Girlfriend Made this!

My Son's Girlfriend Michelle has joined my cardmaking class. She is 16, studying her AS level Photography and Textile courses, so is quite arty, but has never done any stamping or card making before. I have put a picture of the first card she made at the class on the blog. She had a crash course in stamping, masking, matting and layering, painting with H2O's and a waterbrush, creating an aperture, you name, she did it! She used all Elusive Images stamps, available at http://www.graphicus.co.uk/ and the paper is from an Artylicious CD, also available from there too. I think she did really well for a first attempt. Last week she made an equally impressive card using the new Harlequin stamps, but I didn't get a photo of that one. We're off to Venice and Verona this Friday, so I suspect we'll be using those stamps a lot when we get back!

I'm also posting some pictures of the blingey bracelets to match the necklace in my previous post. Judith x

Well, the asthma has cleared up, thank goodness, I'm now in migraine territory, unfortunately. No worries, they'll go eventually. This is a short post to mention some blog candy on http://pinkgem-janet.blogspot.com/>

This is a really cool blog with some lovely card ideas too! Be back blogging soon, Judith x