Well I Never!!!!!

Hi lovely peeps and hope you are all OK today.

It’s that time of the week when we head across the water and catch up with our friends over at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge. And speaking of water, well there is quite a lot of it about in our village at the mo– more later!!!

So this week our challenge is ….

Anything Goes

so time to get creative and maybe try something different or maybe just to indulge and use your fave stuff :) 

The design team have created some awesome projects for your inspiration, and this week we are all featuring October Afternoon  products. Of course, you don't have to use them to join in but we would love to see them used if you have them :-)

As always, our lovely Heidi is giving away a fabulous …

… for one lucky winner to spend …

…right here.

So …..

.. this is what I did.

The papers are from the October Afternoon 8 x 8 HOLIDAY STYLE Paper Pad ….

.. this one here.

They are gorgeous and have a real olde worlde feel to them.

   

The image is of course sweet Tilda and is one of the latest Magnolia release. I coloured her with these Copics -

Skin – E0000, E000, E00, E11, E13, R00, R02

Hair – E31, E3, E34, E34, E39, E50

The rest – E31, E34, E35, G99, E50, R05, R17, R17, R59, Y00, Y11, Y21,  Y28, Y38, YG0000, YG00, YG03, YG23,

My fave holly die in the whole world :)

It’s the Tim Holtz Sizzix HOLLY BRANCH Die – I LOVE this die and use it lots at this time of year (thank you Lord Timmy xx). The berries are punched dots covered in Glossy Accents  and sprinkled with glitter.

Ohh yes, another fave!!

The good old swirl from the  Magnolia leaf and swirl die set. And the border is made from the Memory Box SANIBEL BORDER Craft DIE. I like this border because you can use the positive and negative cuts and they are both equally as fab.

  

So that’s the old card done.

And now for the watery bit as per the beginning of the post!!

Our village is flooded.

It is prone to a bit of flooding because we are on a high water table. But it has rained almost solidly since Sunday afternoon here and as a result, we have ……………

 

… a little mini river where the lane usually is!!! 

What these pics don’t show (cos I didn't have me wellies on and I wasn't risking a soaking by going any further) is that it continues around the bend to the right of the pic for about 150 years.

 

I’m not sure how deep it is but I reckon it’s at least a foot – maybe more at the edges.

I drove home though this last night and there was a cyclist on the pavement just around the corner.  There was nothing I could do and he got soaked from my car. I felt awful and just held my hands up to him and mouthed apologies but I didn't dare stop in case I got stuck. I bet he was cursing me all the way home. 

My poor Nicola came here last night and rang me from the other end of this lot because she was terrified to drive though it as she didn’t know how deep it was or if it would damage her car. She drove though it eventually after watching other cars and just tried to stay calm, bless her. But she went home a different way as she wasn't going through that lot again in the dark!!.

Late last night, the tractors etc were out pumping the water away but these pics were taken this morning so after they did that - it’s horrendous.

Thankfully we can get out because there is another way out of the village near to our house. And there is an old railway bridge between this lot and our house so unless it gets REALLY bad ie 20 feet or so which is  highly unlikely, the water won’t get too near to us.

You could be forgiven for thinking that this is a lake, but it’s actually one of the fields near here – totally under water.

This field is usually full of cows but they have been moved, natch - not enough wellies to go around!!!.

 

So that’s it for today.

I am going to brave the elements later on (what a hero!!) and go and get some stuff to make home made soup. I may even light the fire as well – assuming me nutty slack isn’t waterlogged!!! Not that it’s particularly cold, but it just makes us feel a bit better!!!

Then I’ll draw the curtains and I aint budging for the rest of the night!!

Hope you are all nice and warm and dry and I’ll see you soon as soon.

Huggiest of hugs to all xxx

Luscious Lime & Verryy Sparkly Too ;)

Hi lovely peeps and hope you are all OK today.

It’s that time of the week when we head across the water and catch up with our friends over at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge and this week our challenge is ….

Emboss It

and you can either heat or dry emboss here, or even both if you fancy it!!

The design team have created some awesome projects for your inspiration, and this week we are all featuring Stampendous products. Of course, you don't have to use them to join in but we would love to see them used if you have them :-)

As always, our lovely Heidi is giving away a fabulous …

… for one lucky winner to spend …

…right here.

So …..

… this is what I did and please excuse the terrible pic peeps.

I had the prettiest glitter ever and just HAD to use it for this challenge and it’s from the Stampendous GLITTER KIT PRETTY PRINCESS Ultra Fine Sparkle kit. 

What a beautimous colour!!!

What I did was to lay strips of 1cm DST on a piece of card, whip off the backing strip and sprinkle with the glitter - it makes a nice background I think.

