Puppy

Well it's official. We're having a baby. A puppy baby!

Horatio Caine Norcup Astley to be precise.

Welcome to the family buddy!

RIP my beautiful mum

My mum passed away on 24th June 2009. As much as we bickered and argued, we loved each other, and I'm going to miss her more than anything.

Thank you for being my mum Rita Elizabeth Norcup (nee Laws).

I love you
xx

Cards on the table!

Well, I've got loads of cards to make now, hoorah!

So that's keeping me good. On the down side, I've had enough, taken as much as I can take and will probably snap if anything else happens. Apart from Teresa seeing my marbles rolling down the floor, there will probably be a couple of dozen heads following them. At least you can give yourself a hug if you're in a straightjacket. I want to retrain but can't afford it so I'm stuck in liquor, blood and poo for the foreseable future!

I had to post a second one....

For anyone who may enjoy crafting videos, check out Glenda Waterworth's blog - http://artylicious.wordpress.com/

There are some fab videos on there using glimmer mists, glimmer screens and also UTEE. Far better than Create and Craft - no interruptions from presenters with stock updates and inane comments. The only thing you'll notice is that her Kitty Cat - Basil - likes to take a bit of the glory with his stage hand impersonation! He reminds me of Mr Suki, our black cat, who likes to be the centre of attention, except for when there is glitter around. He'd look fabulous in a Diamante collar.........

An Award

Tracy has given me an award - I've only just figured out how to pick it up though - how dense of me!!

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships!These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind blogger's aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight blogger's who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

I don't know how to send it on, but I'll find a way!!

I had to buy some shop made Chrsitmas cards this year. The shame of it. I was unwell, but still the shame of it! They're not too bad - and they're for charity so I can't grumble too much.

I've found a really great company - Inspire Me Papers (http://www.inspiremepapers.co.uk/). For £5.00 you get a swatch of papers from them and you can order from their website in single sheets or bulk buy. Beautiful papers with some very different alternatives - e.g heavy weight vellum, to onion skin paper. Lovely and very handy to have when you're trying to make something. Check them out - they're lovely!!

Another bargain zone would be Woolworths. I managed to pick up some Papermania adhesive gems for 70p, and an eyelet setting kit for £1.00. Their 'Worth It' glitter set is good value at 99p for 9 tubes, and it's PeeWee grade glitter. Get it before it goes!!

Finally, an update!

Hoorah, I'm back in the world of blogging. Well, there is lots to add. Port Sunlight was fabulous, so thank you to Teresa, Lynn, Christine, Tracey and Anita for making it a fab day!

So, I bought plenty of goodies, including my new favourite product - Glimmer Screens. I bought them in a mad moment, thinking I'd figure out how to use them later. They'd be perfect for scrapbooking but I'm not a scrapbooker (yet!). I decided to take a piece of card, some mica pigment and play. the only pigment I had mixed up was LuminArte Key Lime mixed with some Iridescent Gold. The colours aren't as vibrant on here, but they're really glimmery (if that is a word) and the image is very crisp if you use something like Stick and Spray from Crafters Companion.

They're very nice, but you need a big newspaper to protect your surfaces, and gloves to protect your hands and your house from bits of mica! I can see how they would be good with a very pale wash over them. You can also use these with paint, a brayer, or you can even draw around them.

My next project was using a stamp I bought at Port Sunlight. It's a lovely stamp, and I have the matching Summer flowers one. Again, this is beautiful stamped with Versafine ink - the best ink on the market in my opinion.

This is another half finished project using the stamp, and some watercolour pencils. I've stamped it out 15 times, and will use the tiles in combination, and also I'm going to cut them into very small squares to mosaic them.

We'll soon see how this turns out.

As a final note, I went to the circus today. Big Kid Circus on Loomer Road to be precise. It was fab. A bit surreal in parts (the singing?!) but certainly very awe inspiring. I highly recommend this as an afternoon out, but today was the last day apparently. Keep an eye out for them though!!

Technique!

This is a new techinque I learned a couple of days ago using Cuttlebug embossing folders and a brayer! I inked up the cuttelbug folder with the pale blue chalk ink and it left a background of ink, with raised white snowflakes. I then ran the brayer through a darker blue ink, and rolled it over the top. The second image is just a normal embossing on white card, and then the remnants of the dark blue ink from the brayer rolled over the reverse, leaving the debossed areas in white. Not bad for a first go, I think I'll have to experiment further. You can use any ink, except for StazOn!!

This card was made using the Trimcraft goody bag -

I didn't know there was a funky Christmas paper in there so I used it with some of the chipboards - which I glittered using irridescent glitter.

My cutting mat looks filthy. Oooops. Too much mica powder me thinks!