Down On the Allotment

Evening Everyone,
I don't know what it has been like where you are, but here it has been beautiful if rather cold here.
Some glorious and welcome sunshine which will have started people thinking about working in their gardens and allotments,I'm sure.
How appropriate then that one of 'Hobby Art Jenny's' fabulous new stamp sets should be gardening / allotment related.

She has been on the TV today, and this is one of the cards that I made for her show.
It is very simple but quite effective, and would make a good card for a man or any keen gardener for that matter.

I stamped the Garden Shed from The Allotment  stamp set onto Watercolour card stock using Pesto Adirondack dye based ink.

Then I used a damp paintbrush to 'move' the ink and create a monochrome watercolour finish.

The background is a fantastic new embossing folder from Crafters Companion that I just HAD to have.

It is one of their new Texture 8x8 Range called Leaf Vein.
I embossed a piece of card stock that matched the Pesto ink, and then swiped the ink pad repeatedly over the embossed paper which shows up the pattern beautifully.

I hadn't realised that the card stock was actually slightly ribbed until I ran the ink pad over it, but I think that it just adds to the effect.
I watched out to see the card on the show. It is always such a buzz to see something that you have made get shown on the TV.
The Grandchildren think it's quite cool when I point them out.
Speaking of the Grandchildren, it was the School Disco tonight.

 This is how grown up you can look when your big sister helps to get you ready. How scary is that!!

Ciaran looked very cool too although he was rather annoyed that his hair wouldn't spike up like he wanted it to. Oh dear I really am feeling very old. The kids seem to grow up far too quickly these days.
Off to play now, I have a 21st birthday card to make this weekend as well as several other things.
Bye for now. Have a great weekend.
Hugs Kimx

Happy Birthday 'Twinies'

Evening Everyone,
A rather late post this evening I'm afraid as we have been celebrating. Today is the twins 7th Birthday.

They had a lovely evening, and there was lots of screaming as they opened their prezzies.

These are the cards that I made for them. Good old Lili of the Valley toppers.

 This image made me think of Saskia, and how I imagine her when I hear her having one of her little tea parties.

I added her name using die cut letters and banner.

The background has been made using papers from my stash and my fab hexagon punch.

 I also have an embossing folder which is full of stitched hexagons.

 Ciaran's card has been made using a fussy cut image which I attached using silicon to give it dimension.

The sentiment is also from Lili of the Valley mounted over some die cut stars.
I found the 7s in my stash and added some Frantage powder to this one.

I have had the gold spiders web card for years, perfect for the spooky theme.

The background paper has been embossed with another folder and then I added ink and embossing powder to it. The die cut letters have been Frantaged as well.

They were also celebrating at school today.
It was Egyptian day for the twins year, and so they all had to dress up as Egyptians. Thank God for e-bay, and a friend in the year above who still had their costume lol.
Happy 7th Birthday Saskia and Ciaran.
Hugs and kisses from Mam-ma
aka Kimx

My good deed for the day

Hi All
Not much crafting over the last couple of days I'm afraid as I have been staying with my lovely Mum so that I could accompany her to the hospital for a pain killing injection into her neck. OUCH!!

This is the second time that she has had it done, and although I have absolutely no desire to see my Mum in pain I did hope that the injection hurt this time.
Before you think I am totally cruel and heartless let me explain.
Last time she had the procedure it didn't hurt at all going in, and it also didn't give her any relief either.
I have spoken to several people who have had this kind of treatment, and they all say that the more painful the injection is to have, the better the effects on the pain afterwards, so I am hoping that it is very painful, but with the nicest possible motives.
It is a good job that Mum and I get on very well and that she completely understands otherwise she might thank that I was being horrible to her. Definitely not daughter of the year material lol.

This photo was taken the last time Mum came for the day.
Saskia and Ciaran are always up for a photo session, although I think that Mum was less keen. I don't know about you, but I hate having my photograph taken.
Hugs Kimx

Happy Birthday Max

Hello Again,
I can't believe how quickly this weekend has come to an end.

This card was made for a young man who I jokingly refer to as my Grandson.
He is the son of my Daughters best friend, and spends rather a lot of time at our house so we laugh that he has become a surrogate Grandson. In fact he turned up first thing this morning to show me what he had been given for his birthday. How sweet is that :O)

He loves his football and supports Chelsea so I added some blue Spectrum Noir pen to this Lili of the Valley topper. I hope that he will get past the fact that the kit isn't accurate.

I made some patchwork background using blue, black and white papers and added some medical gauze behind the image to look like the goal net.

The flags are cut using a DooHickey and were the ideal way to add his name and age.
I even had a few left over bits to be able to make another card to put in my box. I'm sure that it will come in handy some time fairly soon.
Hugs Kimx

Hug and Kisses and Birthday Wishes

Hi All
I hope that you have had a good day.
I can't believe how different the weather has been, wet and miserable today compared to yesterdays bright and beautiful, which is definitely what it was 14 years ago when my Granddaughter was born.

 This is the card and birthday badge that I made for Megan.

The image is from Lili of the Valley cut out and mounted with circular nesties.

The background is hand made using my Creative Palette, inks, Stampendous stamps and some bubble wrap.

I also stamped and embossed over the top using Versamark ink and Wine Frantage powder.

The flower and leaves are all die cut from some  Kraft card and I added a few buds and wired gems.

The sentiments are from a fabulous Lili of the Valley set.

