GOAL

Good morning.  The sun is out, the washer is on and fingers crossed it stays dry enough for me to get the washing done.  Yesterday was a very wet day here in Derby.

Mr. roof man is back this morning doing the last side of the house.  Paul went up into the loft last night to see how the new roof tiles were holding up to all that rain we had and everything was dry, always a good sign, phew.

Just a few more days left for the SU special offers which are the bonus days

And not forgetting the fantastic offer if you join Stampin' Up! this month, for £99 you will get your choice of products worth £130 plus all the Christmas in July products as well as an office pack valued at £45.  Everything will be delivered right to your door.

Please get in touch if you would like more information about joining the Stampin' Up! family.

Here is another cute card that I like.  These little bears really are smashing.  They are quite a few years old and they haven't seen ink for such a long time.

I am pleased it is Friday as I am looking forward to a nice weekend with hubby before he goes off on his travels again.  I must start to get some washing done while the weather is good.  Thanks for having a read and I wish you a wonderful weekend, see you Monday x

OWZAT

Good morning.  Up early today and keeping my fingers crossed that the weather will be nice.  I would like to try and get washing done today, with a little help of course.

Yesterday was a lovely day and it went by so quickly.  I did manage to do some pottering.  Lots of crafty chat in the craft room in the afternoon and then on face time all evening with the girls.  Just catching up with no dramas.

Today I will be doing a little more pottering.

A card that was made for the boys out there.  I really do like this type of card.

The roofing man returned late yesterday and completed to front of the house.  It is just the side of the house now and he will come back on Friday morning before he actually moves house himself, ahhh.

Right then, off to have tea.  Thanks for having a read Tracey x

Happy 10 Year Anniversary to me

Good morning and a damp start to the day.  The roofing man has more or less cleaned all the moss of the roof and is due back later this morning to finish off.  I dont think he will go on the roof in this weather but there is a bit of cleaning up and removal of stuff around the house that he said he will do.
I cant believe that it is 10 years ago today that I wrote my first blog post.  Congratulations to me.

Here, *putting on a brave face* is one of my very first cards which was made is 2004


Then in 2005 I discovered little flowers and little shopping bags that cost a fortune but I made this type of card as often as I could.  The flowers were on sticky ribbons and it took me ages to cut them all off

In 2006 I was the peel off queen.


In 2007 I made these shoe cards by the dozen, for everyone for every occasion.  I still have the pattern today.

I thought this was wonderful and it was all before I got into rubber stamping.

In 2008 I discovered Stampin' Up! and I have met so many wonderful people, life long friends and friends that sadly I dont hear from too often these days.  However Stampin' Up! is still going strong and the company just grows each year.

Here are just a few cards that have been made from the Daisy collection.  The thing that drew me to Stampin' Up! in the first place was that all the colours co-ordinate, the inks and ribbons all match, the punches and dies fit with so many other Stampin' Up! ranges etc. etc.  On top of all that is that you can demonstrate to others, if you want to or be a hobby crafter if you dont want to.  You can work the hours you want, you can travel if you want to and you can share your addiction when you want with who you want.  There are so many more benefits that you can tailor to you personally.  For me it is to get crafty goodies at a reduced price as well as meet lots and lots of new friends and I have certainly done that over the years.  Other demonstrators want to work around childrens school hours or hubbys work hours.  Stampin' Up! can accommodate all that and if you dont try it, you wont know if it works for you.

Thank you so much for reading the blog today, I dont know how many of you can can say that you have shared the 10 year journey but there are a few.  Lets see where the next 10 years take us.   Tracey x

Tuesdays Twitter

Good morning and I have a confession to make, I put the heating on brrrr, I am so cold.  I even have another layer of clothes on, I thought this was Summer.  I am sure that once I 'get going' I will get a little warmer

Yesterday the roofing men came and took the chimney stack down.  They showed Paul what it was being supported by and it was dangerous.  The surveyor who visited last year prior to the bathroom being done said it wasnt looking too good but that is now a problem solved and a job well done.  If you need roofers for anything let me know and I will pass on these chappies details.  Excellent job, very nice chaps, very clean.  Today they are taking the moss off the roof.  Lots of folks have said why bother, it looks okay, you have to expect this but it was one of the first things we noticed when we came to look at the house the first time.  So a bit of a mess will be made today but it will be well worth it.

