Thank you Denise!!

Yay!!! I've got an award courtesy of Denise over at Crafty Crafter Denise - Thanks so much Denise, it really means a lot receiving an award, especially from a fellow crafter.

Now for my part - I have to nominate 5 more bloggers who I think have creative blogs - this is going to be difficult as I love so many of them!!

1. Debs

2. Ruth

3. Cathy

4. Nikki

5. Katy

They all have fab blogs, you should go and visit (if you haven't already! :))

Got a new pet today :)

We called into Pets at Home today - I'm not sure what we actually went in for but I came out with a cute little Syrian hamster and a cute pink Rotastak house for her to live in :) She has been named Pippin and lives in my craft room on the shelf next to my pc monitor - I don't want her being scared by the snakes downstairs!! I may have a move around and find somewhere else for her to go but she seems quite happy sat here next to me :) I'll post some pics once she's settled in a bit. At least now she's realised that her wheel is to run around in and NOT a toilet!!!!

The freebie I got the other week!!

Unfortunately our nearest Craft Central closed the other week but the lovely people there let me have one of the wire paper towers for free as they weren't using them any more - they'd started using the plastic ones. Good eh!? Mind you I'd spent about £40 a couple of week before on 10 of the plastic stackable 12x12 trays - so I've had to order some more paper as a couple of them are empty now so I just HAVE to refill them :)

A few more cards

I've not had the inspiration recently to make loads of cards so here's just a few I've managed to drag out of myself recently!

Cuttlebug embossing folder highlighted with gold rub-ons

Frosty from Hampton Art

Whiff of Joy cards (unfortunately these pics are a bit blurry - it wasn't very good light but not dark enough for the flash!!)

And I just love these two WoJ stamps :)

A favour to ask of you ......

If any of you that visit are members of Facebook (and lets face it - who isn't these days!!) please join the group linked below. This group is not just to 'get back at someone' - I personally know the family involved and the effect this 'man' had on them and would like to try and help get this pervert kicked of Facebook for the good of everyone!!!

Please click HERE to go to the group.

Thanks all :)

Vikki xxx

Introducing Reece

This is Reece at 2 days old......he is my step-sons new baby boy. He came into the world on 24th October and is such a little cutie!!

Can't wait

My orders from Funky Kits and Whiff of Joy have both been despatched over the last couple of days - I'm off work until Monday so hopefully they'll arrive either Thursday or Friday so I can have a play over the weekend :) Got a fab freebie from our local Craft Central too - they closed down on 26th Oct and I got a 30 slot wire paper storage tower for nothing - and I've been trying to find one for sale in the UK for months!!!!! Just need to buy more paper now to fill it up!

Another award - yay!!!

What a lovely surprise when I checked my messages tonight - June over at Junes Crafts had very kindly nominated me for this award :)

The rules are:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog

2. Link the person you received your award from

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4. Put links of those blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated

OK....now to try and pick just 7 of the blogs I love to visit.....

Val at The Crafting Pad

Cathy at Ellieskeeper's Creations

Kerry over at A Load of Old Pickle

Nikki at Nikki's Card Creations

Katy on Katy's Bloggeroo

Ana at My Designs

Barbara at Hunnybunnycards

Wow - that took some doing!!! Now off to leave messages for everyone :)

HELP - Christmas cards

Oh nooooo......I got an order from a work colleague for 12 Christmas cards......don't know where to start as I haven't even given Christmas cards a second thought yet!!

I wan't - no - I NEED links to everyones blogs with Christmas cards for some inspiration....pretty please :) with sugar on top......and a cherry :) :) :)

New Award

The lovely Val over on The Crafting Pad gave me this award so now it's my job to pass it on to 6 more bloggers so, without further ado, my nominees for the I Love Your Blog award are (feels like I'm at the Oscars!!)....

Donna over on Luvocardz

Emma on Elf-Creations

Lorraine on Scrapmetal's Retreat

Cass on Pour Some Sugar on Me

Debs on Me-and-Lil G

and last but not least Juliet over on Juliet's Paper Palace

Drumroll please...........and the winner, picked by Lulu....

