IACW Spring Blog Hop

Welcome to the IACW Spring blog hop and lots of chances to win some lovely prizes

If you have made it here you are almost done. I do hope you have been inspired by the girls and their projects, we have all worked hard to provide some diverse inspiration for you all.

Some of the girls ( me included) are offering some fantastic prizes, so do please check them all out and take part in the challenges

To be in for a chance to win my little bag of goodies ( worth over £20), please leave a comment here telling me what your favourite springtime activity is and I will choose a winner by random. The winner will be chosen at 8pm on monday 2nd April

Here is my little project - A little springtime inspired mini book

The front cover

Each page is a pocket, ready to house lots of photos of our spring time activities.

If you did get lost on the way or stumbled by my blog before reading all the others, please see the links below for the other participating IACW girls

Start at: IACW

1 - Laura 

2 - Doda 

3 - Gabrielle

4 - Eleanor

5 - Erika 

6 - Ifa 

7 - Katherine 

8 - Dolly 

9 - Mandy

10 - Leanne 

11 - Kerry 

12 - Me 

And now you can hop on over to IACW for the final stop of our little spring time hop

Thankyou for stopping by and happy crafting

And don't forget to leave me a comment to be in with a chance of winning my prize

Altered Presentation Box

I am a little behind with sharing my projects, both class and non-class so this is a little catch up from last week, I will be back later in the week with this weeks class cards

We made these cute little accordian cards. I based the design on a mini version of the book Linda shared with us a couple of weeks ago, you can see my original one made in her class HERE and you can check out Lindas blog HERE

I made two versions as samples for the class so class members could pick and choose elements they liked or of course they could create their own designs and embellishments within the pages, this first one was 'love' themed.

And the second with an Easter theme.

They went down really well and everyone was kept quiet whilst they beavered away.

I made two slightly different variations for Mothers day gifts and have just realised I have not yet shared them here so I will be back with those another time soon.

Next up I have a new class to share with you

These gorgeous little decorative boxes are being taught by Jan

The Altered Presentation Box Class will be held on Saturday 14th April 2012

10 am - 3pm

£20.00

All tools and materials will be provided

Drinks and biscuits will also be provided throughout the day but please feel free to bring your lunch.

Spaces are limited due to the nature of the class so please book early to avoid disappointment

Telephone the shop on 01472 359158

There will be a variety of fabrics and embellishments to choose from on the day so your finished box will be completely unique

And as an added bonus the inner of the box is created from a box of Sainsbury's luxury biscuits so you will also have some yummy treats to munch on too.

Due to the family issues I referred to in Sundays post, all other saturday workshops have been put on hold for the time being, I will let everyone know when they will be resuming and have some fabulous ideas in progress when they do resume

As always thankyou so much for your support.

A little catch up

First up, I must apologise for not posting as regularly as usual, I will explain why later in the post.

 I do have some recent class projects to share

This is Bonnie's lovely tri-fold card that she made for our recent die-cutting class

A simple and classic two-tone design, clean and crisp with some very pretty details, thankyou to Bonnie once again for her inspiration and of course her fab way of teaching, always full of fun and wise words.

I have the card I taught two weeks ago for my three card classes, I went with Easter as per requests but provided alternative ideas for those not wanting to send Easter cards.

The yellow panel was created using a double embossing technique and the basket was created with die-cuts

Now I seem to have a couple of people worried by my lack of blogging and the less chatty posts I have made lately.

I have had a few emails recently, one very special one this morning from a lovely lady in the US who reads my blog with her morning coffee and she 'had a feeling' something was amiss.

I am so sorry if I have worried anyone with my absence and brevity of posting, in short, my dear grandad is desperately poorly.

Grandad is currently being cared for in our local hospice, and, as a family we are trying to make his last few days as comfortable as possible.

My close friends and class members know this and have been a tremendous support to both me and dad, I cannot express how grateful we are for everyones care and support and can say that the hospice have been amazingly kind and caring to grandad.

I am really, really trying to keep all the balls in the air at the moment and have been trying to keep life as normal as possible, mainly for my kids, but, we are an incredibly close family and we are all hurting so much right now, so please excuse me if I am slow in answering an email or a little lapse in updating my blog.

Thankyou once again for the lovely email ( N - you know who you are !) and to all of my lovely friends and family xxx

Stampin' Up

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow (Thursday 22nd March) is stampin' Up day with the lovely YeeTing

This is the gorgeous little project YeeTing will be sharing with us.

Please telephone the shop to reserve your place if you haven't already done so - 01472 359158

The class, as always, runs from 1 til 3pm and costs just £6.50, all tools and equipment will be provided and there will be light refreshments

Also 10% off any shopping in store for all class attendees.