The dies I used are Spellbinders FANCY LATTICE Shapeabilities Expandable Pattern Dies and Spellbinders DECORATIVE LABELS 8 Eight Nestabilities. Both of these are new this year and they are newbies to me as well. I LOVE them, espesh the fancy lattice – no end of possibilities with this one.

I expect that this isn't the last you’ll see of them on here peeps!!!

Here’s where I did me embossing.

I die cut the bloom using a Spellbinders Rose Creations set then ran the pieces through a Cuttlebug  Swiss Dots Embossing Folder before putting it all together :)

So that’s me done for now and I’m off to do some more work. The pile is going down but soooooooooooooooooooooooo slowly. Why is it that it grows at a much faster rate I wonder?????

Have the fabbiest of days and huggiest of hugs to all xxxx

Another Hoppity Hop :)

Hi there sweet peeps and hope you are all OK on this fine Saturday morning :)
Actually I’ve scheduled this so it may not be fine at all but it sounds fab as I’m writing it and we can live in hope!!!

So it’s time for another Lili Of The Valley blog hop and as our regulars will know, we choose one image and then we all make a project with that image so you get lots of ideas on how to use the stamp.

This month we’ve gone with

Milly Hello

as she is just sooooo super sweet!!

There are prizes along the way from ….

.... but where are they?

Ahh well that would be telling cos this time we’ve hidden them – ohh we are awful !!!

But all will be revealed next week so you won’t be in suspenders for too long (unless of course you want to be but that’s really none of our business, you saucy minx!!).

The DT taking part in this mini hop this month are:

Anne
Dawny  - moi!!
Fleur
Gretha
Lou
Pops

So  if you’ve arrived here from our lovely Anne's blog then you are going in the right direction!!

So this is what I did with Miss Milly Hello.

I coloured her with Copics is these colours -

Skin – E0000, E000, E00, E11, E13, R00, R02

Hair – C00, C3, C4, C5, C7, Black (oooooooooooohh it makes a change from me usual blondie or light brown doesn't it me loves!!)

The rest -  Boo, C00, C1, C3, C5, C7,  RV000, RV00, RV34, YG00, Black,

And of course, the very yummity papers are from the Lili of The Valley Bonnets and Bowties paper pad :)

 

 

A bow and button twine combi here.

The ribbon is 25mm Shocking Pink Candy Check Berisford No 72 and I’ve used black button twine and a Medium Black Polka Dot Button.

I made the border myself (smart ass) by gluing 1.5” punched circles along a strip of white card.
I really like the chunky scalloped look :)

 

 

 

Is it me or does this have sort of Japanese-ee feel to it?

Right, I won't hold you up with me chunterings any longer – on with the hop!!

If you want to take part, it’s as easy as ABC. All you need to do is to  -

a) leave me a comment

b) leave your name with old Linky at the bottom of the post

c) keep your fingers crossed that the Random Org chooses YOU as a winner xxx

So now it’s time to head on over to the luvverly Fleur's blog and good luck to all who enter.

As you are reading this, I will be enjoying myself at a fabulous class at Rosemary’s today. No I am not taking the class (although mine are a little bit fabulous I hope!!!). No, today I am doing one of the sweetness that is Debi’s classes. She makes the most beautiful stuff and today we are making one of ……………

…………. these.

You cannot see from the pic how gorgeous this is. It’s so different from my style and I want to give the old creative mojo thingie a bit of a shake up!!! I’ll post a pic once I’ve finished it so you can see how I get on if you promise not to laugh at my efforts!!!!

If you are interested in any of the classes up in sunny Frodsham, you can see the workshop schedules here

AND

if you aren’t doing anything next Saturday (22nd), why not come along because it’s

Crab Apple Crafts birthday,

wooohoooo!!!

We’ll be celebrating from 10am till 4pm and it’s FOC (even the drinks and cake are free, ohh yes they are!!!)

There’ll be demos by …..

Kay (owner of Indigo Blu)

plus Dorothy (from Woodware),  Debi (Crab Apple Craft’s  very own workshop tutor),  Dawn (that’ll be me then) and the one and only King of Crafts himself,  Nige :)

It promises to be a good day with lots going on, plus you can have a mooch around Rosemary’s shop which is full to the brim of  gorgeousness.

So I’m nearly done but because before I go I must tell you about the giveaway over at The Ribbon Girl Blog.

So if you fancy winning these fab things which include ….

Pack of 5 clear drop crystal stemsPack of 5 pink heart crystal stems
Pack of 6 Kort & Godt Cream Chrysanthemum Flowers
Bag of 26 Assorted Small Polka Dot Buttons
Pack of 5 silver butterflies
Pack of 6 Kort & Godt beaded swirls
A pearl and diamante round flat back embellishment
Pack of 6 pink diamante daisy flowers
Pack of 10 Lilac Baby's Breath flowers
20g bag of mixed lilac/purple buttons
10g bag of dried French lavender
(when you empty out the little buttons from the organza bag, you could add some of the dried lavender to the bag and hang it in your craft room)

… then nip over and check out what you need to do – it’s very easy peasy.