Val aka 'Happy Crafter'. Please email me your snail mail address so I can get your goodies off to you. And yes, our dog picked your name!!!!! She stuck her tongue in the jar - probably thought they were sweeties - and you stuck to her tongue!!!!!! By the way....they're not my grubby fingers, they're my OHs as he was supposed to be picking the name out :)

Not quite a hat!

Didn't have a suitable hat so here's all the names in a jar waiting for 9.30!!!

Back from Alton Towers....

We've just got back from a fun filled day at Alton Towers - did the Spinball Whizzer, then hit Burger King, then went on the Corkscrew (it's being dismantled this year and as I went on it the year it opened I felt it was only right that I went on it the year it was closing - I can't believe the Corkscrew has been there for 25 years!!), Nemesis, Oblivion, Rita Queen of Speed - 0 - 60 mph in 2.5 seconds is HIGHLY recommended!! Also did Hex and Air - and went to the Mexican Cantina for fajitas before we came home :)

Anyway - now for the important bit......I'll be drawing for the candy in about half an hour and will announce the winner at 21.30 GMT.

Good luck guys!!!

Finally.....

Got some shelving up - just got another little unit to put up now - like the one with the little jars on - and then decide what is going to go on the long shelf - or I could just leave it totally unorganised like it is now :)

And proof that my desk isn't always tidy!!

A few more cards.

Just a few cards made today - not sure what was going on but I just couldn't seem to get my card head on!!!

Tomorrow nights draw....

Weather depending, I'm off to Alton Towers tomorrow :) The draw for the blog candy will still be done tomorrow night but probably a bit later than planned - so that gives you a few more hours to get your entries in!!!!!

Why is it???

Making a card this afternoon I went through my various ink pads - single colour pads, three colour pads, multi colour pads, full size ones, mini ones, cats eyes, pigment, dye....everything - looking for a particular shade of blue and out of over 150 colours of ink did I have the one colour I wanted???? NO!!!!!
I had the right colour in an embossing powder and a marker pen but not in a flipping ink pad! I'm off to buy a Versacolor seafoam coloured ink pad this weekend and, once I've got it, what's the betting that I'll never use it?!?!

One and a half cards!

Made this one the other night - love these stamps from Funky Kits, they're so cute.

I'm in the middle of making this one but can't seem to make up my mind what to do with it so haven't stuck anything down yet apart from the little girl!!! Any ideas anyone???

A little bit more sorted....

.... my paper trays came today so I managed to get most of my 12x12 papers sorted - and stuck my pile of nearly A4 sized Bazzill Bling card there too - I must use it. I must I must I must!!!

I seem to have amassed a fair bit of 12x12 for a non-scrapbooker.

Never trust the colour on the box!!

Ok....so I decided to dye may hair darker for the autumn/winter and chose a nice shade of deep mahogany - or so I thought. Well, it's probably my own fault coz my hair was slightly lighter than the before ones on the 'colour results' pics on the back but, suffice to say, I'm now thinking of applying officailly to become a Ribena berry :)

I'm off out later and if my friends keep on looking at me strangely I think I'll be going to Boots on Saturday to buy a nice, safe, chocolate brown!!! Mmmmmm - talking of chocolate......be back in a bit - just going to raid my Thorntons bag :)

Crafts-International - some candy up for grabs

There are some lovely Laura Ashley stamps up for grabs over on Jude's blog, why not pop over and take a peek...

http://crafts-international.blogspot.com/2008/08/wow-blogg-candy-up-for-grabs.html

Candy Time!!

2 of my stash orders arrived today so, as promised, I now have some blog candy up for grabs.

Just leave a comment on this post and a link back to here on your blog - easy peasy!!! :)

I'll pull a name out of the hat - or my OH will - and announce the winner on Friday 3rd October at around 8pm. I'll contact the winner via their blog - I've put a reminder on my phone so I don't forget - memory like a sieve me!!

Well, I think that's all apart from to wish you good luck :)

I need my wrists slapping!!

We got our bonus from work today so I thought I'd have a bit of a splurge.......and I saved nearly £20 on a few of my orders by using discount codes - a couple of which came from the booklet that came with Crafts Beautiful magazine (usually I always forget about discount codes that I've seen in mags and on forums) - yay me!!!