I wanted to share this card with you, as well as the envelope and the gift tag.

Isnt it lovely.   Lili of the Valley stamps with Stampin' Up! Shimmery card and Stamp n Write markers.  A little dazzling diamonds which dont really show up.

Speaking of lovely, just look at what Christiana has made

I am really proud of what she is doing and I miss her.  She has booked her ticket to come home so it wont be long.

Fancy a card making class this Friday night in Derby?  There are two places available.  Please get in touch for more details.

It was jab day yesterday so today I am not feeling the best.  It will be a slow day pottering as best I can but I am sure that I will pick up as the day goes on, I usually do.

There is not long left now for those thinking of joining Stampin' Up! to get the wonderful offer that is available.  This will run out in 6 days.  If you would like a bit more information about this please, do get in touch.

Thank you so much for having a read and I hope you have a lovely day.  Tracey x

Good Monday morning

Good morning and what a lovely weekend I have had.  Saturday was spent in the craft room, really, for the whole day.  Lots of lovely visitors who came just for a cuppa and a chat and others that came to create.  I dont know where the day went but it was good for the soul.

Sunday was our 6th Wedding Anniversary.  I loved our wedding day, it was so magical and special and everything that I could have hoped for.

I couldnt believe that I had a delivery of fresh white flowers organised by Christiana, Sophia and Katerina all the way from Cyprus.  They are stunning, all in bud and I am sure in a day or two they will open.  So thoughtful of them.
Paul drove home and got here around 2ish.  We nipped to see the poppy display at the Silk Mill and here is my attempt at a selfie *giggling*  



A lovely chappie asked if we wanted him to take our photo and he did, a great job of it he made too.

We then nipped into the Silk Mill for bangers and mash and to be honest, we wouldnt return.  The company and atmosphere was wonderful but the food.......

Here is the card that I made for Paul

Well today the chimney is being taken down.  Already we have had a message to say that the chappie is dropping off material for the removal and a brickie.  I dont know if the brickie is staying and the chappie is coming back later or what but if you visit today please do let me know in advance.  Not too sure how they plan on removing the chimney stack but I do hope they dont make much of a mess.

Thank you for nipping in for a read and I hope you have a lovely day, whatever you are up to.

Happy Anniversary

Good morning.  If my mr weatherman can be trusted he said it is going to rain on and off from around 10am and the temperature is around 15 degrees today.  So I guess it will be a wet one or will it?  He has got it wrong the last couple of days.

Yesterday was filled with lots of lovely visitors, it brightened up my Thursday and laughter. I cant remember the last time I laughed so much thanks to Pam and Tracy.  It was a wonderful evening, thank you ladies.

Today is my Mum and Dads wedding anniversary. Do you know I cant remember how many years they have been married, goodness me.  But anyway, here is the card I made for them.  It has been sat made for over a year.  I did it last year, early on and then I mis placed it.  Thankfully it was found a few weeks ago and I have kept it very safe.

It has made using a very favourite stamp from my stash.  Lots of glitter and I typed the sentiment before stamping. 

If you are free tomorrow I shall be spending the day in my craft room.  I have lots of birthday cards to sort out.  Just let me know that you hope to come along.  You are most welcome to come for the day but you will need a bit of packed lunch.

