OH NO, I'M STILL NOT CRAFTING YET

Well I'm back from my audition in London and have no idea how it went - she cut me off "mid-Aria"!!!! Everyone knows arias don't get going until the end! LOL! It cost us £300 on the train to get down there and I was all done within 2 minutes! She asked me loads of questions and being a mum may go against me! Still, at least I plucked up the courage and did it! I can relax a bit more now - had a terrible headache/migraine when I got back last night and went to bed early.





That's not the reason though why I can't craft - We've had no heating or hot water since Sunday as our boiler broke down. The room where I usually craft is the coldest in the house - I suppose I could get a few things and move into the kitchen where the aga is trying to keep us all warm. Brrr!!!!!! The gas man is supposed to be here first thing to fix it - don't know what time first thing is but he's not here yet.





Got to go and get a few things ready for Hallowe'en this evening -





HAPPY SAMHAIN to all of us who celebrate this festival. I will be laying out my table for all our loved ones who are no longer with us so they can come and be with us in spirit. As the years go by there seem to be more and more places laid - main places of honour will be my sister and my husband's sister who we miss every year, and my father and father in law. Anyway, enough melancholy from me - off to do some jogging to warm up - NOT!!! LOL!

WHY HAVEN'T I BEEN BLOGGING THIS WEEK?

Sorry I've not been around as much this week, mostly its because its half term and its been a bit busier with the children around, but also I've had to spend my time doing some singing practice!


GULP - I have an audition to go to in London on Tuesday for .........wait for it..........Britain's Got Talent! So I've been dusting off the old vocal chords, getting my opera back up to scratch and gathering up my courage to actually go through with the audition. With no music!!! Aarrgh - they don't provide any backing music and its very hard to get opera arias as backing tapes - So I'll be warbling all on my own. I'll let you all know how it goes!

NEW HEADER

DO YOU LIKE MY FAB NEW HEADER?

BIG THANKS TO MY DAUGHTER EMMA FOR PRODUCING THIS FAB WORK OF ART FOR ME. SHE HAS TRIED TO INCORPORATE ALL MY LOVES AND INTERESTS AND PRODUCED AN AUTUMN FEEL TO IT FOR ME.

THANKS EMMA xxx

WOW - I WON!!!!!

WOW! I'm so excited - I won Challenge no 10 over on papercraft junkies http://www.papercraftjunkies.com/forum/index.php for my Autumn layout. I've never won anything before for my crafts - its a great feeling!

I'm off to see what goodies I can get with my winning discount. Thanks to all their Design Team members who voted for my layout.

WEDNESDAY STAMPER - CHILDREN

Wednesday Stampers wanted to celebrate Children this week - here is a layout showing how close my two children are - they have their off days like all children but they have a great friendship.

Stamps used are Stampin Up

DARING CARDMAKERS - CHRISTMAS TREES

The extra challenge on Daring Cardmakers is Christmas Trees - Woohoo - Christmas! Any excuse to make some Christmas cards! Don't think I scanned this quite straight - I must have been at the sherry already! LOL!

DARING CARDMAKERS CHALLENGE -BEASTS

Daring Cardmakers want to see cards with beasts on. This polar bear is more cuddly than ferocious! LOL!

Reminds me of that old joke about the baby polar bear where he goes to his mum and asks "Mum, are you sure I'm not a panda?" and she says "No Son, you're a polar bear" "Mum", he asks again "Are you sure I'm not a grizzly bear?" "No Son, you're a polar bear", "Mum", he asks again "Are you sure I'm not a teddy bear?" "No Son" she says getting annoyed "You're a polar bear - why do you keep asking?" "Cause I'm bloody freezing mum!"

He He!

TMTA - MASK CHALLENGE

Last week was Mask challenge over at TMTA - I'm over the moon to see that they've chosen my ATC as one of the samples. Woohoo - a great honour!

SLEEPLESS SATURDAY

Never mind Sleepless in Seattle!!!! Sleepless in our bloomin household last night for DH and I - not because of little Mischief who was as good as gold but because of our bloomin dog who wouldn't settle all night and wanted to be where the new kitten was. She's driving us mad - she's not quite trustworthy enough to leave her on her own with the kitten yet, but she just wants to play with it and be with it and she's more stressed than the kitten is.

Older cat (14) Felix just sniffed her and walked off. Younger cat (9) Megan had a real hissy fit and then started hissing at Felix who just looked at her as if to say "What's your problem? I was here first before the lot of you!"

DH kept asking me "And why did you want another cat?" It seemed a good idea at the time! LOL!!!

Got loads of scrapbooking to try and finish today - doing this commission is great fun but its on your mind that you need to get it done and finished!

I'm also still poorly and got a friend coming down today who is a reflexologist and she's going to see what she can do for me. Put me on the scrapheap to be honest, the body seems to be giving way - I'm only 45!

HERE'S MISCHIEF

Here she is - looking wide eyed to begin with and now all snuggled down with DS watching TV.

The dog is running around like a mad thing trying to get at it - the older cat just showed great disdain and the other cat hasn't met Mischief yet. Should be a busy night for us all!

