An award... just at the right time!

I've crash-landed again these last few days.
I've just been out cycling to try to clear my head, blow the cobwebs away. Although the cobwebs feel like they're made of lead scaffolding at the moment. Since getting back indoors, I got some crackers and cheese, and emptied out the bottle of Baileys into a glass- topping up the pathetic quantity with milk and ice cubes. I've been sipping it away here, and now my head is soothed. Not a method I would like to become reliant on, but it has helped for now. Welcome relief.

On checking hereabouts I discovered I'd been awarded this:This award comes from Sir Woodstock:
Sir Woodstock is a gorgeous Bear, as you can see. Best not tell Bob I said that though.

Thanks, Sir Woodstock.
Just what I need at times like this.

The translation of the award is 'Your Blog is Like a Pearl - Rare, delicate and charming!'

Now I'm meant to pick 6 others to give it to, but I'm afraid I can't, not honestly, as some of the blogs that deserve it have a 'no tag & no award zone' rule. Never mind. If you're here, take this award with my best wishes and pass it on as best you can....

Anniversary Wols and pets galore....

Oonagh and Bill are Luvbug's parents, and it's their wedding anniversary today (52 years, I think.) Luvbug is over in Ireland visiting them at the moment, and he took this card with him to give to them. I'm not sure how he felt about seeing his mum and dad represented in "wol" form though :)The stamp came free with "Craft Stamper" magazine. I love bird stamps.
I stamped the letters of "anniversary" onto patterned paper, then punched out each letter with a flower punch, finishing by outlining each flower with a Sakura Soufle white pen and going over the letters with a clear Sakura glitter pen.

-2 wols inside. This time without the 3D eyes or the glossy glaze. Note that the girl wol has a red beak, as she has lipstick on (obviously haha).

Hey ho! So what do I do when Luvbug is out of town? Um, well there's this lot, to start....

OK, this isn't my usual style, never done this kind of decoupage before, but a pack of 4 sheets, mostly cats??? Couldn't resist. Besides, I like a change. It was relaxing, and fun!


Lorianna, the one on the left is on its way to you. The purple one is going to my mum....

(Why do dog pictures look so sad???)

The black lab is why I bought them, really. My friend Donna, in Missouri, has a black lab called Boston who hasn't been well lately. So this one is off to them!

Is it me, or is that kitten's head way too big???

I love this gold ribbon. Wish I could remember where I got it from. Ms Peach, the one on the right is coming your way :)

I keep hearing/reading that the fashion is moving towards really big cards, but I'm moving in the opposite direction! I like little cards. I think it's because they are easily held. I also love the way these cats sit up above the height of the card.

I like this one. I like the way the blue card picks up the blue of the cat's eyes.

OK now this one's just silly. Why would anyone have a dog the size of a cat when they could just have a cat???

Ah well, they were fun to do as I could sit and do them on a lap-tray- I haven't been feeling too well this week. With stamping I need to be at a table and press down on a hard surface. This is far more sitting-in-front-of-the-telly friendly.

Would you like some???

Apologies for lack of posts!! We're actually meant to be away at the moment, in the New Forest, but I had tummy tantrums :( so we've postponed it till next month now. Hey ho! I'm still not quite right. But I promise to catch up with visiting all your blogs soon!

I've made a few cards, but can't show them here as they're on their way to people who might log on here and see them early. (Oonagh, Bill, you'll have to wait and see. Haha.)

*** *** *** *** *** ***

I have taken on a couple of big orders and some for Christmas cards (AARGH! I DID IT! I SAID THE "C" WORD IN AUGUST! - I dooo so apologise...)

Well this got me thinking about putting together little packs of assorted Christmas cards for people, a real mixture, but all hand made, all different. Sometimes cards for "special" people are really expensive and if you need more than a handful it can really add up. So how about a whole pack of "special" cards at less than £3 per card? Any takers? Here is what I've come up with:

6 Christmas cards, lined inside, plus envelopes;
individually wrapped;
no two packs exactly the same;
all to contain one each of the following + 2 others:

• "Penny Black" hedgehog (of course!)
• 3D medallion decoupage
• religious (serious/arty, e.g. hand drawn Madonna and Child)
• religious (cute)
• (I'm not specifying the other 2 as I'm getting some new stamps next month!!!)
  