 So on that note I’ll beggar off (yes I really am going this time) and leave you to get on with the hop.

Huggiest of hugs to all xxx

ETA the dope here forgot to add Linky when this post first went out, so the first 11 comments aren’t in there but they will be added to the total number on Linky when I do the draw so they will be included – sorry peeps xxx

A Rather Fab Colour Combi & A Day Of Remembering :)

Morning peeps and hope you are all OK today.

The man flu is still lurking but I think it is improving ever so slightly so hopefully by the weekend I will have some semblance of normality back (hahahaaaaaaaaa to the normality bit!!)

So it’s time to nip over and see what’s happening over at the Lili’s Little Fairies Challenge and this week it’s time for a game of

Embellishment Bingo

Here’s the grid and all you have to do is to pick a line :)

There are several combis I used here – not deliberately cos I aint that clever (although I did use everything on a grid once for one of The Ribbon Girl challenges, smug smug!!!). So take your pick from

Flowers, Gems Glitter

Glitter Buttons Ribbon

Pearls (the little stars)  Lace (paper) Glitter

And talking of  The Ribbon Girl, we are sponsored today by those lovely peeps Mary & Andrea  and there is a …

 

…. fab Aqua Mini Ribbon Kit up for grabs.

So ….

… this is what I did. I used one of last year’s Lili Of The Valley Christmas releases and this is of course All In A Row .

I coloured it with Copics in these colours -

Skin – E0000, E000, E00, E11, E13, R00, R02

Hair – E31, E33, E35, E39, E50

The rest – BV0000, BV000, BV00, BV02, BV04

The papers are from the Lili Of The Valley paper pads and this one is Promises which features papers from the Nitwits collection of the same name -  I really like these colours together :)

Some Ribbon Girl yummies here -

A larger bow made with Sky Mauve Lilac Seam Binding, topped with a smaller double bow made with Wavecrest Seam Binding which was finally topped with a Medium Purple Polka Dot Button tied with some natural button twine.

And there’s a cheeky little tag peeking out which is from the LOTV Christmas Sentiment Tags Set 32

The dies I used are Spellbinders Lattice Motifs and of course a bit of Tilda Lace 

 

A little arrangement made with various fab stuff from Wild Orchid Crafts :)

So there we are all done for today.

If you get a sec, nip over and have a mooch at the challenge blog peeps and from next week there will be a few more faces joining the DT. Hugest congrats to them and I for one can’t wait to share their fabulous work :)

Before I go I just have to say that yesterday my heart went out to the families of the Hillsborough Disaster. For too long these poor people have not only had to come to terms with losing their relatives in the most awful way, but have had to fight every inch of the way for the truth. I guess that under the circumstances it wasn’t a lot to ask. Yesterday that fight brought them the official confirmation that they had been seeking all these years.  I’m sure that it didn't make them feel any better – in fact it probably made them feel worse in some cases, knowing that lives lost maybe could have been saved. But they must at last feel vindicated and it is a step forward for them and maybe now they can begin to find some peace and start to heal. If that’s possible.

I am LFC supporter – have been all my life – and so is Rich and my Emma. I used to go to  home games years ago,back in the days of Emlyn and Clemence and Tommy Smith etc. My ex husband was also a red and went to most games, home or away and even went abroad to watch them, although he wasn’t at  Hillsborough. So I guess that football is a way of life round here so this really hit home and  I remember it happening like it was yesterday.

I remember going into work on the Monday and of course it was the main topic of conversation, and finding out that one of my ex neighbours had died there. One of the girls who worked there used to go to the same pub as he did and she told me - I couldn’t believe it. I still see one of his sisters now cos she works in one of the shops near here.

I remember feeling outrage that you really should not go to a football match and not come home.

I remember the nightmares I had after reading a particularly harrowing and graphic book of accounts of what happened that day. I remember wishing I had never read it and then feeling guilty that I had just wanted to bury my head and wipe away the images I had from my mind because the people that were there would never be able to do that. I cannot even tell you peeps what I read because it is too awful. Suffice to say that those that were caught up in those pens must have thought they had gone to the very depths of hell.

I remember the shocking pictures on the front pages of the Sunday papers the next day and going out of my way to make sure that my kids didn't see them.

I remember meeting up with the sister of the best friend of my neighbour who had died. Her brother had also gone to the match but he came home.  He came home without his best friend but brought back a world of pain and problems and guilt.  He was traumatised beyond belief she told me and his nightmares may even continue to this day and will be far worse than anything I could ever imagine.

I remember one of my works colleagues telling me that her husband had been there on that day. He was in the top tier and got the most awful view of what was happening below him. He was one of those helping to pull people upwards. He has never gone to a match since.