Thanks for having a read today and wishing you a wonderful weekend, back again on Monday x

Bright coloured things

Good morning.  I had no problem with dodging the rain yesterday as we in Derby didnt get any!  Which meant that the garden had to get watered last night tut tut.  I was expecting thunder storms, showers, the whole lot but nothing.  We had dark skies for most of the day but we were lucky.  Some parts of the country didnt fare quite so well and had a lot of damage done from the amount of rain that came down.  Hubby experienced it quite badly where he is to such an extent that the roof collapsed in the office due to the weight of the water on it, yikes.  Mr. weatherman has forecast a cooler day today with no wet stuff in the Derby area.

Christiana has made this new wreath for her front door.

What a bright and colourful one it is.

I thought I would share another one of the Christmas cards  made last week.  I thought this would be nice with a shiny eye, beak and berries so I will get glossy accented nearer the Santa Season, which wont be too far away.

Just before we went on holiday our neighbour offered us some tomato plants for the greenhouse but we had to say no as we just couldnt look after them.  Anyway the day of our return he said that he had saved us some and he gave me four plants.  They have done very well and I am now enjoying tomatoes with lunch most days.  The same neighbour was telling me about the cucumbers he has grown and how well they had done this year.  As we were away we didn't plant anything up in the greenhouse really and I explained this to him.  10 minutes later he pops his head over the fence and passed me this beauty of one.


My salads have certainly improved now, it is so sweet and juicy.  I think we have wonderful neighbours.

Well I shall go and start my day.  Thank you for having a read and I wish you a wonderful day, whatever you may be up to.  Tracey x

UPDATED - It is raining here, so much, I think I will sack Mr. Weatherman.

Lovely as a Tree

Good morning, I am up before the larks today.  It is so stuffy everywhere and it isnt a surprise. At 5am this morning it was 19 degrees outside, phew.  Forecast is for heavy T storms and showers with possible flash floods, guess the garden wont need a water later then.

Yesterday was a good day, I improved as the day went on and got up this morning feeling a lot better. 

Here are a couple of card fronts made at our Chrsitmas card and chatter get together last week.  The first is using a variety of blue inks and a brush to colour the sky, added the trees and snow effect.  It is lovely and I have to thank Michelle Pepper for the inspiration.

However after a little bit of playing, I got out the new foam brayer and a darker ink and came up with this coloured card front, without the snow effect.

The stamp set is Lovely as a Tree and it is a perfect set for Christmas cards.  The trees do have a lot of Dazzling Diamonds on them and again my photography skills have let me down as I cant capture the shimmer.   I will turn these into cards when my fingers/hands are a little better.

Today I shall be pottering as best I can and dodging the rain.  Thanks for having a read and I hope you have a lovely day x

Tuesdays Twitter

Good morning.  A cloudy start to my day (later that usual) but it is Tuesday and this is the day that I dont feel the best.  I know that I shall start to pick up later so I shall just take it easy for a few hours.  Mr. weatherman says 25 degrees and a mixture of sun and clouds.  I can cope with that.

Did you know that Stampin' Up! have an amazing joining offer for anyone that is considering joining during the month of July.

Not forgetting that the starter kit is £130 worth of Stampin' Up! goodies that you pay £99 for.  This really is a wonderful offer and if you have been thinking of joining the Stampin' Up! team, please give me a call so that I can tell you more.

I know that the curvy keepsake die is no longer available to purchase.  I know that not everyone was lucky enough to get hold of one in the sales but I still have mine and it has become a little bit of a custom to make a box from this die at the start of each of our get togethers.  This is what was made last month, a princess carriage.

We had a few wobbly wheels and lots of different designs in the glitter department but all in all, they turned out lovely.  This one was made for my very own princess, Sophia.

Do you fancy a day to yourself crafting? Why not join me in the craft room this Saturday? If you need venue details let me know and I will give you directions.

Thanks for having a visit and a read.  I hope you have a lovely day, whatever you are up to.  Tracey x

#Mix It Up Monday

Good morning. Mr. Weatherman says Derby is going to be a mixture of sun and clouds today and hot at 23 degrees.  Phew, that means that I have to put my factor 50 sun cream on as even nipping in and out of the house with this temperature and taking the medicine I am taking is not a good combination.

