Craft Fair Goodies

Morning all.  Phew, it's been quite a busy weekend in the Frecklepuss household this weekend - well mainly for me actually.  With just one week to go before my craft fair, I have been frantically trying to get everything finished off and packaged.  I'm now finally able to show you some of my creations.

These six packs of cards are my new designs of note cards.  Apologies for the quality of the photo.

Here are all the note cards in more detail.  For this first one, I used some paper that was a free gift from a magazine. These free papers are ideal for this sort of thing.  I made a paper ribbon from black card stock and punched the tag from my new EK Success punch (a really useful one).  The sentiment is stamped from a pack of clear stamps I have had for a while - not sure who they are by.

This next set is very Cath Kidston-esque!  The papers were another free gift, but they are actually from Craftwork Cards.  A bit too floral for me personally but ideal for this look.

I used up scraps from one of my all time favourite paper stacks - Making Memories Boho Chic.  This nine square style is so easy to make, but very effective.  I finished it off with some Prima flowers and a little bit of bling.

Another Cath Kidston inspired look, same papers as before.  The scalloped edges are punched with my favourite Fiskars punches.

Again. more free papers and Fiskars scalloped punch.  The daisy is a Martha Stewart punch which I haven't used nearly enough.  The sentiment is from a Marion Emberson set of stamps.  I added a touch of glitter glue in the centre of the flowers.

And finally, same as above really except that I added a couple of Petaloo flowers as a focal point.  I think the sentiment is a Paula Pascual stamp.

These kept me busy for a while as I had to make five of each design.  I have made matching notebooks which I will show you another day.

I did find time to go to the cinema to see the next instalment of the Twilight Saga - Breaking Dawn Part 1.  I had booked the tickets weeks ago because I wanted to see it the weekend it was released.  It was a great film and now I can't wait for Part 2.  I will probably have to read the books again soon (have lost count of how many times I have read them!).

I am definitely Team Edward - even before I saw Robert Pattinson in the role.  Mark is very tolerant of my obsession thank goodness!

Well off to get back to the mundane jobs such as washing and ironing - the penance for yesterday I guess.  Have fun!

M x

Bits and Bobs

Evening!  Well what a busy old week it's been this week.  I've made quite a few cards, been shopping quite a few times, been to the cinema, out for tea and walked the dog plenty.  Not to mention the boring chores of washing and ironing and planning meals.  I'm feeling pretty pooped to be honest.

Today Mark and I took Emily to Lakeside to buy clothes for 6th Form - not my favourite thing, shopping, but needs must.  Emily has had a rough old time in the last few  months and we did doubt that she would be able to go to 6th Form, but she is determined to give it a go.  So she needed kitting out.  Lots of clothes were tried on, a good many of them were discarded but we came home with quite a few shirts, trousers and cardigans, plus boots and a bag.  My bank account has taken quite a battering (the Ally Pally fund!!) but it will be worth it on Tuesday if she goes to school.

I wanted to share with you the card I made Mark for our Wedding Anniversary last week.  I've been meaning to post it on the challenge blog Less is More but haven't quite plucked up the courage.  I am running out of time for that one of my holiday goals, so I hope the challenge tomorrow is one I fancy!  Anyway, back to the card, it's a bit different to my usual style.  I inked all around the edge with Barn Door Distress Ink, and around the outside of the elements.  I also used Barn Door to stamp the heart border and hearts on the sentiment (which is a Paula Pascual stamp).  The main element is from a set of stamps by Marion Emberson - you know I am such a fan.  The grosgrain ribbon was from my huge (and I am not joking) collection of ribbon and the "Just For You" sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.  I wasn't too sure of the finished card at first, but I've come round to it.  Mark liked it anyway.

This next card is another departure for me too.  I'm not such a fan of cute images and rarely use them on my cards, but what can you do when you have to make a card for a 2 year old boy?  I don't really have any stash that fits the bill, until I remembered this set of paper that was a free gift from Scrapbook Magazine.  I thought the pirate boy was perfect.  I cut it out and used a strip of the waves backing paper, plus a little bit of plain card stock from DCWV and Bob's your uncle!  The button embellishments were part of the paper pack too and fit in quite nicely.

Have any of you read this book - One Day by David Nicholls?  If you haven't, I can't recommend it highly enough.  I couldn't put it down and was reading it every available minute of the day (just as well I am on holiday!).  I am toying with the idea of going to see the film version, but I have a feeling I may be disappointed - I hope Anne Hathaway can carry off a convincing Yorkshire accent.  We'll see.

