Saturday 25 February 2012

Party Crafts - party hats

This week we were making party hats, I chose to set up a crown for Kai to decorate, a wall paper band with triangular card fastened.

I wanted a hat as well, normally I'd probably make a small top hat but with limited time I went for a tiara.
Simply a tiara shaped piece of card stuck to a headband.
Kai arrived & decorated his, while I decorated mine 

 Us in our crowns, His majesty King Kai, King of the Ben 10 flats & lego lands, & Queen K, Queen of the bright hairs.


Friday 24 February 2012

Rocking My World Friday


This week really has been one of ups & downs (mainly due to my social anxiety sending me not only very agoraphobic but making me want to hide in my bedroom & craft, oh dear, not a good day)

The weekend was spent making cards, which was lovely. You can see what I made here & here.

Monday morning Kai & I enjoyed Party Crafts .... you'll see more about this tomorrow, he was so pleased with his make that he didn't want me to take it home, he took it straight back to his class with him :-)


Tuesday morning & I had CHOSEN to wake up happy I took amusement from the small things in life, such as talking to one of the Moms like I'd happily die my 13year olds hair any colour he wanted, along with giving him piercings & tattoos - it was all said tongue in cheek but I'm not sure if she got that or not, either way Zack is currently dead against all 3 of these and I deem him too young for piercings, tattoos & being in school term against the rules to die his hair unnatural colours. Haha, I'm probably seen as an irresponsible parent now by anyone who over heard & took it seriously. I think by the time we got onto talking about whether babies should have their ears pierced or not she most certainly realised I was kidding. She said she didnt see the need of putting a baby through unnecessary pain by having its ears pierced, I agreed adding "well yes, especially when having your eyebrow hurts less!!!"

On the way to get Kai that day there were a group of lads in their mid-twenties, obviously having finished their community service for the day & waiting for to get on their mini-bus, waiting right in the carpark I usually walk through. It was obvious that most people going to the school were avoiding this short-cut but I thought "oh sod it! I'm not having a group of thugs or criminals stopping me walking my usual route". I kept my distance from them but walked past to the noise of wolf whistles & kissing sounds, someone even asked if I was Morpheous, I lifted a single eyebrow but kept walking thinking "yes, Morpheous was a Caucasian female with pink hair!" but bit my cheek to avoid opening my mouth which in turn would no doubt lead to a torraid of abuse - the lad obviously didnt know his movies very well as my leather coat is a Blade reproduction.
I guess I should take the cat calling as a compliment but I much prefered the little lads comment who walked past me a few minutes later (he was about 3 years old) "Mommy, she looks different; different is good Mommy, I like her different". That certainly put a smile on my face.

Wednesday I tried out new recipes for tea, stuffed portebello muchrooms & chicken portions cooked in white wine, and what Rocked my world is that EVERYONE ate it & EVERYONE enjoyed it !!!! this is not something that happens in my house very often.

Thursday I had a weightloss of 1/2lb, I was happy with this due to only just finally feeling like I can exercise without coughing & spluttering everywhere, so thats my mission for next week, exercise. I also won a raffle so I could help myself to £5 of stock from a little stall that sells health bars etc, mmmm, very nice.

Come join in with us with our quest for positives over at Celtic House.

Thursday 23 February 2012

A weekend of cardmaking - part 2

A few more cards from my weekend of play.

Using my new circular nesties.

Look I used pink & yellow together!!
( Month of sunrays )

Unfortunately you cant see the embossing on the patterned squares very well 

& finally a more masculine card.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

A weekend of cardmaking - part 1

I spent a lovely weekend getting my card making mojo back, especially thanks to some lovely embossing folders. At the moment I am liking simplicity & mirror card borders.



The grey & black card is probably my favourite out of these three.
I'll share a few more with you tomorrow, don't want to bore you all in one go with lots of cards.

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Just one sketch - Mirror image


 I quite like mirror imaging a sketch for a 2 page layout.
I rotated my original sketch, used it & then mirrored it for the second page.

My apologise about the awful photos of my layout, it just didnt want to reflect its true colours even when played with in photoshop. (I have omitted a couple of place names from the journalling purely for privacy reasons)

The background is a pale yellow with a slightly darker yellow writing over it & a smaller amount of pink writing. The sheet on top is plain vellum so you can still see the writing through, though it is very pale.
I used arrows to give the feeling of movement as well as draw attention to certain areas of the page. Also to bring colour into it.