We had a lovely weekend and I hope you did too.  I did a little shopping with George in a crafty shop with a lovely explanation and play with some pixie dust from Lyndsey followed by a cuppa and cake (well it would be rude not to). Then it was home to food shopping, a bit of gardening, a few visitors, a Sunday lunch and puff, the weekend has gone.  

I thought I would join in with a couple of challengers this week and the first one is #Mix it up Monday, I can play now I found the # key.  On a mac this is not obvious and I had to look it up.    This is the colour combination set by Helen and HERE is the link if you want to play along.

This is the card that I came up with, Calypso Coral card base with a mat of Basic Black and Pool Party.  Piggy was stamped on to Shimmer White card and coloured in with Powder Pink ink taken from the ink pad lid.

      I actually cut the sentiment away from the stamp, something I do often but I know not everyone likes to do this.

But it does mean that I dont have to mask off the stamp to get the sentiment inside the banner from the Number of Years stamp set.

I painted the edges of the banner with Powder Pink ink and cut out the oval for the piggy using the Stitched Framelits.  I realised that the Powder Pink edge banner clashed with the Calypso Coral so I had to stamp out another one and ink it in Pool Party, again with ink taken from the ink pad lid.

This is everything together but not the best photo of the card, my photography skills are still terrible but I am sure that doesn't matter.

If you would like to find out more about this card or any of the Stampin' Up! products I have used please get in touch.

Thanks for having a read this morning.  I hope you have a great day whatever you are up to.  Tracey x

Vertical Greeting Notelett Set

Good morning and it has been forecast to be a rainy day today so I will be taking my mac (raincoat for the girls in Cyprus, not computer) out with me this morning.

I started a few Christmas cards last night but my arm is suffering this morning as I did a bit of colouring in with the SU sponge brayer, I am impressed again. 

I hope to get the cards finished over the weekend so will show you what I created next week.  The sponge brayer was perfect for the background. 

I am not sure if I showed you the Vertical Greetings set that we made a few weeks ago, here is the set, with the box. 

 

If you would like to find out more about this set, please get in touch as I always like to help, if I can.

Did you know that Stampin' Up! currently have BONUS DAYS for the month of July?  Please let me know if you would like a little more information about this.

Why not pop in tomorrow (Sunday) or on Monday for a cuppa and a natter about this.  You could also see what is on the Sale Table too.

Thanks for having a read and I do hope you stay dry today.  Tracey x

Crafting Forever

Good morning and the clouds are still in the sky.  Forecast is for a warm day with no rain.  A few plants have taken a bit of a battering with the downpour we had yesterday so will have to get some sticks to prop them up.

Here are some more cards that were made a couple of weeks ago.

I really am loving this stamp set and wish I could play with it a little more.  It is called Crafting Forever and I used the watercolour pencils for some adult colouring, I did quite well considering my fingers were not the best.  If you would like to purchase this set, you can do so online through the store and the stamps will be delivered straight to your door, if you need a hand to do this, just get in touch.

Our kitchen saga is really getting difficult but I hope we have found a solution. We would like a new kitchen, one of the two projects planned for this year. After months and months of searching, we thought the Ikea kitchen was perfect. Before it can be installed quite a lot of building works are required, re-plastering half the kitchen, lowering the ceiling, drains built at the side of the house, current breakfast bar/wall knocking down, new radiators and pipework to be installed, new pipework for water to the other side of the room for washing machine. Not too much but enough and we explained this to Ikea. No problem Ikea said, the company that will fit the kitchen will undertake all this extra work. Great. Company contacted, appointment made, they cancelled it 10 minutes after they should have been here. Next appointment made and then cancelled as he had an accident on his way here. Next appointment made, chappie changed the time by an hour a few minutes before he was due to knock on the door. He turned up and was here for 2 hours. He explained it wasn't his normal role within the company but he was helping out? We got a quote though the post and there were lots of additional bits added. We called and left a message, not heard from them for a week. We called again, nothing and that was in May. Had our holiday and called again well this has gone on for a month now and we are getting no where. Ikea say they are a good company but we feel that we are being fobbed off. Do you know when you get a 'gut feeling' that something is wrong, well this is how I feel.  Went to see a local kitchen company earlier this week after 4 friends recommended the same guy. He was lovely and we are now waiting to hear from him......kitchen is on hold. Phew.  I will keep you posted.