Price to be:

• UK: £16 + £2.75 postage by recorded delivery
• Ireland: E18.50 + E7.50 for intn'l signed-for delivery
• USA: USD25 + USD10 for intn'l signed-for delivery
• other currencies please contact me!!!
  
• **payment by sterling cheque or PayPal**

How/when to order and pay:

• If you'd like a pack please let me know as soon as possible. I'd like to have them all done and sent by the end of October!
• -Leave a comment here or email me.
• When the cards are ready, I'll email you and let you know; if you still want to go ahead, only then will I send a PayPal invoice if that's how you're paying.

Other info:

• If you have a favourite verse or poem etc., let me know and I'll print it on the inside.
• All proceeds to Miss Fluffy Vet's Bill!!!! LOL!
  

Lastly, here are some examples of Christmas cards I made last year:

all these images are water colour painted..
hand drawn & glazed "stained glass":

ahhh! It's the Penny Black hedgehog!

My own design, hand drawn and painted with metallic paints...

I'd love to know your feedback on this idea, whether you go for it or not, so please leave a comment if you've time!!

Dragon Card

This week has been far busier and gone far faster than I expected, so I haven't managed to add my new cards to the shop yet, nor think any more about opening an Etsy shop. (-Though I think I will do that... but anyway, watch this space....)

Here is a card I made last week but couldn't show you till the recipient had it- one of Luvbug's nephews, Eoghan (Irish spelling for "Owen"). His 12th birthday was yesterday...I used adhesive 'gems' and 'pearls' for some of the dragon's scales :) and typed out the greeting in MS Word and printed it straight onto the craft paper. These papers and card are from The PaperMill.

I really like how it turned out and have since heard that he liked it too :)

We have lift off (well, FALL off...)

Last Thursday, Luvbug and I bought bikes. No, not the broom broom eeeeeeee kind, the come-with-a-chain and a daft looking hat kind. We had decided that our encroaching middle-age spreads needed dealing with. And as he had been glued to the Tour De France for 3 weeks, bikes were the natural answer.

Now, I hadn't been on a bike for 25 years(!) so, before buying, I suggested we go somewhere and HIRE bikes for a day, to check I could still make one go. We did this the other week- Alton Water, a reservoir in Suffolk, hires out bikes for the 8 mile trip around it. Guess who fell off? I am still nursing a scabby knee (which is surprisingly itchy, something I'd forgotten about grazed knees.)

But, not put off, now we have our own! We've been out and about in the evening, totting up a few miles each day. And I still keep falling off.

It must look hilarious- I have all the gear; the special cycling gloves (their padding helps my sore hands), the special cycling helmet that makes me look related to Star Trek NG's Mr Worf, the posh LED lights... and there I am, falling off and lying in a heap laughing.

BUT! All is not lost. I have, as of last night's Tour De Colchester, realised what I am doing wrong: I'm not steering. Apparently there is a quite normal consequence of this;
(1)don't steer;
(2)hit something;
(3) fall off.
AHA! By Jove, I think she's got it!

LAST night I was desperately trying to get the bike to turn, but not actually steering very much, apparently, then at the last minute changed strategy and tried to stop instead. Luckily a helpful hedge was there to assist in this- and as I crashed into it, a cat came tearing out of it, did one and a half laps of his garden and then shot up onto a garage roof. Now, you KNOW I love felines, but I'm afraid it was his antics that made me fall off this time, in hysterics :)

Today, Luvbug is off for a long ride solo. My only trip today will be back to Halfords, where I'm sure I'll be causing much amusement by bringing in a bike for repair less than a week after buying it, -as it now bears a startling resemblance to its owner, with a bulge that shouldn't be there, in its front tyre.

Hey ho!

More pootling...

Off to my mum's in a minute. Thought I'd pop in and post a few pic's of what I've done this week...

(Holographic embossing powder over multi-coloured ink, this next one:)
Next week I'm going to revamp my shop. I'll be putting all these in it, so if you'd like them, you can pop along and get them!!! It's set up with PayPal, which takes any currency. I'll also be adding all the 3D decoupage ones I've been doing. Seriously, I hope they sell because it will help with Fluffy's vet bill!!!! I am wondering whether to open an Etsy shop, too. I'll have to look into it further....

Have a great weekend, everyone! I'll not be back till Monday.