Friday 17 February 2012

Rocking My World Friday

Hi guys **enthusiastic wave**

If I ignore myself coughing & causing sleep deprivation this week has been pretty damn good.
Actually, one lovely lady has made my month with her generosity. I shall not mention names as I am always a lil bit paranoid that someone will take it upon themselves to take advantage of these people's generosity but
I'm sure a few of you will guess who I am on about. She kindly offered to send me some embossing folders. I was delighted & thinking I'd receive a couple of little cuttlebug embossing folders, oh no, this lady sent me some of the large ones that I've been drooling over, a few small ones & some thin long ones as well - this was among others & a beautiful handmade tag. I am OVER the moon, & probably a few planets as well with what she has sent me & am planning on using them this long weekend (I'm counting today as the first day of my weekend ;-)  So if you need me you'll find me at my craft table in the kitchen. I have said it before & YES I will say it again, crafters are the loveliest of people
Thank you darlin' xx

I was putting my make up on & Kai says to me "you look pretty now Mommy"
Me: Oh, so I didnt before, gee thanks! (In my humorous, mock sarcasm voice)
Kai: You always look pretty Mommy!
Isnt he sweet!

Another 1.5lbs lost, yay! (weight loss blog is HERE)

Ryan got me an ipod nano so that I can start jogging again when I feel upto it. It was my Non-valentines day present, lol. Neither of us like the commercialism of valentines day but we do see it as a day to set aside time in the evening to have a meal together (HE had homemade battered fish & chips while I had a pitta pizza & salad) and curl up in front of a movie.

I've had a bit of time to get some crafting done, which always helps relax & soothe me.

A lovely day playing with my nieces, and we even had a Maccy Ds :-)

So what positives have been happening in your world this week? Come on over to Celtic House & let us know.


Thursday 16 February 2012

Just One Sketch - Inverting the colours

I usually use pale colours to compliment anything vivid, or black backgrounds, bright colours kinda scare me.
So I gave facing my fears a go..
Normally I'd pale off the bright yellow with a pale background, so this time I went for a bright pinkish red, & decorated with reds & yellows. I even added a BRIGHT green, pink & yellow rub on, & then put red lettering over the top.

The colours match the ones in the picture nicely, drawing out the red & yellow of the paint & Kaidy's top, while complementing the blues in the image as well.

So maybe bright colours, especially yellow isnt so scary after all. And its something else to add to my own lil Month of Sunrays - talking about a month of sunrays I dont own a single garment of clothing in yellow, & not even a yellow ribbon to tie in my hair :-O Shall definitely have to think a bit more about how I might get yellow into my wardrobe without buying anything, it is now a challenge for me!

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Just one sketch: Rotate & Monochrome

For my rainy picture I wanted colours that gave the feel of rain, went on Design Seeds & found this...
I mentally made the colours slightly bluer, and rotated my original sketch to come up with this page.....

I added rain droplets onto a sheet of blue card, using glossy accents, I also cut 3 rain drops from the same card and glossy accented that as well.

I made wellies from card, and used a foam umbrella for the page.
The photo was mounted onto fawn brazzil which brought out the colour of Kai's face & his coat, firmly making him the feature of the photo.
I chose the colour of the letters of the title to blend in with the brown mount. This way the main word (jumping) shows up against the blue but the rest (in the rain), less important writing, blends in more.

I really like how the colours worked on this page & shall be using Design Seeds again to help choose colours another time.

Sunday 12 February 2012

12 goals for 2012 - 1st update


So how am I getting on? (to see my goals please check out my post HERE)
1. Lose weight
So far I've lost 8lbs, thats over 5% of my body weight, woohoo!

2. Exercise
Well, I started off ok, I've been doing Zumba on Kinect, but for the past week I've had various forms of a cold/flu so have had no energy to exercise, when I have tried I end up weazing. As soon as I'm upto it I SHALL start exercising again.

3.Get ebaying
So far I havent ebayed BUT I have made money in other ways. I sorted out all our clothes that I didnt think would sell well on ebay & sold them to cash 4 clothes instead, I've sold some of my craft stock that I havent been using on facebook AND I had my first sale of an item I've made, woohoo!

4.Clear my roof
As I said in number 3 I sorted out our clothes, this includes the ones in the roof so I have made a start.

5 & 6. Scrapbooking
I have so far scrapped 3 pages, which is a start. The first one being HERE, you'll see more this week.

7. Blogging.
I have had only 1 week where I havent blogged ... I'll forgive myself that slip up & keep on going.

8.Out & About.
Those of you who read my post Rocking MY World Friday will know I caught a bus this week, for those who dont, I caught a bus this week! lol. I have also been doing Party Crafts with Kai at his school. and have signed up to do a card making course starting after the hols.

