Post number 299!

As you can see from the title I have reached post number 299 - tada! and a drumroll!! and to celebrate post 300 you will have to read to the bottom and find out about it...

I have been making projects with Prima products - did I tell you the Prima ladies are coming in March - are you sure I told you??? and so I have lots of projects to show over the coming days but I couldn't get the photos right to my satisfaction and so yesterday I e-mailed my eldest son who is a very good amateur photographer - he has had exhibitions of his work - and explained the problem. Well Mum he said its the macro setting you need to use !!!!!Huh! what I said and where????? so having explained it slowly to me like to an idiot - yes I know - I got it!!! and so now I can - hopefully! - take better close ups of my work.
Anyways, I decided to make an easel card for my youngest son and his new wife...and then I decided to construct a drawer for it to sit on... and then it needed a little book to go inside the little drawer - well it did really ...and now the project is made it is so nice that sorry Jon and Jodie but you are not getting it!!! and here it is... and here's the front cover of the mini book...they got married on a terrace overlooking the lake at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas - absolutely beautiful - everything...the first pair of inside pages...there was laughter all day - and I know you are not supposed to laugh when you are getting married but they were like a pair of toddlers giggling - they are so much in love...
and here's the second pair of pages...makes a change to see Colin in a suit and me in a dress...and a very proud mama... "that's my boy"and the back and front covers...as you can see a very small, intimate wedding but just what they both wanted...
it was a fabulous day... and here it is altogether....hope you like it...I certainly do...
and so onto this morning - a while back I made a Sizzix suitcase with a mini album to go inside and it's a lovely project for a class...
and here's the small but very select group of ladies Ruth, Ana and Pat showing their suitcases and mini albums...well done ladies - I enjoyed this morning and I think you did too.
Right if you are still with me I shall be having a "give-away" to celebrate my 300th post - so keep watching this space - better yet join in as a follower and you won't miss it - and if you feel like commenting at the bottom I love receiving comments so feel free.
Bye for now
Sue

Feeling nearer to normal thank goodness

Having looked forward to a break from work over the Christmas and New Year period and then finding myself ill for just about the whole holiday it has taken me a while to feel well enough to even think about all the projects that I had in mind.

So, with the ear infection finally clearing - unfortunately the cough still lingers - here's just a short post to show you a scrapbook page I made with Prima products.
I love this photo of my eldest son and grandchildren in our pool last summer.
For those of you who don't know - drum roll - tada!!! I have the Prima team coming from the USA on their Europe tour - so ladies, put the 15th and 16th of March dates in your diary. The lovely Prima ladies will be doing three classes on both days. The Prima products are gorgeous and so easy to work with and it should be a real treat.

Bye for now
Sue

Happy New Year 2012

Well, Kate I managed it. Here is the January page of my 366 page journal. I was determined to join in again this year - for those who don't know Kate Crane has run the 365 day challenge - see The Kathryn Wheel on side bar for Kate's blog and details - for the past I think this is the third year. I participated fully in 2010 but fell off in February last year as there was just so much going on in my life but this year I am determined to keep going.
This is part of the cover...
this shows the detail on the cover - basically I took a plain Kraft covered Moleskine journal, added a layer of titan buff - that was before I had decided what to do and it took away the bareness - then over a crafters template I spread a layer of moulding paste and let that dry. I then hunted around - don't forget I am at home and only have a few basic products here - and found a couple of old Tattered Angels mist sprays - sea glass and tattered leather - and gave a good old spray and left that to dry. I then thought aha I'll make it pop with a light coat of gold rub n buff but grabbed the Chinese red in my eagerness and what a good mistake that turned out to be. It now looks like old leather with loads of touchy feely texture - what a happy accident.
Right, I'm off to do the ironing - it never goes away does it. Mustn't complain though as its the only "around the house" job I do these days so
Bye for now

Sue

wishing you all the JOY of the season

Taking a few days off from the shop to spend time at home re-acquainting myself with my patient husband and lovely dogs and cat.
I made this JOY on grungeboard in the summer when Christmas seemed so far away and now here it is already...where did 2011 go?Bye for now - may see you again in 2011 but if not be ready for loads of new projects in 2012.
Sue xx

Hurrah!! blogger has let me in again!!!

Has anybody else been having trouble getting photos to load on their blog. I have spent the last few days trying to get in but no good - blogger won...
BUT..... just now when I tried I managed so here goes - lets hope I get to the end before it has revenge on me or something!!!

This morning I woke to a most beautiful sky coming in through the bedroom windows but as I reached for my camera my cat Tia decided she wanted to be in the photo too...This is the beautiful sun rise I was trying to capture...just look at that paintbox coloured sky... Whew! - yesterday was one busy day for me. In the morning I had a group of ladies from Jalon U3A to learn about distressing...
they bought a Big Shot machine and dies from me earlier in the year and I did a class for them then to demonstrate that...
and now they want to progress with their card making so I added a little distressing to the die cutting and you have some fabulous cards and some very happy ladies...
and then the usual youngsters class in the evening...
I haven't done tea-bag folding for years (I was asked how to do it by one of the regulars a week or two ago) and I taught the littlies to make a pillow box and a card and some teabag folded flowers and it was a really quiet class!!! Just look at the concentration.
We had a problem in the loo last week as you could hear water running but couldn't work out where from...well today I had a builder with a Kangol hammer and a plumber and we now have a few tiles missing from the floor but...Friday ladies if you are reading this... the water is back on and the loo is functioning again - no more trips to Mr Punch, the local cafe/bar to use their ladies.
Bye for now
Sue

A Graphic 45 Christmas

The trouble with this time of year is that everyone is making Christmas cards and I made mine way back in July and August ready for the Christmas market I staged in the shop in September.

I am still teaching Christmas but behind the scenes it is Valentine's Day and Easter. I will show a few sneak peeks of what I have been working on over the next couple of weeks but for now you will have to be content with the Graphic 45 cards I made to show what you can do with just one pad and a few odds and ends. and here's an extra one that wouldn't fit when I attached them all to the display board.

Bye for now
Sue
ps and I still have loads of G45 bits left for future

December already

Just a quick post. Here is the Advent box that was a joint effort between my lovely friend Tanya and myself back in the summer. It has had so many lovely comments - and sold a box or three to other crafters hoping to make a keepsake to pass onto future generations - that I thought I would share it with you all today.
Bye for now
Sue
ps Happy Birthday Mum - 87 today