Good evening

Made these cards today for my stepdad's birthday tomorrow. He is such a wonderful man and I am very lucky to have had him in my life for the past 16 years. He's everything a great dad should be and he certainly has been that to me. The first one is made using the rockin' George image which I purchased from Charmed cards & crafts after seeing the fabulous cards which my SBS sister Sammi makes with these images. Her fab work has been featured on the Dottie's World blog, if you haven't visited before now, go and check it out. You won't be disappointed. I really enjoyed colouring him and can't wait to have a go with some of the other images I bought.



The second one was made using the High Hopes stamp "Froggy Gift" which I got from Kelly in our SBS image swap a wee while ago. I have been desperate to use him for ages but have never gotten around to it until now. I think it is such a cute image and I really enjoyed making this card. I think I will have to buy this image as it could be used for lots of different occasions. This card is from Lewis to his papa.

Summer Sunshine

The weather is glorious here today so this will be a very short post today. We had fantastic weather yesterday and spent the day at the Hopetoun House Fayre in South Queensferry with friends who I met in my ante-natal group whilst pregnant with Lewis. There were eight of us and we all had boys! We like to get together every so often to catch up with all our news and to encourage the boys to be good friends as they grow up. The boys had a great time playing together as did us mummies, munching, talking and drinking a little vino on our picnic blankets. It was a fab day. A few piccies of yesterday are above.


I made this card over the weekend and it will now be winging its way to someone special although I can't say who! I think it's my best colouring yet and I absolutely love the Sarah Kay image I used. I downloaded it from the internet as I have tried to buy some Sarah Kay stamps recently but they seem to be sold out everywhere - really popular at the moment. Never mind, I'm happy with it! I just hope that the recipient will be too! Time will tell. Have a great day whatever you are up to and I hope that the weather is being as kind to you wherever you are.

Bag in a box

I've had great fun this afternoon making a bag in a box! I came across Paula's great blog today on my travels and came across this brilliant tutorial. The step by step instructions were so easy to follow and Paula uses really clear photographs to direct you too. I'm really happy with my efforts for once as I have tried making other gift bags before and haven't been successful! Must be my lucky day today. Think I will be making lots of these for Christmas time and putting yummy chocolates or maybe homemade fudge in as a wee treat! I don't own a SU Scallop punch so I used a DIY method. I remember reading a great tip on Stacey's blog a while back which is to use a 5p piece to create a scalloped edge so that's exactly what I did. Thanks Stacey! I don't have a Round Tab punch either so I drew my own tabs and it seems to work :o) Well I think so anyway!

My new stamps from Alota that I ordered from Helene last Thursday arrived yesterday. What great speedy service! I'm looking forward to getting those inked up later tonight to make a few cards as I have lots of birthdays coming up. They are so cute. I also ordered some stamps from
Elzybells, mostly sentiments and a lovely personalised handmade stamp too. They have these available until the end of July so pop over and have a look. The service was speedy and great too!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I've received this fab award from Sue whose blog I visit constantly as she makes wonderful cards and always leaves lovely comments on my blog. Thank you so much Sue. I really appreciate it!

The rules of the award are:

1. Only 5 people allowed
2. 4 have to be dedicated followers of your blog
3. One has to be someone new or recently new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. You must link back to whoever gave you the award.quite simple really it is a way of saying thank you to those who take time out for wonderful comments to boost your day.

I'd like to award this to:

Joana

Monica

Louise

Robyn

Kath

Missing crafting and blogging!

Hi all,

Hope you're well and life is good. It's been a while since I last posted as life was extremely hectic in June tying up loose ends at work before the summer break and then I've been on holiday in Tenerife for the last couple of weeks which was fantastic. Lewis had a ball, loved flying and we had brilliant weather - sunshine everyday! Just as well as there is very little of it here! I've spent my time washing and ironing pretty much since I got home as well as trying to toilet train Lewis. Now that has been fun!!! Hasn't been very successful so have decided to leave him a little bit longer before trying again. Anyone with great tips out there, I'd love to hear from you! :o)

Here are some pictures from our holiday although I am planning to scrap a lot of them as I haven't done any scrapping in ages:







------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AWARD

While I was away my lovely SBS sister Sammi presented all her SBS sisters with this great award! Thank you so much Sammi - I've missed you while I've been missing in blogland!



