Happy Easter!

I just wanted to say Happy Easter to all my new friends in Blogland and beyond!

I also need to say a huge Thank you to my best blog friend and extremely talented scrapsister Shazza!

Imagine receiving this beatuiful handmade gift from the other side of the world! Shazza I was gobsmacked when this arrived this morning! Thank you so much, It is beautiful!

This is a beautiful handmade felt easter egg with a cute bunny sewn on, sitting in a really pretty decorated box, with a sweet little card! The girls and I love it!

On my part I was very late sending out my easter cards this year so do apologise to my friends and family because of the bank holidays my cards will probably arrive after Easter!

I am off now to try and do a quick scrapbook page for my journaling 101 course that I am so behind on!

Please check out Shazza's blog she has some fantastic scrapbook layouts and other handmade things on show.

Catch up!

Hi,
Long time no see! I have been very busy and not been on the computer for a while. I had my mum to stay for a couple of weeks. we had a great time but time went so quickly! There were not enough hours in a day to fit everything in and then all of a sudden it was time for her to go home. We managed to make a few cards whilst also rearranging my craft stuff. Twice! We started by rearranging all the stuff I had put away upstairs for the holidays and hadn't brought back out yet. Then we had a trip to Ikea and I now have a fantastic new shelf unit that is made up of 25 12 x 12 squares. I have used it as a room divider separating my craft area off from the rest of the room. It has made the room look smaller but I like it. I now need lots more nice boxes to neaten everything up but it has made a big difference and I now have plenty of storage space to keep my craft stuff much neater! and hopefully I will now have more time to craft! We are off for the Easter holidays for the next two weeks so I am hoping to get a few scrapbook pages done and plenty of cards done.

Here is a card I made for my friend to give to her mum. This was an A4 sized card. The champagne bottle was made using Arty Farty templates. Also used DCWV glitter stack, wet paint sizzlets alphabet, Paper flowers, sticky gems and peel offs. As this card was made in the middle of moving my whole room around in amongst boxes and furniture I was quite pleased with the result!

This is a card I did for my god daughter to give to her mum, my friend Sam. I had originally bought this new decoupage for her birthday card but as her birthday is not til next February I thought mother's day would be ideal. SAM is very into her horse riding and is always moaning about her weight so I thought this was a really funny card to make! It is using a new kind of decoupage called "Flippin' Women" they also do "Flippin' men" On the front of the card you see a funny scene but then on the inside you see the back of the scene also decoupaged with something funnier on the back. Check out http://www.lapashe.com/ to see all the designs and stockists.

Here is the card I made for my mum for Mother's day.

I used a stamp I got in a bargain bucket for 50p a couple of years ago, I really like it and will definitely use it again. The patterned paper is from a new set I got at a show two weeks ago and now I can't find it to tell you the name. It's very bright and funky. I will add the name of it later when I find it again! All this organisation and I can't find anything! I water coloured the flowers to tone in with the paper using my whisper brush pens. then added some gems and a ribbon. Very simple but I think quite pretty. Sorry the photo hasn't turned out very well.

This next card was made for a friend to give to her Brother in law. I was told that he was a black cab driver and a Tottenham supporter but not to make too much of the Tottenham bit. So I used my sizzix car front and made a black cab using Do craft gem brads for the headlights unfortunately I didn't have clear ones big enough! But the yellow ones are ok. Then I stamped a football kit onto shrink plastic, coloured it in Tottenham colours and shrunk it down and hung it from the rear view mirror like one of those air fresheners you can get. Drew in the road and I think this one is quite effective!

Last but not least here is the card I made for my nephews birthday. He plays for his local football team and my mum told me their strip is black and white stripes so I based the card on this and folded a shirt from a football shirt paper block and added football boot background paper and a peel off football.

I had a go at my first Digital scrapbook page using Paint shop pro (PSP) tonight. I have used other programmes but PSP definitely gives a more flexible finish. With my other programme I had to place things as they had been designed without being able to turn or alter them. With Paint shop pro I can re size, turn and flip and do all sorts of effects. I am only just learning how it works and for this page I followed a tutorial on Digital Scrapbook place (DSP)for creating your first layout with PSP. They also had tutorials for lots of other programmes too. The instructions were very clear and easy to follow. They even described how to re size the file for uploading onto the web etc. Once registered on the site there are loads of free kits you can download and the kits to buy are very reasonable too!