I made Meggie a badge to wear even though it is probably not very 'cool',

They had a bit of a birthday picnic after school, which even the dog wanted to join in on.
Megan is having a sleepover at the week end, so I suspect that there will be even more giggling and noise.
hugs Kimx

Happy Easter weekend

Evening Everyone,
I hope that you have all had a fabulous Easter weekend, and that you are not too overstuffed with chocolate.
I don't really DO Easter, just ask my Girls. I was the mean Mum who bought them a book instead of an Easter Egg. Well they always seemed to get so many from everyone else.
I haven't really changed with the Grandchildren either, although I did give them a small cream egg (their favourite) and a couple of pound for their money box.
At work however we have had to do our bit to celebrate, so yesterday I press ganged the younger kids into dressing up and coming to work to greet all of the customers. The things I do on my day off lol.

I had promised to buy them breakfast, but the first thing my Boss asked them as they walked in to work was 'What would you like to eat? Choose whatever you want.'

The boys went for an All day Breakfast, typical boys, where as Sas went for a more reserved chocolate croissant. Hot chocolate all round and that was them sorted for the morning.

Sas definitely got into her roll, especially when a couple of customers gave them each a small egg, which she stored in her basket.

The Boss's daughters played their part as did the daughter of one of my other colleagues. In fact everyone at work that day had dressed up in white shirt and bow tie, and even a few bunny ears.

I made everyone an Easter name badge, and as you can see I am not a tidy workman.

Thank goodness for pre-coloured images and peel-offs is all I can say.
I can't believe how many Easter eggs we managed to sell. In fact there were none left by midday on Sunday so I hope that no one was expecting any end of season bargains.
Oh well, back to normal tomorrow so that's another Bank holiday over. Still, I suppose that there are another two to look forward to next month, for those of you that don't work on those days anyway.
Hugs Kimx

Wow, what a weekend!!

Evening Everyone,
I have had a rather unexpected end to the weekend, extra babysitting detail of the Grandchildren and a couple of extra bodies!!

 The weekend started off in a rather relaxing manner some friends round for a BBQ, despite the rather overcast weather.

It was actually a rather belated birthday treat for my 'surrogate son-in-law'.
All was going well apart from the fact that he had been stung by a wasp earlier in the day and his hand was continuing to swell (he is allergic to wasp stings and had already been to A&E)
After much discussion, and quite a bit of persuasion, he went back to the hospital only to be put in an ambulance which sped off at 90 miles and hour to East Grinstead where a team of doctors were waiting for his arrival!!
The upshot of it was a night spent at the hospital hooked up to a drip, with his wife and my daughter there for company (they had gone with him to A&E) and all of the children sleeping over here.
I ended up pulling Child Watch detail, they are all well past the baby stage, until everyone returned early this afternoon after my Sin-in-law had gone to collect them.
All the grown ups had been awake all night so as you can imagine there were a lot of rather tired people in need of coffee and feeding.
Rather appropriately tonight I have several cards to share that were made for members of the younger generation.

I'm sure that this is how everyone would have preferred to spend the weekend.

 We could have done with a little wizardry today,

And once again a little relaxation would not have gone amiss.

It was a birthday celebration I know but this is definitely not what the Birthday Boy looked like lol.

All of the cards have been made using Lili of the Valley toppers, so easy to use when you need a card in a hurry.
Lets hope that tomorrow is a little less frantic, I think that there will be quite a few grown ups in need of match sticks to prop open their eyes. Let's hope that they all get a good nights sleep.
Hugs Kimx

Chocolate Sprouts anyone?

Evening Everyone
Yeah it's the weekend and we have just started it with a lovely Christmas dinner.
Yes, I know Christmas Day was on Wednesday, but one of the problems with eating elsewhere is that there are no leftovers for 'Bubble and Squeak', hence the dinner tonight lol.
Everyone seemed to have a lovely time both at the Pub on Wednesday and this evening.

 Saskia wanted to be the barmaid.

And this is the first time that Reece ever offered to do the washing up.

Becki wanted a picture of the kids sitting in the ice pond,

and 'Chef Andy' decided to join them having slid across the floor.

Even Mum and Dad got in on the act.
There is a rule in our house that you have to have at least one sprout with Christmas dinner. The kids kicked up a bit of a fuss, as usual, so I decided to trick them a little today. M&S sold little nets of chocolate wrapped to look like sprouts so after the kids all moaned when I suggested that they need one sprout with dinner I swapped it for a chocolate one. Funnily enough they all wanted seconds :O)
I'm looking forward to a nice little lie in tomorrow, which will no doubt mean someone will wake me up early.
Hugs Kimx

Tracking Santa

Evening Everyone,
Are you all sorted for tomorrow? No me neither!!
I am finally admitting defeat on the Christmas card front, I think that I am going to adopt a good friends ploy - The Post Office ate my cards lol.
So if you usually receive a card from me and it doesn't appear, please don't think less of me, just wait until next year.
Here are a few more cards using one of Jane Gill's fabulous stamps designed especially to be used with Card Candi.

Once again most of them use background papers from my stash and an assortment of Card Candi.
I am just off to catch up with the latest siteing of Santa - the Grandchildren and I have been checking Norad on and off all evening as we check Santas progress around the World.
I promised them that I would try and see what time he comes to England. Oh the things we do to keep the little, and big, kids happy.
I hope that you all have a fabulous day tomorrow. I will be at work at 6am as usual, but then it's off to the Pub in the evening for a lock in and some family funtime.
Oh look Santa has just been spotted over Paris, France so I had better keep my eyes open, he should be over us very soon lol.
Hugs Kimx