Talking of the cinema, we took Emily to see The Inbetweeners film on Wednesday while Edward has been staying with my parents for a few days.  The film was very funny but SO rude!  If you are easily shocked, I wouldn't recommend it.  It is all about four 18 year old boys on holiday in Greece and nothing is left to the imagination!

I'm off to have a facial first thing in the morning - using a voucher that the children bought me for Mother's Day - and I'm really looking forward to feeling pampered.

Take care

M x

Summer Reading

I've just finished reading this book - Water for Elephants. It's a cracking read and I can't recommend it enough. The story is set on a circus train in 1931, and is about a young vet named Jacob, a circus performer called Marlena and an elephant called Rosie. It's a beautiful, yet sometimes cruel story - well worth giving it a go. I couldn't put it down.

The film is pretty good too (Robert Pattison is in it - he makes it very watchable!).

What to read next though? I've got a couple of light hearted romantic novels on my bedside table, including the new Shopaholic one. Maybe I should read something a bit more substantial, but I don't know if I'm in the mood for a more serious book at the moment. Any recommendations?

M x

And so it all came to an end

I was so excited yesterday - the opening day of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (I can't stand HP7 Part 2 - is it me? I guess it is!!). We had tickets booked for the 5.30pm show - I've never been to a film the day it opens - man, the cinema was heaving! We took our own 3D glasses, although I did succumb and buy the kids the special Harry Potter ones - I must be mad!

I'm a massive Harry Potter fan - I think the books are marvellous and they have moved me tears on numerous occasions, as well as being gripped and sitting on the edge of my seat. I love the films too, I think they have been sensitively done, and I guess that's because J K Rowling has been a big part of the production. Last night the four of us all had feelings of trepidation in case the end was a let down, but we needn't have worried - it was marvellous! The time just flew by, the glasses didn't bother me too much (such a pain if you usually wear glasses as I do), we cheered, we clapped and we cried. The end of an era - what to do now? I know, read the whole series again and preorder the DVD!

Have a good weekend - enjoy the rain lol! Our glorious summer!!

M x

P.S. Counting down - 5 more work days to go - hurrah!

Time is Flying

I meant to post this on Sunday, but I don't know where the time has gone. We had a busy day on Saturday when we spent the afternoon at Stowe Landscape Gardens, a National Trust property in Buckinghamshire. We generally meet friends and go there for a picnic every year. This year we weren't able to leave home until lunch time and didn't get there until 2.40pm. We got stuck in loads of traffic around Knebworth (Sonisphere concert) and had to stop a couple of times for Chloe. She doesn't travel well and whinges and fidgets a lot in the car, but she's still a baby.

Anyway, we had a nice relaxing time until the heavens opened and we had to take shelter under some trees! It was a long way to go for us for a couple of hours. My two sets of friends live a lot closer, and neither of them have children or a dog. I'm thinking next time we need to find somewhere suitable in our neck of the woods and they can travel to us for a change.

I'm itching to make cards and to have a play with all my new bits and pieces and the only thing that is stopping me is time - I just don't have any. I haven't even been able to take photos of my new things. It's been a busy week work wise, and I've been out a fair bit this week. My mum and I went to our local theatre/cinema to see Water for Elephants on Monday (missed it when it came out). It was a lovely film, a bit brutal in places, but Robert Pattinson was gorgeous. We had our Open Evening at school on Tuesday, then dog training tonight, and then off to the cinema tomorrow to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - I am SO excited!!!!! So, busy busy.

Today has been a funny day at work. All our Year 6 children went off to their secondary schools for a transition day, so I made a yellow brick road for their Wizard of Oz production on Monday. It was great fun and I really enjoyed doing it.

Counting down now - 6 more working days until the summer holidays - woohoo!

M x

And the end of another busy week . . . .

Thank goodness! As we near the end of term, work is just getting more and more frantic. This week I have been making props for our Year 6 production on The Wizard of Oz, backing display boards, mounting work, painting a rainbow and making an Emerald City for the display, not to mention dressing up as a Victorian school teacher. It doesn't look like it's going to ease up anytime soon. I've got a list as long as my arm of jobs to do on Monday. Two more weeks and counting.

I never got round to posting some photos of my birthday presents. This first one is from a friend at work who knows me so well. Unfortunately they have all gone - boy could I have done with some of these yesterday!

Mum and Dad, as well as contributing the lion's share to my laptop, also gave me some more Promarkers to add to my collection. The colours are lovely. I'm going to need a new storage box for them soon, as I can't get the lid on the tin I'm currently keeping them in.

