I HAVEN'T REALLY GONE AWOL

I am here, honest, I'm just so busy getting ready for the Newbury Stamp Fair on Saturday that I don't seem to have time to do anything but craft at the moment. I also had elderly relatives here which didn't help but they've gone back now - in-laws - say no more! LOL!!! On top of all that I've got rehearsals for the Magic Flute Opera I'm starring in in November - its all go here at the moment.

WOW - I'm so lucky - I've been awarded 3 Awards this week - I'm so pleased that people enjoy coming to my blog and reading all my blurb - and the idea that I inspire others never ceases to amaze me. A big thank you to Carol, Janette and Anesha who have awarded me this honour.

I haven't forgotten my SBS sisters - just so busy at the moment I've not been doing much blogging.

Also I musn't forget that its Thursday today and that means This Thursday challenge.

Don't laugh when you see my projects - we had such fabulous items from Jill at The Stamp Man - we had Egyptian rubber stamps - Buddha charms, fabulous inks, gorgeous papers - gold foil, grungeboard - loads of fab stuff to play with. Tracey had challenged us all with her title for this week - Courtesy of William Morris - don't have anything you don't believe to be beautiful or useful - well my pieces were neither beautiful nor useful. LOL!

Actually the little Sarcophogus is useful cause my DS absolutely adores anything Egyptian and this is going on his shelf as a book end - its quite a heavy piece - its all that gold on there you know! I'm not so sure the picture does it justice and it looked a lot better in my head! LOL!

The second piece I did was the Buddha Wall Hanging - I wouldn't call myself a buddhist by any stretch of the imagination but as I've been going along on my path in life which has taken me away from conventional religions I've come across some of the things the Buddhists say and I love listening to the guy on with Terry Wogan in the morning - he always seems to say such sensible things. Well, I Googled Buddha for this piece and found the Buddhist teaching that says don't live in the past, don't look to the future, live for today - and that is such an important lesson for me to learn that I wanted to have it in front of me so I did it as a wall hanging, mounted onto mountboard, to hang in my craft room.

The papers used on this card were supplied by Jill and show off the fabulous Moonglow Inks. The stamp was also supplied by Jill.

Another great prize on offer this week then over at This Thursday - are you up to the challenge?

I'M SO EXCITED/NEWBURY RUBBER STAMP FAIR

....cause I won some blog candy!!! Woohoo - I've never won any before and it was so exciting to read Dana's message this morning. Dana lives in Texas which is where I used to live and thinking about Texas has been reminding me of all the things I miss....like great craft shops, lovely stores, warm weather, pool.....and some of the things I don't miss.....baking hot weather, bugs, hurricanes - Yep we were there when Hurricane Rita hit - I've never been so scared in all my life and swore that I never wanted to live anywhere with such powerful weather again!








You can find Dana's blog here Thank you Dana I can't wait to get my goodies.





On a not so postive note - I recently entered a blog where they were offering goodies as a PIF - the first three people were to put their names down, get their goodies and then do the same on their blog. Well I was one of the three, sent my address off and never did get them. Trouble is, as so often happens in blogland - I can't remember where the blog was. It would be nice if people could honour what they say they are going to to save any disappointments for people.





I'm not sure if I'll get much crafting done over the weekend as I have my mil and sil down for a few days. And I'm so busy trying to get all my Stampin Up projects finished in time for the Newbury Rubber Show next week!





Do you all know about the show - Its considered one of the best for rubber stamps and its such a treat that its near me - Newbury Race Course to be exact Sat and Sun 26/27th July. If you'll be there come and say hi to me at the Stampin Up Demo's stand, maybe sign up for a workshop and tell me you saw me on my blog. What a hoot!!!



I don't often post my Stampin Up stuff on this blog as I like to keep it separate and not let you think I'm stuffing SU down your throats - but here are some of the things I'm making for the show - the notepads and bookmarks are going to be part of our Goody Bags! I just love this colour combo - Rose Red and Sage Shadow. Right enough - I'm off for a cuppa as its still early.

Catch you all later crafters...............

There's a chance for some lovely blog candy over here - do check out her blog - there are some fabulous pieces there.

Thursday's Twitterings

This week's challenge over at This Thursday is CHANGE. We had some CD's to play with and this was a change for me because I haven't worked with downloads before.