All SU goodies have arrived, are sorted and kettle is on all day and evening today.  I have sent emails and left messages so I hope everyone has got these. 

Tonight it is the Christmas Card and Chatter night.  You bring along all your own crafting supplies and sit with like minded folk to either make Christmas cards or just sit and chatter.  Lots of room, lots of biscuits (cant bake today as hands are not too good).   If you fancy coming along, just get in touch for venue details.

Right, off to start my day, fingers have warmed up a little

Tuesdays Twitter

Good morning and what a difference a day makes. We have rain in Derby this morning. The rain started yesterday and has been coming down on and off most of the night.  This is great news for us as it means that all the new plants we put in have had a good soaking.

Yesterday was a bit of a disaster *giggling*. I had to go for a blood test and Paul wanted to go to the local tip to get rid of bags and bags of garden waste so we decided to combine the two trips together. We set off for the tip but Paul needed the pharmacy first, opposite direction. We got stuck in traffic and a 5 minute journey took nearly half an hour but never mind, off to the tip. Just before we pulled in, a chappie stopped us to say that there had been an electrical fire at the tip and it would be closed for about an hour......we would return, so off to the hospital for blood test. I know I can have a blood test in lots of places but the old hospital in Derby have lots of people taking blood, they dont hurt me and I have got to know them.   Well we turned up and there wasn't a seat to be had, the queue was amazing and I was told it would take about one and half hours to get seen, so we left.  Finally went to another clinic and I dont recall anyone being so rough with me before, very painful, took ages to get the blood out and then we had to wait until I stopped bleeding. You should see the bruise I have this morning, ouch.  Back to the tip, queue was worse and so it was home.  Let us hope we have better luck today.

Thank you cards have been made using the Daisy stamp set.  This again is so popular that the punch is currently out of stock.  This is due back in stock around the beginning of August. You can purchase the stamp set though.  I have used navy and Old Olive for my cards.  The wonderful papers are again from the Daisy set, I cant get enough of them.  If you would like more information about these cards and matching tags, please get in touch.

Thanks for having a read and I hope you have a lovely day, despite the rain.  Tracey x

Morning Monday

Good morning, hope you have had a good weekend.  Weather here in Derby was smashing and we, (the royal we that is) have managed to spend a few hours in the front garden making it look even better than before. Here are just a few photos

There are still some gaps but as we have garden center vouchers we shall take a wander over to see what we can find when I am up to it.

This little purple lavender is a special one that Tricia gave us, it is called "Christiana" how wonderful is that.  There are lots of plants and shrubs that have been given to us by many friends and they add to making our garden look lovely, thank you.  There is even one plant that we dug up from the previous house as P.Ann gave it to us and it is doing so well.

I also managed to do a some more towards getting the craft room back to normal.  I didnt finish it as Anna came to visit in the morning *waving* and we got waylaid in the garden in the afternoon but today is another day.

A photo one of the Make and Takes that was available a couple of weeks ago to do. 

I finished off cards that were cut out but not used and now they are ready to send out with a little note inside.  Arent those little itty bitty ribbons pretty.  They are self adhesive too.

Dont forget it is Christmas Card and Chatter Club this week.

I had better get in that shower and get myself ready for the day.  Thank you for having a read and I hope you have a magical Monday.  Tracey x