My parents also gave me four packets of Candi, some fancy edge blank cards and a storage box for the Candi - all from Craftwork Cards.

Mark and the children gave me The King's Speech on DVD and a couple of packets of Thorntons chocolates, as well as a contribution to my laptop of course. Can't wait to find the time to watch the film, as it is fantastic (and the chocolates didn't last long!).

Hope you are all having a lovely, relaxing weekend. Ours is very busy - just what I need after an exhausting week, but heigh ho!

M x

Weekend Break in Wiltshire - Day 2

Another glorious day for our time away. We headed off to Stourhead, a beautiful National Trust property about an hour's drive from where we were staying in Swindon. I had heard so much about it because my parents love to go there. Well, we weren't disappointed.

We didn't go into the house because we really wanted to see the beautiful gardens and walk round the lake. We'll save the house for a return visit.

It was hard to edit the photos because I loved them all - so here goes!!

Stunning isn't it. It would make a beautiful setting for a wedding.

I've been having a totally self indulgent week. The children have gone to stay at my parent's house for the week. I've been catching up on TV programmes and films, doing some crochet and a little (very little!) bit of card making.

My plan is to get the border finished on my Dream Blanket - I haven't touched it for weeks and weeks. The border is so boring to do and the blanket is really heavy now. Well the end is in sight, but today I got sidetracked by starting a new project which I will share with you soon, and hopefully the Dream Blanket too.

I've had a Twilight Fest today and watched all three films back to back - Emily thinks I'm mad, but I was in heaven!!

I will also have something very exciting to share with you over the weekend. I'm still slightly disbelieving that I have agreed to it. Can you guess what it is?

Hope you are having a great week, enjoying the sunshine.

M x

So tired . . .

What is it with sleepovers that no one actually sleeps?! My daughter had a sleepover last night - her and three other girls. Cinema, pizza etc. We were evicted to our bedroom to watch Get Him to the Greek on a laptop - Mark didn't stay the course and nodded off half way through. Which was surprising really given the noise from downstairs. At what point do teenage girls stop shrieking at each other??!! Needless to say I didn't get much sleep either.

I think the noisiest time was around 4am when they were playing Just Dance on the Wii, after that I think I drifted off, waking again around 8am. Emily didn't sleep at all but has totally crashed since her friends have gone home. She is going to be fun later!!

I hope you all have a relaxing day - think of me lol!

M x

Weekend Roundup

Well, I don't know about you but I am glad that January is nearly over. It's been such a long, tedious month - cold, miserable and no money! Pay day tomorrow - hurrah!

Having said that, I have had quite a nice weekend for a change, and productive too.

Perhaps it helped having two nights out - such a rare thing to have a social life! I really enjoyed going to see The King's Speech on Thursday, one of the best films I have seen for ages. Colin Firth really deserves all the awards he gets for it, and Helena Bonham-Carter and Geoffrey Rush were amazing too.

Had another great night out at a friend's house on Friday - 6 women in their 40s, good food, lots of fizz and loads of laughs. Didn't get home till gone 1am and should have been really hungover on Saturday but wasn't. We drank champagne with a raspberry liqueur (Chambord) all night - heavenly!

Am feeling rather virtuous at the moment because we have planned and shopped for the whole week's meals. Usually we have no idea what to have and it ends up with Mark going to Tesco every night and cooking three separate meals (very fussy kids - Edward more so than Emily). But yesterday we planned the menu together with loads of input from the kids and then did a Tesco online shop which came today. So hopefully it will be less stressful and less expensive now we have a plan. Alsace roast chicken, new potatoes and mangetouts for dinner tonight - sounds yummy!

Have manged to make three cards this weekend. The first one is actually the biggest card I have ever made - it's 8" square. A bit daunting at first, but I think it turned out OK. The card is for a friend at work for quite a few of us to sign, hence the size. The paper is by We R Memory Keepers and I cut the numbers from DCWV cardstock and decorated them with glitter glue and tiny Prima flowers.

This second card is for another colleague, just from me, so usual size 14.5cm square. I think the papers are My Mind's Eye and I used Martha Stewart glitter - peridot. It's the first time I have used my new scallop punch that I got for Christmas. I'm really pleased with the design - as you will see, I am using it a lot!!

And another significant birthday!! Same design as before - no idea who the paper is by, and I think the glitter is fire opal.

Have even had some time this weekend to do more baking for the children's lunchboxes - Brownies this time. I used the recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery book. They taste nice but were really tricky to get out of the tin - stuck to the greased proof paper. I wasn't impressed!

