INCHY CHALLENGE BLOG/TMTA

I'm a day late with our challenge this week - but things are still not well with my mum - she's now on morphine to keep her comfortable and that's not good.

On to our inchy challenge - I found O another difficult letter - I was nearly having to resert to French and do Oiseau (bird) but right at the last minute I thought of Opera - doh and me an opera singer!

The challenge over at TMTA this week is to use the colour green - one of my favourite colours so I jumped at the chance to join in with this one. The song Green Green Grass of Home by Tom Jones was the first thing that came to mind so I had to do a Welsh ATC cause that's home to me.

WS - Tim Holtz

Wednesday Stamper this week is honouring Tim Holtz - the great idea of Jaine and you can see her wonderful canvas on her blog here. I'm obviously not alone in loving Tim and his ideas and I was surprised at how many of Tim's products I have. One thing I noticed though is that my inks are getting dry - I need some re-inkers or maybe some new inks........now there's a thought. Considering I bought them in the States over 3 years ago they've lasted me a long time.

Just in case you haven't come across Tim before - here's a link to his website.

I used a selection of Tim's stamps and one of his Idealogy Masks called Timeworks. The inks are all Tim's distress inks:

Aged Mahogany

Weathered Wood

Worn Lipstick

Milled Lavender

Antique Linen

INCHY CHALLENGE BLOG - 'N'

I found N a difficult letter to come up with something for the inchy alphabet challenge this week - nut or nature were the only things I could think of but then found a Stampin Up stamp with November on it and some Chrysanthemums - I must admit they are not my favourite flowers - I always think of them as funeral flowers.

Speaking of Nuts - here's a recent picture of our pup Tegan - growing up fast - she's now 6 months. This ball was proving a bit too big for her! Look at that sunshine - looks like summer doesn't it - although the sun has deserted us here today in Hampshire and its back to damp and dull! Nice while it lasted - hope it comes back soon.

SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

The challenge over at Something Completely Different this week is to use the Letter H. A slight cheat here as I'm going to include one of my alphabet inchies - as its one of my favourites its nice to give it another airing!

MORE CREATING!

Do you know its nearly 24 years since I was last in Paris. My hubby took me there for our 1st wedding anniversary as a surprise trip and it was so gorgeous - we often say we'd like to go again and, really, as we live in Hampshire - its not that far away to just jump on the train. I can remember walking and walking and walking - so much that I broke my shoes! The best meal we had was overlooking Notre Dame sitting by the Seine drinking a bottle of red wine and eating some baguette and cheese. Over at Sunday Postcard Art their challenge is Paris - hence my memories. Here's my postcard - the Eiffel Tower stamp is from Tim Holtz.

From Paris to Egypt - somewhere I'd love to go but have never been.....yet. My map is for the Three Muses challenge

Ready Steady Stamp!

The challenge over at Ready Steady Stamp is to use three or all of the following ingredients:

I decided to try and use all of them in my layout of a wonderful holiday we spent in Mexico in 2004.

LOTS TO DO CHALLENGE

The challenge at Lots to Do this week is to use embossing - I've used a variety of stamps here - the embossed image of the girl is Cherry Pie - the others are Stampin Up.

Hello Dolly/Three Muses/Theme Thursday

Another piece from me today - my mum is seriously ill in hospital although last night I found out they may be sending her home today where she lives practically on her own which has me incensed. I live about 5 hours away from her and can't believe the hospital would even consider sending home a woman of 86 who isn't eating or drinking. So before I do battle with the hospital again - a bit of "time out" for me


This piece is for the Mixed Media Monday challenge whose theme is Hello Dolly. It also fits in with the Theme Thursday challenge which is to include hats or crowns!





And yet another piece from me - i must be on a roll! lol! This one is for Inkurable Stampers who wanted us to show an example of the spotlight technique - i've used a Cherry Pie stamp here for my Three Muses and made a 4x4:

CHECK OUT THIS BLOG....

I've finally persuaded my very talented daughter Emma to start her own blog for her digital art - its early days yet but you can find her here - she also does commissions and not only of horses but most animals.

Some art!!!!

I surprised myself today by actually sitting down and doing something creative. After the difficulties of the past two weeks I was inspired by Wednesday Stamper to join in with their theme of trees. I have this wonderful tree stamp by Cherry Pie that I often use and just played around with it a little. Perhaps this is the start of me getting back into my stamping - doing the Stampin Up thing spoiled my enjoyment of crafting. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction....

The piece sounds melancholy - must be my mood - the words say "on my own" - not quite as clear in the picture.