Spring is in the air

Tonight I have a little project to share with you which I completed for my DT position over on IACW.

You can read more details about each tag and the way they were created in my post over on their blog HERE

I started with a basic tag shape cut from card and used a seasonal theme

Spring

Summer

Autumn 

Winter

To find out what the rest of the girls have been up to check out the IACW blog HERE

Caz has been sharing some truly wonderful websites, Ifa has posted a fabulous scrapbook page and Eleanor has been very busy creating a beautiful quilt from hexi-puffs !

I will be back tomorrow with some photos of the projects taught in class this week.

Thankyou to everyone who stayed and helped clear up today after the Cuttlebug class, Dawn was a whizz with the broom, Pat washed all the pots, Keitha, Trish, Bonnie and Rose all stayed and cleared the tables as did Joan. Everyone helped and I am very grateful.

Thanyou also to Anita who did a wonderful job on wednesday which is always my busiest day.

As some of you know, Grandad is very poorly at the moment, he is at the hospice this week receiving respite care, dad has been his main carer for a while now and I know he appreciates all the lovely words and kind thoughts everyone has been sending, it is also a relief for him to know so many of you are helping me whilst he is occupied with grandad.

So, thankyou all very much from both dad and I, we so appreciate the kindness xxx

Circle journal

Tonight I have my pages for the circle journal I am involved in to share with you.

These pages are for Lea, she likes pink so I went pink crazy with my neocolours over a base of patterned paper squares, the edges were defined with wax rubs

The flowers were stamped and cut out, finished with ribbon stems.

I added a couple of quotes and then set to with the tag in the same vein.

Sweet treats

I spent a fabulous day at Lindas making this gorgeous little mini book on monday.

Thankyou for the inspiration Linda and for the lovely day and please thank Leanne for the scrummiest millionaires shortbread I have ever tasted.

Front cover

We used all Stampin' Up products - stamps, inks, punches and cardstock

Back cover

The inner pages are assembled accordian style

Page 1 and 2

Page 3 and 4

On tuesday we all agreed that matching gift boxes were in order and as it was Lindas turn to do the demo in our Tuesday afternoon craft club, she shared this cute little box, I chose colours to match my book

We added acetate to the centre portion so the sweet treats inside could be seen

The top can be pushed down to create a flat surface or can be left folded like above and secured with ribbon

So, massive thanks to Linda who kept us all amused and crafting for two days this week xxx

RWS ATC Swap February

This is the set of cards I made for last months ATC swap over on our shop website, you can check out future swaps HERE

I used Tim Holtz texture fades, coloured with my neocolours and wax rubs which give the cards a lovely rutilant sheen.

Here are the swaps received this month - can you guess the theme was LOVE and the required colour was pink this month ?

We changed the way the swap is run this month and I decided as a bit of fun it would be nice to choose a winner each month with a little prize

I couldn't decide between Janet and Kim this time round so both ladies get a little prize, well done girls xxx

Here are the winning ATC's

Janet

Kim

All the swaps were totally gorgeous, thankyou to every one of you who sent in your little works of art.

These are the little prizes heading to Kim and Janet

Each little bag contains the following

The swap is open to everyone, the rules and guidelines can be found on the forum HERE

Next months theme is WOMAN and you can use whatever colours you like for that month.

Janet and Kim please let me know what themes you would like to see, Kim you are choosing for June and Janet you are choosing for July.

Fire and brimstone

A couple of ' just because ' cards, you know the kind, your stash is sat there, you have a little free time and out pops a couple of cards, these were made this morning at work, in between customers.

The backgrounds have both been stamped onto Kraft coloured card, I borrowed a set of stamps from Linda ( thanks hon) - they are stampin' Up.

I broke out some Mulberry handmade paper - remember that stuff we all buy when we start card-making, hide in our stash and then wonder what possessed us to buy it in the first place !

Everything else was scraps left on the table after the crop on friday afternoon.

Neil picked me up from work and drove myself and the kids to Nottingham for one of the best nights out we have ever had.

Neil had bought us all tickets to see the spectacle that is Rammstein - trust me, nothing can prepare you for the theatrics of the music and the show.

Jaw droppingly outstanding in every way. Till is such a showman and is mesmerising as he sings totally at ease with flames bursting from heavy duty angel wings strapped to his back, flame throwers, fire works, massive foaming canons, crowd surfing in a dinghy and all set in an industrial landscape with a heart pounding, bass heavy soundtrack like none you have heard before. I was worried that the boys would be a little out of their comfort zone but all five of us loved every single soot filled second. 

As for the whole thing being in German - who cares!!!! music and entertainment definitely transcends language.

YES we got wet !

YES we felt the heat

YES our ears are still ringing

Would I do it again - hell yes, bring it on Rammstein !