Anyway that's me finished for now. If I don't see you before, hope you all have a fab week.

M x

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Dad's birthday and here is the card I made for him. I'm really pleased with the simple, clean look of it and will probably make a lot of cards using this design. The two papers are from a paper stack by My Minds Eye and the three little circles are Card Candy from Craftwork Cards. I also used their chipboard letters as a template for the wording.

I have a few cards that are works in progress - a 30th birthday and a 50th. There are a lot of milestone birthdays this year for friends and family, so I anticipate being kept very busy!

It was Craft Day on QVC last week and luckily I was working otherwise I would probably have spent lots of money on things I can't afford and don't really need, however I did spot these Paula Pascual stamps at a very reasonable price, so I decided I needed a treat to cheer myself up (hasn't this month been SO long and depressing?).

Filled With Flowers

Simple Flowers

I'm hoping to go to the cinema and see The King's Speech tomorrow night. I've heard it is very good. Anyone seen it?

Take care

M x

Busy Weekend

Phew! I think I need another couple of days to get over this weekend. It's been a good weekend, but a busy one - trying in to fit in jobs, homework and shopping, as well as buying Emily a new bed, finishing off some Christmas cards, making lists for Christmas shopping (bah humbug!) and going to the cinema (and that was just Saturday!).

Has anybody seen the new Harry Potter film? We have been desperate to go as we are all big Harry Potter fans, and we managed to go late on Saturday afternoon. I really enjoyed the film and felt that it was very sensible to make two films out of the final book - I feel they have done it justice so far. There's quite a lot of Daniel Radcliffe's bare chest in it too - Emily was happy! Roll on the summer for the final instalment.

We had a lot to fit in today aswell but it didn't quite go to plan. Edward had a football match at 1.30 which we were trying to work round, but that got cancelled in the end. We wanted to install Emily's new bed, but she wouldn't get out of the old one - so that's a job for next weekend. Mark and I went into town whilst Edward did some homework, and Emily did a bit of tidying (shock horror!!) and I bought myself a new phone.

I've been wanting one for ages as my old one hasn't been very reliable. My new phone is a Smartphone (it's taken me all day to get to grips with it!!) - an HTC Wildfire in silver. It's pretty cool, can even send emails - I won't know myself!

Not much crafting has taken place - a little bit of crochet of the Dream Blanket, but not a lot - nothing to show at the moment.

Think it's going to be a really busy week. I am feeling slightly panicky about Christmas - I truly hadn't realised how close it is. The children have only got three weeks left at school. I need to get myself organised. Does anyone else feel a bit anti-Christmas this year? I'm fed up with every advert showing how perfect your Christmas could be - it's quite depressing really. And on that grumpy note, I shall good night.

M x

Yesterday

I took the children to the cinema to see Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. It was only supposed to be Edward and I because I thought Emily wasn't interested, but she surprised me as usual! Edward has been desperate to see the film for ages - well ever since he read the book (he wants the rest of the series for his birthday). We had to go to a cinema that I don't usually go to because that was the only place it was showing. What a serendipitous moment - who knew about Kids Club??!! I didn't. £2.50 each child and adults go free - now that's what I call a result!

It was a great film - we all really enjoyed it. Edward pretty much grinned the whole way through it. He's very keen on Greek myths so it was right up his street and Emily thought the actor who played Percy was cute!

I was persuaded to have lunch at Frankie and Benny's afterwards - Emily's favourite place. It was pretty good too. All in all we had a lovely day - it made a change to get out and do something with the children, it seems like a while since we have done something like this.

Still no crafting - I'm feeling really sad about that. I usually have a couple of days to myself during school holidays to get creative but sadly not these holidays. I'm actually getting quite desperate as I have birthdays coming up next week and I really need to make some cards.

On the decorating front, whilst the room is not finished, we are getting there. One of the long walls is completely finished and we have been able to put our big Ikea units back. I spent a lot of Monday unpacking 10 huge crates of my books. Mark is now working on the side of the room where all my craft stuff lives so I am hopeful that by the weekend I can start putting that away soon. (so is Emily as it is cluttering up her bedroom at the moment!!).

I'm really looking forward to having my "ta-dah" moment but I fear it will be a while. We still have to retrieve the rest of our possessions from my parents and Mark's mum. I think it will take a while to unpack it all - I wish I had another week off.

Have a good day.

M x

P.S Finally succumbed to rereading Twilight again - just can't help myself!!