What a sweety though - I feel lots of scrapbooking pages coming on! LOL!

WHATS HAPPENING FRIDAY?

Well, nothing much craft related - BUT we do have a new addition to our brood coming this evening - she is a very tiny smoky grey kitten and is going to be for my DS(but she's mine really) I've wanted a smoky grey kitten ever since I saw one in one of the pet shops in the States but I couldn't have her. It would have meant more money to ship her back from there when we finally came home and I don't like that they de-claw their cats.

So its taken me three years to find another one. I'd given up the search for a grey one, the cat protection homes couldn't help me, and then she just fell into my lap. I think my request to the universe had a lot to do with it.

When we moved the horse to his new stables - the woman's cat had just had kittens and she had one grey one that no-body wanted. I wanted her!!! I jumped up and down, well not really, not at my age! LOL! So she's arriving tonight - but DS thinks he's just going to see her tonight not that she's coming home with us! What the other two cats and our dog are going to think I have no idea - should be a bit hectic around here for the next few weeks, and here's me laid up with a bad back!

DS wanted to call the kitten Master Chief after something he was reading in his book but I explained she was a she and that wouldn't be a very good name so DD came up with Mischief - what a great name - so Mischief she is!

I'll post a piccy on here once we get here so you can all say AAA!

GREAT POST

I actually had some post yesterday - although it wasn't through Royal Mail - lol! - it was some scrapbooking stash I'd ordered as I'm in the middle of a scrapbook commission for a 60th Birthday. It was great to have all those goodies in the name of Work!!! It does stop me from having time to do other crafting though, so must get on!

THURSDAY'S CHALLENGE

THURSDAY'S CHALLENGE IS NOW OVER ON MY CHALLENGE BLOG SITE


A CHANCE TO WIN SOME BLOG CANDY THIS WEEK SO POP ALONG

www.magickdivasthursdaychallenge.blogspot.com

AND JOIN IN FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A CHERRY PIE ART STAMP.

INCHIES

Over at Cherry Pie Yahoo group we are organising an inchy swap - this is the first one I've done and I'll be so excited to receive everyone's art. The theme was travel and the only stipulation is that you only use Cherry Pie Stamps - unfortunately I don't have any of their fabulous travel stamps so I had think outside the box a little bit. I chose to use the Moon Stamp and the fairy as in Fly Me To The Moon! The fairy is embossed in silver, the man in the moon is stamped in black and La Luna stamped in purple. We had to make 16.

I'm going to put them into the Wednesday Stamper challenge too which is also doing inchies.

THURSDAY CHALLENGE

I've put my Thursday Challenges on a separate blog

www.magickdivasthursdaychallenge.blogspot.com

All entries for IN THE PINK are displayed. Hope to see you there tomorrow for a new Thursday Challenge.

TAGGED

I've been tagged by Deb http://countrylovincardmaker.blogspot.com/ and by Crissi http://random-ramblings-of-a-crafter.blogspot.com/ with the same tag!!!

Here are the rules

''Here are the rules which you must abide by if you are tagged.1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.''

1. I used to be a bilingual secretary speaking both French and German
2. I first sang on stage at the age of 11 as Wendy in Peter Pan and had to fly around the stage, bumping into scenery and singing at the same time LOL!
3. I sing opera in my spare time and my favourite role was as Violetta in La Traviata
4. I suffer from claustraphobia and had to learn to overcome my fear of lifts when the children were little
5. I lived in Texas for three years
6. Ever since I had the children, I seem to cry at the slightest thing, sad films, books, sad stories
7. I appeared on Ready Steady Cook in 1995 and won!

7 blogpals to tag next -

Julie - http://www.scrapping-away.blogspot.com/
Caroline - http://www.madebycaroline.blogspot.com
Joanne - http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com
Ros - http://stampandscrape.blogspot.com
Paula - http://minibookpixie.blogspot.com
Andrea - http://andreabrownjohn.blogspot.com
Em - http://blushes-emma.blogspot.com/

HOPE SEES A STAR AUCTION

Marina, who designs and owns Cherry Pie Stamps had let me know of a very worthwhile auction that was being held - - it was called the Hope Sees a Star auction and you can read more about it here. http://www.zne-store.citymax.com/Home.html What the organisers of this auction were trying to do really touched me and I wanted to be able to help in some small part.

I am delighted that I won my bid and am going to be the proud owner of some fabulous artwork, thanks to the generosity of the artist Colette Copeland.

Here's what I've won! Isn't it just amazing!

SKINNY SATURDAY CHALLENGE - WINGS

This is a new Challenge site that has started and I like to support the challenges. http://sarahsskinnysaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com/

This one was entitled Wings. I saw this quote on someone else' work , sorry can't remember who, but email me if it was you and I'll post you credit on here. But the quote stuck in my head as I love this song by Randy Crawford! I just think this angel stamp is looking so wistful as if she wishes she could fly away. Don't we all feel like that sometimes?