Here is my first attempt. I kept it very simple for my first practice but I am pleased with the result.

As I have only bought a couple of kits I think all these were from the Digital Scrapbook Place free downloads.

Back ground paper from Back to the 70's paper set by Suzanne C. Walker

Eyelets from The basics set by Valeri Brumfield

Buttons from Button Element set by Suzanne C. Walker

and Bottle cap alphabet by Lauren Bavin

Thanks to all these designers for their wonderful downloads and ideas!

This is the end of a very long post. Hope to be back soon with some more craft projects to show you.

Take care,

Ali

Another Birthday Card

Well considering I haven't made anything for a while I have had to make another rush card today as my daughter reminded me last night, as I was going to bed, that she needed a card for today.

This is another purple card 5" x 7". I do like purple and I love the DCWV glitter stack and as I used this one the other day I had just enough left for this card too! The little girl is a Mambi Sticker from Me and my big ideas stuck onto white card, cut out and stuck on with double sided pads. The number two is cut from the forementioned glitter stack and backed with silver mirri, mounted onto white card that has one edge punched with fiskar's threading water border punch (at last I have got one! I have wanted one for ages and treated myself a couple of weeks ago!) I inked the other edges with purple ink and stamped the name with Hero Arts dotty letter stamps and backed this with silver mirri. Last but not least a silver happy birthday peel off from a QVC kit.

Bad Blogger

I have been a terrible blogger lately. Time has not been on my side and I have not been doing much crafting. I am way behind on my scrapbooking course but at last I have finished week 1.

Here is my page for Journaling 101 week 1.

Here is Zoe's birthday card. I used her favourite colours. I made this at about 3 in the morning before her birthday. Sorry the picure is not brilliant
Plain black card from stash. Large letters are white glitter chipboard from a DCWV drawer set from QVCuk. Small letters are Epoxy crystal stickers by dovecraft bought in the sale from Arty miss 25p a sheet! Red gross grain from stash and small peel-off numbers.

And lastly here is the card I made for my best friends 40th birthday. Another rush job I'm afraid. Everything seems to be a rush job at the moment! The picture is not great, sorry.

A5 purple card from a QVC kit. 40 cut from DCWV glitter stack (Best card stack I have ever had! Especially if like me, you love a bit of glitter!!!) matted with silver mirri card. small flower gems pressie from mum and happy birthday grossgrain also from mumsie! Aren't I a lucky girl!

Auatralian Fires

I just wanted to say to all my Australian friends that I hope and pray you and your families will all stay safe and that the fires will soon be under control.
God Bless you all.

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by my friend Shazza.

Here are the rules:

1. Go to where you store your pictures on your computer.

2. Go to the SIXTH folder and pick the SIXTH picture.

3. Post that picture on your blog along with a short story about it.

4. You know the rest, tag SIX people and leave a comment on their blog or email them letting them know you chose them.

So I went to my sixth folder and found photos that had been put in the wrong folder so what should I do I thought do I post the actual sixth photo which shouldn't be there or should I post the photo that would have been sixth if only the right photos were there? I decided I should do both.
So here goes........
actual sixth photo


This is my eldest daughter Gemma. It was taken a couple of weeks before Christmas in 2007. My mum had come to stay and as we weren't going to be spending christmas with her we had an early Christmas dinner with all the trimmings.

Photo that should have been sixth...

This is me! (embarrassing photo or what! LOL)
This was taken in February 2007. We were visiting my sister and her family who live in the lake district. Beautiful area but I am quite happy seeing the views from car windows as we drive past. My sister being the sporty outdoor kinda gal insisted that we couldn't visit such a beautiful area and not have at least a short country walk! ( Do I look as though I enjoy country walks!!!!!!)
So we bundled up as it was freezing cold. We drove a short distance to a place called high pike and off we went. my sister, my mum, Gemma and me ( Gemma and I both reluctant participants) We walked for about an hour and I have to say it wasn't too bad. The scenery was gorgeous and Gemma took loads of photos.

So now I have to tag six people. Here goes!........


Jacqui
Lois
Su
Lea
Erika


I have only tagged five because nearly everyone has already been tagged!!!