9. Career
Lots of thinking going on about what I'd like to do as a career. I think whatever I do I need a car. I'm leaning towards teaching crafts, I would like to combine crafts with a job somewhere ........ someone want to pay me to just test out craft products for them all day?

10. Cards
Well, as you can see from yesterdays post I have made my Mothers Day cards already, yay! go me!

11. Extra income
I refer you to number 3 ... I have so far made nearly £60, a nice little start.

12. Debt Free
As above ... I am currently concentrating on my catalogue bill, aiming to clear it by the end of March. One catalogue has already been cleared.

Saturday 11 February 2012

Told you you'd be seeing these easel cakes again. This time I used items from February's Creative Craft World Kit - 2 of the doilies and some of the MME Love me Papers. I've hand written "Happy Mothers Day" on them & used a white brad to act as a stopper for the card. Its hard to see but the cupcake case bit has been run through a crimper to give it that cupcake case feel.

Friday 10 February 2012

Rocking My World Friday

First off has got to be my barginous new toy

Its second hand but that doesnt matter to me, I have a new toy!!! The Big shot express I mean, not the cat ;-)  I bought it to mainly use nesties & embossing folders in, I've really been wanting to try them out. Well I've bought a set of nesties & am now broke, so if anyone has any unloved, FREE nesties or embossing folders you know where to send them, lol... if you need a reason then I have a birthday in May ;-p

I CAUGHT a BUS!!!! Yes, ladies & gentlemen, this silly pink haired person actually managed to get onto public transport. its the getting off that I have most problems with, or rather knowing when to ring the bell & where to get off so minor panic attacks as we got closer to our destination but everything was ok. I say We as Zacks was with me, kind of, he wasnt going to sit by his weird ol' Mum on the bus so sat on the seat right behind the driver away from me, lol. On the way back I was fine, all the buses end up at the Town Shopping Centre so no need to ring the bell or anything.

We caught the bus to Zacks school for his parents interview, i.e I get to hear how he's getting on. Bloomin' Marvellous, thats how he's getting on, improving nicely in all subjects, joining in, confident (yes, he is actually related to me & not adopted ;-) His tutor (whose also his Maths teacher so she's got to luv himseeing he works at Gcse level already) has given him a nickname "The Dictionary", if she needs a word defining she turns to Zack. He had a bit of a problem with one of the lads but thats been cleared up very quickly since I spoke to his Tutor. I think she's definitely a credit to the school.

Today I have both kiddies at home as we're all poorly :-( This is kind of a positive though as we're in high spirits (Its the start of the holls, yay!!!). When I'm ill I'll do what housework I can & then say "blow it" to the rest & relax or craft (almost 1 & the same). Yesterday I got 2 cards made & today I plan to scrapbook.

We had snow! not last night, just freezing rain last night, but last weekend we did get a small amount & Kai certainly took advantage of it.
There wasnt enough to make a snowman so he filled up his bucket & made a snow castle instead .. but first snow angels were needed :-)

So whats been rocking your world this week, come & join us over at Celtic House

Thursday 9 February 2012

Party Crafts - Cards & Invites

We made 3 cards this week in Party Crafts
This is the "rocking card", quite simply a circular piece of card folded in half and decorated. Can you tell Kai likes sticky gems?

This is my favourite, the cupcake easel card. I crimped the paper to form the cupcake case, I thought it made it a little bit more cupcake like - & Lynne (our teacher) is nicking the idea to use again **polishes her crafty halo & sits smuggly**. & of course we needed sticky gems on it ;-)
You shall be seeing more of these when I make them as I think its a lovely card to make.

This party invite I made in the hour before the kids came into the room (along with preparation for the other cards.
As you can see it splits into 3. The holder, made from 2 cards, stuck together at the back & cut diagonally from the creases so when they are closed they look as pictured. On the back is stuck a strip of magnetic tape so it can be stuck to the fridge & therefore easier to find.

The actual invite, printed off & stuck to a coordinating piece of card - note to self, read invites before sticking down, this one says HER party, well I suppose it could be for me :-)
I also added a loop of ribbon so its easier to pull out.

Lastly, the image, stuck onto circular card & acts as the rsvp. There is a paperclip attached to the back so it can fasten to the holder.

Due to the half term holidays we get a bit of a break now from party crafts, but have been told we have 2 more lessons left after half term, woohoo!

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Handmade Hedgehog costume.