It's a special award given to weblogs that somehow catch your eye!
The rules for this award:
1. The winner can put the logo on her 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 girls you've nominated

I am going to nominate the following people whose blogs I have come across recently and will be visiting regularly from now on:

Allison
Beckie
Em
Maggie
Pam
Riane
Sam


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
YOU'VE BEEN TAGGED

Sammi tagged me a while ago and unfortunately I never got around to doing it because life has been so hectic recently! Sorry Sammi - better late than never! This seems to be the story of my life at the moment!

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.

Each player answers the questions about themselves.
At the end of the post, the player then tags a few people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

a) What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was looking for a job as a teacher having just graduated from University and working in MacDonalds where I worked as a student to earn some much needed cash!


b) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):
Ironing (more again - will it ever end?)
Going Christmas shopping with Lewis and my sister (Yes, you read correctly!)
Clearing out some cupboards
Watch Big Brother (my nightly viewing!)
Some much needed crafting hopefully - lots of cards to make and some scrapping too!


c) Snacks I enjoy:
raisins
chocolate (not very healthy!)


d) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Pay off my and my family members mortgages
Buy Steven an Aston Martin (his favourite car)
Give a considerable amount to charity
Do volunteer work for a variety of causes
Buy lots and lots and lots of crafting stash ( or a shop or two!)


Now I tag:
Jenny
Kerryn
Sue

Apologies ladies if you have already done this before! All good fun!

Happy Birthday Monica!

Happy Birthday to my SBS sister Monica whose birthday is today. Hope it has been a great one!

Blog Candy Alert!

Have spent some time browsing today to catch up on what I've been missing in Blogland while I've been on holiday the last couple of weeks. There are lots of great candy on offer:

Fran is giving away two fantastic sets of candy to celebrate reaching 25,000 hits. You have until tonight to enter by posting a link on your blog.
Maya has another fantastic giveaway of a gorgeous paperbag filled with 140 Hanglar and Stanglar images to celebrate having 10,000 visitors! I would absolutely love to win these as they are such gorgeous images. I can't wait until they become available to buy at Funky Kits from Sugar Nellie. Post a link on your blog to be in with a chance of winning. You have until 20th July.
Shary is giving away a gorgeous Alota stamp to celebrate being chosen as a Design Team member for Alota. And no wonder to - her creations are stunning and after paying a visit to her site I visited the Alota site and parted with some money. Now, I am counting the days until the gorgeous little bugs arrive! Post a link to Shary's site before the 18th July.
Deb is celebrating her blogoversary, 30,000 hits on her site and her recent birthday. To enter her great giveaway post a link on your site before 19th July.
Lorraine is also giving away some great candy to celebrate her birthday on 29th July. To enter visit her site and post a link from yours.
Claudia is celebrating an amazing 170,000 hits on her site by giving away 200 stamped images in a handmade book. To be in with a chance of winning visit her site and subscribe to her site as well as posting a link on your site to hers and adding her to your blogroll.
Andrea is giving away some fantastic magnolia stamps on her site. To enter post a link on your site before 20th July. She has some truly stunning creations on her site.
Jill is celebrating 2,000 hits on her site. Post a link on your site before 18th July to enter.
Maria is celebrating 5,000 hits by offering some fantastic candy. To be in with a chance of winning, visit her site by 19th July and tell her what is on your wish list of crafting goodies.
Linda is celebrating 1,000 visitors to her site. Post a link to her site and add her site to your blogroll by 19th July to be in with a chance of winning an extra goody bag if you are the lucky winner!
Funky Fairy Papercrafts is celebrating 11,000 visitors to their site in under 4 months by giving away FREE FUNKY FAIRY PAPERCRAFTS PRODUCTS for a WHOLE YEAR. Yes, you read correctly! All you have to do is visit their site by 31st July and tell them why you'd like to win such a fantastic prize!
Susie also has some candy on offer to celebrate her birthday. Post a link on your site before 21st July to enter.
Kim my lovely SBS sister has some great candy to be won to celebrate a facelift on her blog. To be in with a chance of winning, you need to visit her site and sign her guestbook and then post a link on your site announcing her candy giveaway.
Marlene is giving away a Hanglar stamp plus some Hanglar images to celebrate the beginning of the school holidays. Leave a comment on her post and link to your own blog to enter.
Donalda is offering a cute Magnolia stamp help her get to 10,000 hits on her blog which I'm sure she'll get in no time at all. Go on, I'm sure you'll enjoy helping her out.
Tina is celebrating reaching 5,000 hits on her blog by offering some great candy. To enter simply visit her blog, comment on her post, add her blog to your blogroll and if you want to be in with an extra chance of winning you need to sign up to her newsletter too! You have until 27th July to enter.