I also came across a tag challenge Kard Krazy who asked us to find inspiration in a quote. I found this quote about Love which struck a chord with me at the moment and the stamp of the family image is by Tim Holtz.

INCHY CHALLENGE BLOG AND BLOG CANDY

The week before Easter we suffered a sad loss in the family when my sister in law died suddenly. Inchy challenge blog had to go on hold for a few weeks as real life definitely got in the way.

I'm back now, but not sure for how long as my mum is now seriously ill in hospital - everything comes together right?

Anyway our challenge at inchy challenge blog is up to the letter L which I chose to represent Love.

As a thank you for being patient I'm also offering some blog candy - so pop along if you fancy a chance - in case you don't know you'll find inchy challenge blog here

INCHY CHALLENGE BLOG / OSTARA BLESSINGS

We're up to K on inchy challenge blog this week and my K is for key, through the keyhole to be exact. I think this is a Cherry Pie stamp.

I'm sharing some Ostara Blessings I received yesterday from Wendy from Painting Dreams - if you are not familiar with her work check out her website - she does gorgeous paintings and she also has a book out about a Lunar Hare, as well as calendars and cards.

I finally have some daffodils in flower in the garden - only the small narcissus but very welcome - normally I have loads dotted about the garden by this time of year - let's hope they show their cheery faces in time for Easter.

INCHY CHALLENGE BLOG - LETTER 'J'

We're up to J already on our alphabet challenge on inchy challenge blog - my J is for Jewel (in the Crown)

INCHY CHALLENGE H AND I PLUS MORE.....

Oops - I didn't come on here and post my H for last week's inchy challenge - so here it is - H for Hat

and here's this week's - the letter I for inchy - can you believe it took me ages to think up an I

I've been surfing round blogland again trying to come up with some inspiration to get me crafting again

I came across Maddy's site and she's offering blog candy - look at Herbert - isn't he so nice - my DD doesn't want chocolate for Easter - he would be just perfect! Hop along and join in and good luck - you'll find her here

And, yes even more posting - I've entered my pup Tegan and one of my old cats Megan into a comp - please if you have the time and the inclination - pop along and vote for them - if you think they're the cutest of course!

Tegan - the pup - is here

Megan - the cat is here

And - wait - there's more:

I'm still doing a bit of crafting for a forum and we're doing a CJ - well I had committed myself to doing it so couldn't let them down - its a stamping CJ and I received the weirdest stamp I've ever had to work with - the stamp is the nun with the gun!

Here's my take on the stamp - the wording is all thanks to DH - obviously been watching too many Clint Eastwood films!

INCHY CHALLENGE BLOG - 'G'

We're on G this week at inchy challenge blog - and I found this letter quite difficult. I went for G for Grapes in the end. The stamp is a Stampin Up one.

OPERA CARA

Yes I know it doesn't have anything to do with crafting but it is Art! Lol! Thought I might just mention my new venture along with three of my very talented colleagues - if you are in the South of England and fancy an opera quartet at a do you might be holding you'll find us here.

www.opera-cara.com


Weddings, Funerals, Barmitzvahs, you name it - we'll come sing for you!

How's that for a plug!

INCHY CHALLENGE BLOG - LETTER 'F'

We're up to Letter F on the inchy challenge blog. I've done F for fairy! I nearly did F for Fiona but couldn't find a picture I liked! Not that I ever like pictures of me anyway Lol!

Here's a picture of my two Welshies, Tegan the pup is getting a lot taller, she's still all paws and legs though and is making my old girl run around like she hasn't done for years!

INCHY CHALLENGE BLOG - 'E'

My 'E' for inchy challenge blog this week is an Eye. Sounds strange - E for I! lol!

INCHY CHALLENGE BLOG - 'D'

We're up to D on the inchy challenge blog this week and my D is for Daffodil. Its a lovely spring like morning here in Hampshire, blue skies and sun but I'm told there is rain and maybe snow on the way again so I'm making the most of this nice weather with a spring theme for the challenge.

INCHY CHALLENGE BLOG - THE LETTER 'C'

We're up to C on the inchy challenge blog and I forgot to post my inchies on here.

Thanks to Karen Missy K for the prompt.

Here's my C's - as I have three cats I had to do one each for them!

And here are my little darlings - this first one is Megan - she is 11 years old - do you think she's trying to tell me something in this picture?

And these pair are my oldest and youngest - Felix is the black and white and he's 17 and Pepper is the grey and white and he's nearly 1!