The school put in their weekly newsletter on monday that on friday Kai's year could dress up as either a fairy, a hobgoblin or some other magical creature in connection to them learning about A Midsummer Nights Dream.
I discussed it with Kai, who wasn't in the mood to dress up as anything so I suggested we pack his dinosaur all in one which could slip over his school clothes if he felt like it (it easily passes as a dragon).
On wednesday there was a notice put on the class doors saying that they could dress up as Fairies, hobgoblins or WOODLAND CREATURES, so once again I discussed it with Kai, this time he wanted to be a robin.
A Robin right, so he would need a red tummy, a beak, brown clothes & wings that wouldnt get ripped. The following day I popped up the shops & grabbed a brown fleece blanket from primark to turn into wings & feathers.
On the way home Kai states he wants to be a hedgehog, luckily I hadnt had chance to start sewing by then.
Hmmm, a hedgehog ... I could smell of burning as the gears slowly began to move in my mind.

I cut the blanket into a sports bib shape and checked it would fit over Kai's head.
Then I began cutting layer after layer of zigzags out of the remaining blanket before attaching these onto the back.
I also made 2 small ears & attached to hair clips that would be hidden underneath, & a cone nose, covered in the brown fleece & a black felt tip.


Kai's hair was spiked & he decided he didnt like wearing the ears but he was very happy with his costume.
Being a very chilly day I had to put a jumper on him which didnt go as well as the brown T-shirt underneath, but rather that than be cold.
Finally he wanted to add his own touch..........
But I told him there was no way he was going to school in my brand new, 4" high boots!!!!

Tuesday 7 February 2012

My First Handmade Card of 2012

 This is the card I made for my nieces birthday. I had to get this sizzlet when I saw it, it just screamed "lil kiddie cards" to me. Its not the most feminine of colours but I wanted a jungle kinda look.
Finished it after the sun went down & had to take photos under electric lights so have added a photo using & not using flash so you get a better idea of the colours :-)

But look, LOOK! I used yellow, a bright lion yellow. Over at "Notes on Paper", the lovely Julie is having a month of sunrays, she might even convince me to wear yellow (hmmm, not sure a yellow ribbon would go with my pink hair, but we'll see **walks away smelling smoke as the cogs turn**)

Monday 6 February 2012

Party Crafts - Decorations

Banner
The S fell off from Kai's original name plaque & as of yet hasn't been replaced
Kai & I had great fun making this banner. The yellow jungle paper wrapping paper cut out with nesties. I also cut out the parrot & elephant from the wrapping paper to use as well. The largest triangle nestie wasnt large enough for what we wanted so these were measured & cut out to size. The letters were stamped and Kai coloured them in before I cut them out & they were stuck on. Finally we threaded the curling ribbon through holes we'd punched. I think I've finally got the banner bug!

Cup hugger
These cupholders can be used with a drinks cup using a straw to actually drink from it, or on pen holder etc.
These were so simpe to make but very cute. Lynne had a biiiiiiiiig die cutter at home to cut the body shape, which we then drew around head templates and created our characters. Kai thoroughly enjoyed colouring his in & putting it together.
I chopped the thumbs off mine coz, well, elephants dont have thumbs! & applied circular stickers for its nails.

Card Holder
Using the another on of the body die cuts as we had used on the cup hugger we made card holders. We stuck 3 envelopes together, the flap behind the one above. In the top one we slipped in the die cut body & stuck it down. Finally we stamped some letters onto punched out flowers to spell out KAI & attached them.
Cards can now be slipped inside to show them off, Kai actually uses his to keep his spelling cards in.
Once we got home Kai wanted me to decorate his a bit more, so here is its makeover...
I also made my own...

Heres' a close up so you can get the idea of it a bit easier
There are 12 envelopes, each one has a letter of a month on it, on the right are the birthdays/celebrations in that month. I plan to make cards in advance & slip them in the pockets all ready. The colours match the ones that my kitchen will be & it hangs on the back of the kitchen door below my calendar. When the doors open it cant be seen, and usually its only me whose ever in the room when the doors shut so no-one will be getting a sneak peek at their cards ;-)

3 party craft lessons over & only 2 more left, monday mornings shall be a whole lot emptier & tougher once we finish :-(

Sunday 5 February 2012

Storytelling Sunday - A story of love & loss

The sounds of a text rang out, she casually picked up her mobile, checked the message and her heart felt like it had stopped. Her vision began to darken, she could hardly breath, she just couldn't believe it, he'd dumped her over text! In hindsight she should have expected it, he'd dumped her after dating for 2 weeks via text, he'd even proposed to her over text, so it was kinda fitting he'd finish with her the same way.