Cookies

I was in the mood for baking yesterday and I had some recipes for American cookies that I got off a website around Christmas time following links on my friend Erika's blog.You can check out her blog here
The recipes can be found here
First I went out and bought the ingredients needed.

Then I started baking. First up were snickerdoodles. Lovely soft cookies coated in cinnamon sugar.

Then I made the best soft chocolate chip cookies ever! Absolutely gorgeous!

Next I tried the peanut butter cookies. These were supposed to have Hersheys Kisses stuck in the middle but we don't get them in England and I didn't know what to replace them with so I left them plain. They are still lovely

Then Zoe had a go at the soft sugar cookies. Very nice!

But she got tired so I ended up waiting for them to cook and to take them out of the oven.

And last but not least were the oat and raisin cookies. These are lovely with a hint of cinnamon in them. I also did a half batch with no cinnamon for my friend.


So this is what we ended up with. Loads of gorgeous cookies. Enough to keep us going for ages and I still have more recipes to try!

It's snowing!

It's snowing! For once the weathermen have got it right!
The girls went straight out to play in the snow.




It was really funny.


The girls made snow angels.


Then we came in for hot chocolate and freshly baked banana bread. Yum.

Meet Miss January!

I am very honoured that my friend Shazza Has chosen to feature me on her blog as "Blog of The Month" I feel like a Pin up calendar girl! "Miss January!" and believe me this is the closest I will ever get to being one of those!!! I have had a stinking cold for the last week or so and have even been to ill for crafting! This has really lifted my spirits! Thanks Shazza!
I am really amazed that she thinks my blog is good enough to put on hers as Januarys Blog. Shazza is a lovely lady that I met on Erika Martin's Soulology course and we soon became good friends it is a shame that we are seperaed by thousands of miles so we can't have a crop together in real life but thanks to the wonders of the internet I have made a good friend in Shazza who I never would have met otherwise. I joined Erika's Journaling 101 course in December and was going to miss my soulology buddy, but luckily Shazza was the winner of a free place on the course so we can continue scrapping together with some of our other friends from soulology and meet new friends too! If you are interested in the course it starts today so you will have to be quick! Check it out on Erika's Blog! Also please check out Shazza's blog, She is very talented and has put me to shame so far this year with the amount of scrapbooking she has already done! She is also a very talented painter and cardmaker so there is plenty of inspiration for everyone!
I am on the mend now so I hope to have something to show you soon and as Journaling 101 starts today I should have at least this weeks assignment to show by the end of the week!
Take care,
Ali

First post of 2009!

Happy New Year everyone!
I can't believe this is the first post of 2009! I have been checking in but I have been so busy looking at everyone elses blogs that I run out of time to write on my own one!!!
Plus I haven't been creating anything lately as I am still unpacking all my stuff that got put away for the holidays! I am trying to rearrange a bit so I am more organised and my stuff doesn't take up half the lounge! Living in a small house I don't have much storage space for my stash that keeps growing and growing as there is always so many wonderful new stamp designs and papers coming out! I hope to have something to show you soon!
My friend Shazza from the soulololgy course has started a new blog. She has some wonderful crafty creations on there. You can check her blog out here
http://shazzacraft.blogspot.com

Happy crafting everyone!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy christmas season and send you all best wishes for a healthy, happy New Year!


Younger daughter Zoe in new dressing gown next to christmas tree!