As usual, I've spent FAR too much (and still a QVC craft day to go) but can't wait for all my lovely packages to come through the post - I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas :) I was practical too - I ordered 10 stackable paper trays from Storage4Crafts - and saved 10% by using a code!!! And I've ordered some bits for the blog candy so as soon as it arrives I'll get a pic and post the details :)

I'm sure I'll have forgotten to order something though as I've been on about 10 sites looking for stuff :S

Some new cards - at last!!

It seems to have been so long ago since I made any cards so I thought I'd better make a couple quick before I forgot how! Hopefully I should get into the swing of things before too long - I've still got a load of sorting out to do to put things in some sort of sensible order but I'm hoping to order a bit more storage for papers and things over the next couple of days (along with some celebratory new stash) so I can get the craft room sorted for once and for all :)






P.S. I haven't forgotten about the blog candy - I'll be sorting it when I order some new stash :)

Update....

Okay - so here's what's been happening on the craft room front (item names are included just in case anyone wants to know what they are)...

Small Expedit unit

On top of the small unit.

Desk (1.5m Vika Amon table top & Vika Artur trestles. Snille swivel chair)

Look - I have legs!!

Well on the way now...

....we went to Ikea yesterday to get the rest of my shelving etc and - yay - they had my legs in stock ....we got a full refund and they gave us the two trestles for free because of the hassle we've had trying to get them :)

It looks fairly organised now but I've still got some shelving to get put up and I need a blind for the window. I also have a lot of sorting to do as I want to try and rearrange what is in each basket/box and put like things together to, hopefully, make me a bit more organised when I'm making cards but no doubt I'll end up putting that off as it will mean everywhere being in chaos again!!

I'll try to get some more pics on later so you can see where I'm up to so far :)

Coming up - Blog Candy :)

Once I have got my room sorted (or as near as) I'll be off on a shopping spree to buy some new stash and decided that, to celebrate, I'd offer some blog candy too so keep your eyes on this space over the next few weeks. I haven't decided whether to make it into a challenge or just a give away yet but will let you know nearer the time :) You never know - if I still can't make my mind up I might do one of each!!

Goodbye trusty old craft area......

Well, it's goodbye to the old and hello to the new -

I thought I'd post an old pic of my craft space for posterity :)

And hello new crafty space......

....We got the unit built and I've put a load of stuff on it - just gotta put some shelves up and buy the smaller unit now - and get my legs!! I've managed to dump about 90% of the rest of my stuff on the floor in here so, hopefully, my old work space can be dismantled over the next week and we can start sorting out that end of the bedroom :)

and this is the stuff that has been lovingly dumped on the floor! See my poor table top sat at the back still wrapped in it's cardboard :( Ikea better get my legs in soon!!

Long time no blog....

....Well, it's been ages since I last posted, loads of stuff has been going on here so I've not had too much free time lately!!

My step-son (Alistair) and his girlfriend (Mel) are expecting a baby boy at the end of October so we have been moving things around a bit. The room that acted as craft room/spare bedroom/general dumping ground is being used for Alistair so he can have a cot and other baby stuff in there and the smallest bedroom (which used to be Alistair's) has been decorated this weekend and is becoming my dedicated craft room - it's not a big room but at long last I won't have to share a room with everyone elses rubbish!!

We went to Ikea to pick up a unit and desk - minus the trestle legs - but that's a whole other story; briefly they said they were in stock but only at the collection centre so we could pick them up from there when we went to collect the unit - when we got there they didn't have any and said that the main store staff should have asked for a physical stock check!!! The general outcome being that when they come back in stock we are having a couple delivered for free (the usual delivery would have been £45!!!!!) so for the time being I have a desk top but no legs to put it on :S

Of course, I HAD to get some other bits and bobs while I was there too.........I did..........didn't I???

I'll take a couple of pics as I make progress in the room and post them on here - that will give me a bit of incentive to get it sorted ASAP!!

Can't wait.....

....to get our flippin' bedroom finished - I can't get to my craft stuff as the spare room is full of my shoes/teddies/other stuff I can't bear to part with because we're in the middle of decorating - it's taken us about 3 weeks so far as my OH hasn't been well so the decorating has been kind of put on hold. But....once the bedroom has been finished I can make a start on sorting my craft space - some new shelving/storage etc which will, hopefully, make me a bit more organised (at least for a couple of weeks) and give me a bit more inspiration :)

Okaaaayyyyy........not the best cards in the world but here are a couple I managed to get done this afternoon - and true to my word, loads got chucked out!!!