This first card I changed it to a negative and then added the jewels to make it a bit more striking. I nearly put some in her eyes but then she just looked too weired!!! LOL!

The second card used the downloads in a pyramage style and I added the butterfly cause she is a butterfly and its the one insect that really does CHANGE.

The image was printed onto vellum paper and added to a picture frame. The frame was Changed with inks but they're not showing up very well on the picture.

So let's see what you can do - as usual there's a great prize up for grabs.

ITS NEARLY THURSDAY.....

....which means we have another fab challenge for you over at This Thursday with another fabulous prize. Here's a sneak preview of what you could win this week:

Yes, you could win all THREE of these CDRoms from Cheapdies valued at £44.97.
the discs contain gorgeous Backing papers, decoupage and toppers to print off at your leisure.

Here's are some images of my Design Team pieces for this week.......

INCHY BY INCH BLOG

The Challenge over on my inchybyinch blog this week is travel - but with a slight difference as I've asked everyone to include their inchies on a project of some kind. I added my inchies to a card.




For my inchies this week I chose a Cherry Pie Art Stamp again and this one is of the Coliseum in Rome (where I went in April)! I've made three inchies which, put together, make up one side of the Coliseum and then added them to a Bon Voyage card, though I put it in Italian. I hope the Italian is right - I'm sure Marina of CP will tell me if its not! I've repeated the Coliseum stamp on the card - which ws covered in Tim Holtz distress inks and I added gold foil to it. This is the first time I've worked with this - as it was sent to me in a kit the other day and its great - I'm going to be adding this a lot more to my projects.

Isn't it fun to find new things to do with our crafting? What new thing have you tried this week - do leave a comment and let me know!

PS - don't forget that over on This Thursday challenge there is a chance to win a set of Cherry Pie Stamps - all you have to do is join in!

Emma has some great blog candy to give away - its a voucher for £10 for spend on anything you want at Poppicrafts

Early Rise Sunday!! GRRR!

I was up at some unearthly hour this morning - 5.30 to be exact! We'd had some friends round the evening before for a typical wet barby and had been late getting to bed so I was looking forward to a lie in - but something woke me and I couldn't get back to sleep. So I came down and made myself a cuppa and did some surfing.

I found a new challenge site - new for me anyway - Layers of Colour and their challenge was to use berries. I thought I was stumped until I remember an old Stampin Up set I had which had strawberries on it and another tag set that said yum yum So here are my berries:

It also fits in with another challenge on One Powerful Hour which is asking for food and/or beverage.

THIS THURSDAY - CHERRY PIE!!!/THEME THURSDAY/ARTY GIRLZ/CREATED BY HAND/DANS MA MAISON

WHAT A FANTASTIC PRIZE WE HAVE OVER ON THIS THURSDAY THIS WEEK - YOU COULD WIN YOUR CHOICE OF A SET OF CHERRY PIE STAMPS. YOU CAN SEE MARINA'S FAB RANGE HERE.

NOW IF THAT DOESN'T GET YOU JOINING IN WITH THE CHALLENGES I DON'T KNOW WHAT WOULD!

I'M LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE LOTS OF CP IMAGES SO MARINA LET ME CHOOSE WHICH ONES I WOULD LIKE FOR THE CHALLENGE - I CHOSE OLD NOTES BACKGROUND AND PENSIVE WOMAN.

These two are separate cards - one showing the angel and the lighter side the other the darker side. I didn't really want to put horns on her - too corny!!! LOL

This door hanger has both sides for our creative moods - the lighter side of Diva At Work for when we're inspired and the darker side of Mojo Gone when we're stumped. Guess which side is hanging most often on my door! Yes, the Mojo Gone!

This card was difficult to show as it actually folds over and you have the images on both sides of the card. I thought that the back of a card often gets overlooked so thought I'd decorate both sides!

We're looking forward to seeing your interpretations of the challenge over at This Thursday.

THEME THURSDAY is asking for Love and Romance this week - here's a card I've done recently. The image is taken from one of my photographs from a holiday we had a few years ago in Mexico. The images are Stampin Up.