It has been a strange Christmas this year. I just haven't felt Christmassy. A feeling that seems to be going around quite a few of my friends. Does this happen as the children get older and the 'magic' of Christmas wears off a bit? or is it because December started in a very sad way with the passing of my nan and it has been a bit wierd ever since. A bit of both I think!
With Christmas day coming at me like a steam train with no brakes, I eventually managed to get with it and move my craft stuff upstairs to make room for the tree and actually eat at the dining table! I have been so behind I didn't finish my shopping until 5.30pm Christmas eve. I never normally go out on Christmas eve but I had to this year and got a few bargains I might add! Last stop was Argos, just got there as they were closing the grills! managed to duck under and dive into the shop in order to get my youngest daughters reservation (present for her sister!) once inside realised the wheel had come off my shopping trolley and it had rolled into the road outside! I had to shout out to a young girl outside to ask her to pass me the wheel through the grill, very embarassing but there was no way I could get all the shopping home without it and coudn't get out myself! She was very kind and did retrieve my wheel for me! Once inside I quickly payed for my order and joined the queue to wait for my item to be brought out when loads of police turned up. It was then that I realised that they weren't shutting the shutters because they were closing but because there had been a huge fight! Chairs and rolls of gift wrap all over the floor and lots of disgruntled shoppers trying to get their last minute shopping and get out asap! Turns out one of the fighters was in the back of the shop injured having ended up over the counter (either pushed or jumped heard both versions of that story!) but the other guy had run out of the shop shouting that he was going home to get his gun!!!!!!!!!! So here I was stuck inside Argos possibly risking my life for a box of nose studs! OMG! Luckily I got my order and was out of there pretty sharpish. No sign of gunman but loads of police and flashing lights! I managed to get home without further incident wondering to myself what has happened to the Christmas spirit!
I normally have my christmas decorations up on the 1st weekend in December, this year I got my tree up at about midnight on Christmas eve! Then on to wrapping the presents! I had just finished wrapping the presents when my younger daughter woke up! She came downstairs full of beans closely followed by her older sister "is it time to open presents?" And Christmas day started before I managed to get a few ZZZZZZ's!
The girls were pleased with all their presents and rushed upstairs with their new smellies and clothes to go and get ready.
In went the Honey roast ham (normally cooked Christmas eve) closely followed by the turkey and the day carried on as a normal Christmas day. Phone calls and texts to family and friends sending Christmas wishes back and forth. My friend Janet came round and we had a really nice prawn cocktail which was more of a lunch than a starter which is just as well as my new oven doesn't seem as hot as my old one and the turkey took two hours longer than usual! dinner finally cooked and was beautiful, even though I say it myself! we had lovely after dinner coffees with my new coffee maker!(gift from youngest daughter) Watched a couple of DVD's after dinner with drinks and chocolates galore! So all in all a very nice day was had by all and I finally fell asleep about 3am.
Have had a lovely relaxing day today watching old films on telly and scoffing all the usual boxing day treats!
Now I have the time to do a bit of crafting and where is my stuff? boxed away in my bedroom til after New Year! Nevermind I might just get a little bit out!
As I forgot to take any pics of the cards I sent out this year, Here are a few cards I recieved.

This was made by my mum

This is an Aussie card from my new friend Shazza from the Soulology course

This was made by my new friend Sharon from the Soulology course

This was made by my new friend Theresa from the Soulology course

And this one was made by my new friend Shawn from the Soulology course
This card is from my soulology friend Lois
Hope you all have had a great Christmas too and wish you the best for New Year!

Very sad

My nan has been very ill in hospital and I am very sad to say that she passed away on 24/11/08 aged 98. She was a wonderful person and a very kind and thoughtful lady. An inspiration for the whole family. She will be very much missed. It is a very sad time for us all which is why I haven't been blogging for a while.

Soulology Week 2

This weeks project was name 10 positive attributes about yourself. I found it quite hard to think of these positives but got there in the end!
I ended up doing two layouts because I wasn't 100% happy with my first go! I'm still not 100% with layout 2 either but I have to get ready for a Brownie funday so I have had to leave them for now.
Number 1


Number 2

Poppicrafts competition - 31st Oct

No Images
This is the theme of the competition over at Poppicrafts.
I thought this card I made for my mums birthday fitted the bill!
Up for grabs are some fantastic flowers! check them out here

Paul's Blog candy - 31st Oct

Paul is giving away this great blog candy. For your chance to win check out his great blog here

Shimmerz Paints giveaway! 31st -Oct

I visited the Shimmerz Paints Blog through Stampinwitch's blog. They have fabulous shimmery paints to use on cards and scrapbooking etc. They look absolutely beautiful and they are giving away some of their new colours as a blog candy prize. for your chance to win check out Shimmerz Paints

Dannie's Blog Candy - 2nd Nov

Dannie has reached 3k on her blog and to celebrate she is giving away this fantastic candy. Check out her blog here for more pictures and your chance to win

Denise's Blog Candy - 29th Oct

Denise is giving away this blog candy to celebrate her blogoversary! For your chance to win visit her blog here

Ryann's Blog candy - 31st Oct

Hi Ryann is giving away this great candy for your chance to win check out her blog here

Tracey's Blog Candy - 31st Oct

Tracey has mystery blog candy up for grabs. For your chance to win check out her blog here