As her vision cleared she grabbed the phone & rang him... immediately it went onto answer phone. She tried again, and again it went onto answer phone, she yelled down the phone, how could he dump her like that, what a spineless chicken he was not to at least give her some respect by saying it to her face. With her head still a blur she quickly got hers & her sons coats & shoes on before hurridly leaving the house. It was the house they'd shared for 5 months .... it hadnt been the easiest of months. He expected her to be the perfect housewife, either that or get a night job, it was the first house she'd ever tried to maintain, the first time she'd had with her 3 year old without the support of family living with her, it was a big learning curve.
He had told her they couldn't afford to live together, that the money just wouldn't stretch - out of blind love she believed him, even with him buying videos and going out on the odd evening, she WANTED to believe him, and naivety let her do just that. She had text him that day, saying that she felt he was being distant & what was up, of course she got her answer, very clearly.

As she rushed over the bridge towards where her Mom lived an embarrassed, indignant anger washed over her, how dare he be that unfeeling, that much of a coward, with such little respect for her. So out came the mobile again, she didnt want to talk to anyone but she wanted everyone to know what he'd done before he got the chance to sweet talk his own story to them. Everyone on her contacts list received a text which simply said "He's dumped me, over text! Again!!". It was her way of grabbing some sort of control again, making him pay a little bit for what he'd done, right now she needed to feel that ounce of control, even if it was in the tiniest of ways, as she felt like her entire life was falling apart.

She sat in her Moms kitchen, on the old rocker that could no longer rock, and cried, her son sat in the lounge oblivious to it all. He was almost 3, hers from a previous relationship, and she really didnt want him to see her so distraught. She begged her Mom to have him for a few nights, just until she'd calmed down, got her head a bit more straight. Her Mom agreed.

Alone in the house she cried until the tears would no longer fall. Everywhere reminded her of him, so she grabbed a black sack & began filling it with his things, gifts he'd given her, photos, everything.
That night her mobile once again rang, it was a friend of a friend, they'd spoken upon occasion but didn't really know each other. He had just finished his shift & was worried about her after the text he'd received. They chatted for a while but she wasn't really in the mood to chat.

The next few days were hard but she made her way through them. She went with a friend to drop all his stuff off at his parents, he refused to speak with her. That night he had rung her, he wasn't happy she'd let everyone know before he had chance to explain to them, he was actually quite angry over it which amused her no end. He told her that he was gay - something that she later decided was purely to ensure she wouldn't try to get back together again, Bi-sexual, yes, she'd always known that, but he used the same line on another girl a few months later. He let that her know he'd had fun going clubbing, something she'd never really enjoyed being more of a pub goer. She missed him, but also began to see the arrogance in him, she began to see clearer & spot the things which weren't right in the relationship.

Later that night her friend of a friend rang again, he rang on almost a nightly basis after he'd finished work. She began to look forward to his calls. They chatted easily, & he always made her laugh. She casually invited him over one day, while she was decorating the house. Decorating was her way of putting her own stamp on the house, especially with hers & her sons hand-prints as a border in the kitchen.

As the days went by she thought less of her ex & began to enjoy life again. For once she had money, something her ex wouldn't let her have, she went out with friends, out for walks, enjoyed playing messy crafts with hers on.

Her friend of a friend came round on a regular basis & she found herself falling for him, but she wouldn't let herself totally fall for him, or make a move, not yet, just incase he rejected her, just incase she was on the rebound. But after 4 months it was clear, these feelings were not rebound feelings.

They've now been engaged for 7 years, added another child to the family.and shall be celebrating being together for 10 years in July. He's made her so happy over the years that the things that happened before they met are barely more than a bad dream. It certainly taught her what kind of a relationship she didn't want to be in. 10 years ago she thought her life had fallen apart, little did she know it was just the start of a beautiful new rebuild.

This true story was brought to you inconjuction with Story telling Sunday over at From High in the Sky

Saturday 4 February 2012

Party Crafts - Cupcake decorations

Lesson 2 of party crafts was to decorate a cupcake, make a cupcake holder and "flag" to go in the cupcake, along with a cellophane bag, complete with tag to carry them in, and a party bag.


We parents made the cupcake holders ready for the children to decorate before making our own, just so we know how to do everything of course ;-) Mine had a night time theme to it so plenty of stars, blue & yellow.

Kai decided to go for an animal sticker/toy story theme.

 The cellophane bags were actually clear folder pockets with the white edge cut off & the bottom corners stuck underneath.
It was a simple crafting activity but we both really enjoyed it, especially eating the cakes afterwards ;-)

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