I’m not meaning to get on me soap box here cos I know that we lived in a very different world then, even though it wasn't that long ago, and football supporters hadn’t always been paragons of virtue – sorry if this offends anyone but it is the reality of those times.  And I have always told my kids that they have to have a fair and balanced view of life and that there are usually two sides to every story.  Some (not all) supporters had a really bad reputation back then for rioting and pitch invasions and fighting and I have tried to rationalise in my head that those in charge on that day may have got the wrong end of the stick and as a result made the wrong decisions.  Making wrong decisions is part of our lives – we have all done it because we are human beings and we aren’t perfect. I can forgive that.  But what I cannot forgive is the systematic cover up and all the lies that have been told since. Things that are coming out now about the lengths that certain parties went to to deflect blame and cover up the truth are beyond belief and those responsible must be brought to book. What they did is nothing short of evil.

It’s hard to live in these parts and not know somebody who died or was affected by this, even down to the next generation because my kids both went to school with the brothers of two of the victims.  There are lots of people around here  inter-connected to this tragedy in some way or another and a lot of people have been affected. And we live some 20 odd miles from Liverpool so in the city this will be even greater.

But none are affected quite so much as the immediate families. The rest of us remember Hillsborough when things like yesterday happen and then we all start talking about it again. But for those families it never goes away and they remember it all the times. For them it isn't just a topic on the news cos it is their reality.

So today I am remembering the 96 and their families.

I am also remembering the other victims of that day that we don’t always think about. People like the young St Johns Ambulance volunteers that were there on that day, some little more than kids,  who thought they were there to patch up cuts and bruises. And the hospital staff who tried to deal with this but who must have been completely overwhelmed. And the Hillsborough ground staff – God only knows what they had to cope with. And the family and friends of those fans who went but came home – they have probably been coping with the fall out ever since. And the fans on the pitch that were desperately trying to save their mates and fellow fans. 

And on and on it goes.

But hopefully now they can start to have some sort of closure.

And while I’m remembering, my thoughts are also with my friends across the water on the anniversary this week of 9/11. And finally I am remembering my lovely Mum because it is 9 years tomorrow since she died (love and miss you loads Mum xxx).

Huggiest of hugs to all xxx

And The Winner Is ……………….

So who is the winner of …

… my giveaway voucher?

…… tadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, it’s YOU Sue McRae.

Well done to you chick and if you can please drop me a quick email with your deets, I’ll pass them on to Simon Says Stamp and they will be in touch to let you know what to do to collect your fabulous prize.

Hugest of thanks to them for sponsoring this and of course, mahoosive thanks to each and every one of you that stopped by and entered the challenge and joined in with our hop. It was a huge success and that’s down to you lovely peeps xxx

Full details of all the winners can be found here on the main challenge blog and congratulations to each and every one :)

Night night sleep tight and mind the bugs don't bite and see you in the morning xxx

Ohhhh So Trendy :)

Hi lovely peeps and hope you are all OK today.

I’m still sniffing and snotting like nobody's business (ugh, too much info there possibly!!) but I think that perhaps the achy limbs are not as bad today even if the old throat is still quite painful!!! Before we get to the card, just to let you know that my winner from last week’s Put A Stamp On It challenge will be announced later so please do keep checking. The winner of the $100 voucher will be announced on the challenge blog as well.

So time to head across the water and catch up with our friends over at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge and this week our challenge is ….

We're So TRENDY …

as this week we are using designs that are very much on trend at the moment…

 

      NEON                                                  HEXAGON                                           CHEVRON

....  so you just need to include these in your projects this week :)

As always, our lovely Heidi is giving away a fabulous …

… for one lucky winner to spend …

…right here.

So …..

 

… this is what I did and this is just about as different as you could get for me, but I’m quite pleased with how it turned out :)

I’ll put linky pics at the end with all the stuff I used so you just need to click the pic and it should take you straight to the correct place in the shop.

I used chevrons and hexagons (no neon sadly) and the both are included in the DP. Not sure if I am stretching it a bit here but the stitching is also chevron shaped.

It is isn't it????

The star of the show – this lovely bloom.

I used 4 of the Prima Craftable blooms to maje it. I used one as a base and the other 3 I scrunched up and glued to the base flower before adding some Diamond Stickles.

I added a decorative brad and popped it onto a Kaiser White Flower Crochet Doily (these add a nice but of texture).

  

You can see the patterns on the DP in this pic :)

Here’s the shopping list …..

                                          

                         

So that’s me done for now and I’ll be back soon with my winner.

I’ll also be back tomorrow with something a little bit lilacy and a little bit minty. No sneakie peekie though cos I haven’t done the pics yet!!

Have the fabbiest of days and huggiest of hugs to all xxxx