Sorry!!!!!

I've only just realised how long it's been since I did anything on here!!! I've been busy at work and absolutely knackered by the time I've got home so I've spent most evenings wishing for bedtime!!

I still haven't got my mojo back so I'm going to try to make the effort today and see what I come up with - I can't promise much though as most of it might end up going in the bin :(

Well, there's only one way to find out, so I think I'll have another coffee then force myself to face the chaos that is my craft area and see what I can drag out of myself.

Wish me luck - and if there's no sign of any cards by the end of the day send in the search parties coz I'll probably be buried under a mountain of card trying to dig my way out!!

Yippeeeee.....A new award!!!!!!!!

Steph over on Southern Fairy Designs has very kindly given me this award, so now I have to pass it on to 3 more bloggers (hmmmmm, harder than I thought it would be as there are so many fab blogs out there) so it's going to................

Emma (thanks so much for the blog candy!!)

Kerry (congrats on the new stamps finally being released!)

Louly (well done on the success of the Charmed Crafts digital downloads!)

I'm sure you'll agree, all very deserving bloggers :)

Some lovely blog candy!

To celebrate 5000 hits - and her birthday - Emma is kindly offering some yummy summery blog candy. Pop over to take a look - and to leave a few verses of 'Happy Birthday to You' while you're there :)

UPDATE: WhooooooHooooo....I can't believe I've won the blog candy!! Thank you Emma - I'm chuffed to bits :)

It's been a while.....

.....since my last post but normal service should resume soon :) I've felt like poo all week with a sinus and chest infection - I wouldn't mind so much but I had flippin' pneumionia and pleurisy from the end of Feb until the beginning of April and reckon I shoved enough antibiotics and steroids down my neck to fend off a small country's worth of bugs for the next year - but apparently not!!

The worst of it is that I've had loads of time to make cards but haven't felt like making a single one :( Hope my mojo hasn't totally gone and comes back with a running jump soon as I need to use some of the stuff I bought to cheer myself up - God I LOVE whoever invented the idea of retail therapy :)

Oh well, work tomorrow so I must take myself off to bed, no rest for the wicked eh? :)

First attempt.....

.......at using one of the Keepsake embossing boards (Open Hearts and Tall Stories). I didn't have a clue what to put on it as I don't usually go for this type of card making but wanted something different for my parents anniversary so this is the result!

HELP - I've been tagged

Well, I've been tagged by the lovely Debbie but I can't think of 7 vaguely interesting, publishable (is that a word?), facts about myself! I must have done something interesting in my 37 years but I think my brain has been removed and replaced by jelly tonight - a box I made for a card earlier ended up with the actetate 'viewing panel' in the base instead of the lid - doh!!

Anyways.....I'll be back with 7 facts at some point- even if it kills me - and now I'm off to bed so I'll wish you all a good night and God bless - and I'll be back soon :) x

Ok - update - some facts about me interesting or otherwise!
1. I learnt to play the piano when I was 3 years old (I can't tell one note from another now though).
2. I was a bit of a tom boy as a kid and decided I wanted action men instead of my Sindy dolls :)
3. I used to have pillar box red hair - I have a pic somewhere so I'll post it on here when I find it :)
4. I can count to 10 in 6 languages (more in some) - very useful......NOT!!
5. I can also swear in several languages - infinitely more useful than being able to count to 10!!

I'll have to come back to 6 & 7 coz I've run out of facts about myself :S

Just realised....

....I've not posted anything for a while. I've not made any cards since my last lot - how bad is that??? No cards made in almost a week! I'm out for a Turkish meal tonight so probably won't get any made today either. I MUST make some tomorrow but, the same as last week, I just don't seem to have any inspiration - boo hoo. Maybe if I tidied up my workspace I might get the urge to make it messy again. Here's hoping :)

I've been tagged by Lisa so now to answer the questions!!