DARING CARDMAKERS - POSTCARD

Daring Cardmakers challenged us to make a postcard and send it - bad timing really with the postal strike!

Here's mine - Used my Cherry Pie Stamp for the pen, Stampin Up for the images and don't know the background script stamp.

Alphabet Stamper - O

I've turned French just for this challenge so that I can use Oiseau (French for bird)! I've used this stamp before but its such a versatile one - the extra challenge was to do something autumnal but with no orange or red. I love using stamps when you can detail extra parts of the stamp as in the bird here.

CMU - SHOE CHALLENGE

The Challenge over at CMU this week was shoes - I didn't think I had anything suitable for this challenge and then remembered I bought some Tanda Stamps last week which had shoes on them. Eureka! As they say - LOL - so I did this:

Arty Girlz Challenge - TAGS

The challenge over on Arty Girlz this week was Tags - I only just managed to get one done in time.

WEDNESDAY STAMPER - AUTUMN COLOURS

Wednesday Stamper set the challenge of autumn colours. This is one of my favourite times of the year - I love the colours of autumn, browns, greens, golds, reds. I love to make chutneys and pickles and get the puddings and mincemeat ready for Christmas. I love walking in the woods and collecting conkers and chestnuts to roast on the chiminea in the garden. I wish I were more adventurous to pick mushrooms, but I'll leave that to the professionals!

INCHING ARTISTS

Inching Artists challenge this week was to produce something with a RUST appearance. I managed to find some dead heather leaves in my garden, which were just the right colour I was looking for- I twisted them together with copper wire and added them to a stamped background.

Sending a Guardian Angel for Nancy and her son Andrew

Read about it at http://fornancy.wordpress.com/

SATURDAY STAMPERS

The theme over at Saturday Stampers was DPOV - Different Points Of View - one stamp - two different styles of cards.

Here are mine - all stamps used are Cherry Pie.

Rosie's Buddy Bus Christmas Charity Cards

Here's another Christmas Card for Rosie's charity - as soon as the post men get back to work I can send them to her!

TMTA - MASK CHALLENGE

A Hallowe'en Mask Challenge over on TMTA - I've used orange and black colours and chosen one of my favourite Verdi operas - I actually sang in this one some years ago!

PINK PETTICOAT

I found this site while I was surfing the blogs - the way you do!!! LOL!!!

What a great site and a very generous offer if you sign up for her newsletter

http://www.pinkpetticoat.co.uk/newsletter_return.php

Thought you might all like to take a look if you don't know her work already - And a great story about how she started out!

STAMPIN UP UK

WOOHOO - ITS OFFICIAL - STAMPIN UP ARE COMING TO THE UK IN NOVEMBER THIS YEAR. I'VE BEEN WANTING TO BE AN SU DEMONSTRATOR EVER SINCE I LIVED IN TEXAS BUT, AS ONLY HUBBY HAD THE WORKING VISA, I WASN'T ALLOWED TO SIGN UP. NOW I CAN AND I CAN'T WAIT. SO WATCH THIS SPACE.................

One Card - Two Ways Challenge

http://stampinonthemountain.blogspot.com/ A challenge with a difference on Stampingranny's site - make one card that can be interpreted two ways.

Here's my entry - All materials used are Stampin Up!

NO NOT ANOTHER POSTAL STRIKE

Oh no - its official then - yet another postal strike and this could affect us for nearly a week!

Don't they know we have CJ's to post, and inchies and atc's and stash to get hold of!!!

What a bleak week it could be! Thank goodness for the internet!!!!

BLOG CANDY GET WELL COMPETITION

http://patsy-j.blogspot.com/ CHECK OUT PATSY'S BLOG FOR A COMPETITION TO WIN SOME GREAT PRIZES

HERE'S MY ENTRY:

MAGICKDIVA THURSDAY CHALLENGE - IN THE PINK

Well I guess the last challenge proved far too challenging then - so here's something a bit easier.

The clue is in the title IN THE PINK - show us anything you like, a layout, card, atc, with the main colour being pink!

That's it - quite simple

Rattytatty's Blog Giveaway

Take a trip over to http://www.rattytattysblog.blogspot.com/ and join in her give away blog candy. She's offering some gorgeous looking Christmas papers from The English Paper Company.

She also offers some of her own papers for downloading - how generous is that! (ps mention you saw it here when you go! he he!)

TANDA STAMPS COMPETITION - AUNTY'S FORUM

Over on Aunty's Forum - Tanda Stamps are running a Halloween Competition. I love Halloween - one of my favourite times of the year - with Yule close behind!

Sorry I didn't have any Tanda Stamps to use for this but hopefully they won't mind this time! Fingers crossed! lol!!!

Arty Girlz challenge

Here's my offering for the Arty Girlz challenge this week - something with flowers.

Feeling poorly

Sorry bloggers but not much from me the last few days - I've been feeling very poorly - hopefully I'll be back to normal soon.

Tuesday Inchy Challenge

The challenge this week was to do an inchy about what you see when you look in the mirror.

Here's mine - I see ME when I look in the mirror.