Arty Girlz challenge this week is to follow a sketch. Here's the sketch :

Here's my card - the Stamp is a Third Coast stamp I think and it reads:



"It is your art that reflects your soul - not a mirror"

Created by Hand Challenge want to see pastel colours. These are definitely not my favourite colours to work with as I prefer my earth colours but I've had a go.

I joined in with a new challenge today - Dans Ma Maison Il y a


I used Fresco Flakes on the top and an assortment of Stampin Up stamps. The background pink was made using Moon Glow's Starburst Stains ink in Alpine Ice Rose which has a nice shimmer to it.

WEDNESDAY ALREADY?????

Wednesday already and I haven't blogged since Saturday - I've been a bit busy outside of computer and blogland - my goodness there's a life outside of blogland????????????? LOL!

If its Wednesday today that means its Thursday tomorrow and our new challenge over on This Thursday - now if you're a regular to my blog you'll know how much I love my Cherry Pie Art Stamps and I shout Marina's praises - well our prize next week on This Thursday is

Drumroll please..................................

That's right - the winner gets to choose a whole plate of Cherry Pie Art Stamps of their choice. Marina is so generous - I have most of these and they are so great to work with. Here's a sneak preview of my designs for tomorrow's challenge.

BLOG CANDY WINNER

Thanks to all of you who left me comments - it was great to read what you are all into at the moment.

The lucky winner chosen at random is:

ALEX - YOU'LL FIND HER BLOG HERE

Let me have your address Alex and I'll send your goodies on to you.

SISTERHOOD OF THE BLOGGING STAMPERS 20

Hi all - wanted to welcome all my new sisters. I'm looking forward to getting to know you all.

You can find me here - or on my Stampin Up blog as I'm a SU demonstrator, or on my inchy challenge blog, or as part of the Inspirational team set up by the fabulous Julie or as part of the Design Team on This Thursday. I do so much on the computer now I don't get that much time to craft anymore! And I'm sure I'm getting RSI from using the mouse!!!

I'm off to say hi to you all on your blogs.

AWARD

I've been given an award by Susie - thanks Susie! You have to pass it on to 7 people I think but Susie only did 2 and I have so many I could pass it on to that I will also just name 2 people here:

Julie

Carole

THIS THURSDAY - CLEARLY CLEVER

This week's challenge on This Thursday is up and running today and have we got a great challenge prize for you this week, thanks to this weeks generous sponser. Clever Cut.

This weeks challenge is Clearly Clever . You can use anything that you can see through, You can use the title - You can use any technique you think is clearly clever as long as you tell us how to achieve it. You can do something about about someone or something that is clearly clever . Whatever the title says to you ,

The prize reflects the challenge and Clever Cut has kindly donated design samples and this amazing prize of Acrylic items. As acrylic doesn’t photograph well we have shown them in graphic form.

Isn't this owl just so great? He was one of the stamps we had to work with and also the piece of acrylic. The backing paper is some I had - can't remember who makes it.

This one I had a go at drawing my own flourishes - yes I know I need some more practice! LOL! The backing paper is SU. The Happy Birthday stamp behind the acrylic is also one of the stamps we were given.

This one didn't photograph as well as I would have liked as its a pure white card - I wanted to show that it was clear with no other embellishments or papers on it. The Happy Birthday stamp was used and the acrylics. The other stamps are SU.

So for your chance to win some of these fab acrylics - pop along to This Thursday - you have to be in it to win it and you know what they say

IT COULD BE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

IF YOU GO DOWN TO MY SU BLOG TODAY.......

.......YOU'RE IN FOR A BIG SURPRISE

IF YOU GO DOWN TO MY SU BLOG TODAY

YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE YOUR EYES

FOR THREE LUCKY PEOPLE THAT EVER THERE WAS

WILL GATHER THERE FOR CERTAIN BECAUSE

TODAY'S THE DAY THE PIF GOODIES ARE ON THERE!

He He

PRIZES PRIZES EVERYWHERE

This is the fabulous prize you could win - donated by Tanda Stamps - over at the inchy challenge blog - You have until next Monday to submit your inchie - the theme this week is "Thanks"

Don't forget that over on This Thursday we have this fabulous set of beads as our prize kindly donated by Daisy Chain Beads. You have until Wednesday to be in with a chance of winning.

And just to whet your appetites for the next challenge ...........Clearly Clever??????!!!!!!!!