**********************************************************
1. If a movie was being made of your life who would you like to be cast to play yourself? and why?
2. You are spending a whole month on a dessert island for charity and you have to choose your favourite celebrity to spend the first two weeks with & your least favourite celebrity to spend the second two weeks with, who would they be & why?
3. What are your three favourite crafting products?
4. If you could invent something to do anything what do you think it would be?
5. What are the last three books that you read?
6. Qvc or create & Craft?
7. Docrafts or Dovecraft or DCWV?
8. What is your claim to fame?
**************************************************************

1. If a movie was being made of your life who would you like to be cast to play yourself? and why?
I'd like Kate Winslett to be cast as me as she is (IMHO) one of the best UK actresses of recent years and does a good portrayal of whatever type of character she is cast as.

2. You are spending a whole month on a dessert island for charity and you have to choose your favourite celebrity to spend the first two weeks with & your least favourite celebrity to spend the second two weeks with, who would they be & why?
My first two weeks would be with Tori Amos - she could sing to keep me entertained and my second two weeks would be with Lee Evans - I find his voice really irritating but I might be able to get away with burying him in the sand and saying he was eaten by a shark when he went swimming in the sea!!

3. What are your three favourite crafting products?
Rubber stamps, ribbons and gems.

4. If you could invent something to do anything what do you think it would be?
A bank account that never has a balance under £1000!!!!

5. What are the last three books that you read?
Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell, Alarmus by Richard Laymon and Brother Odd by Dean Koontz.

6. Qvc or create & Craft?
It depends what being demonstrated/sold. I like QVC better when they have new/different guests on and I like to watch C&C when there are new programmes on as I get fed up of watching the same shows over an over!

7. Docrafts or Dovecraft or DCWV?
It really depends what I'm after, I like them all for different things :)

8. What is your claim to fame?
My Godfather is Paul Barber (from Only Fools and Horses, The Full Monty etc)

The people I am tagging are:

Kerry - http://www.curlygirlyme.blogspot.com/
Kerry - http://aloadofoldpickle.blogspot.com/
Vicki - http://paperliciousoasis.blogspot.com/
Louise - http://craftsbylouly.blogspot.com/
Mand - http://mandxxx.blogspot.com/

If you've never been tagged, here's what to do - copy the questions and paste them twice into a new post then answer the second lot of questions.Then, on the same post, you will need to make a list of the five people who you are going to tag, go onto their blogs and leave a comment to let them know they have ben tagged and to to look on your blog for details.

Two of the cards I made today....

Well, after telling myself that I'd make some cards this weekend using my poor, abandoned Penny Black stamps I had no inspiration at all and sat there for ages trying to drag some from somewhere - and then the camera died when I started to take some pics of the feeble attempts I had made!! Typical that the only pics I managed to take are blurry - I couldn't take any more due to the fact that we had no spare batteries charged up!!

Maybe it was someone upstairs telling me I shouldn't be putting on pics of cards I'm not 100% happy with!!!

YAY!!! Got an award!!

Got the Arte y Pico award from Cass today. Thanks Cass :)

Apparently I have to post these rules, so here goes:

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity,design,interesting material,and also contributes to the blogging community,no matter what language.

2. Each award has to give the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4. Award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte y Pico blog,so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. To show these rules.

:)

Most people seem to have this award already so I award Mand, Steph, Lisa and Donna and brand new blogger Katy.

Penny Black

This is a card I made for my OH, I love Penny Black stamps but haven't really used them for a while (since I've become somewhat addicted to Pink Petticoat). My challenge to myself for the coming weekend is to make some new cards with my PBs - providing I don't have too much of a hangover on Saturday as we're on a girls' night out from work on Friday!

Nothing to report today. It's my second day back at work after six weeks off - been poorly :( - and I'm knackered!!! Spent far too much time browsing t'interweb and shall have to go to bed soon otherwise I'll never get up for day 3!!

First attempt at faux stitching

I fancied trying some 'faux stitching' so used this Pink Petticoat image as I thought it suited these colours and made a change from the usual pastel colours.

I used a piercing tool and poked holes at roughly the same distance apart then filled in the gaps with a black gel pen - it was kind of like dot to dot but without a picture!

Hopefully my next attempt will turn out a bit better :)

OK - just adding my first pic!! This is one of my first Pink Petticoat cards - these images are just soooo fab and there is something suitable for any occasion :)

Hi and welcome to my new blog! You'll have to bear with me as I try to work my way around - hopefully I'll be up and running pretty soon! :)