Holidays now for two weeks!

Morning everyone. Well holidays got off to good start this am as I was up before 6am in newsagents by 6.30 and had washing on line before 7am! just cannot lie in even on a weekend but shall probably be dozing by 4pm! I am going to make  2 Christmas cakes today so will have the lovely aroma of spices floating around the house most of the day. Middle of the week will see me travelling to Nottingham to see my aunt and drop my mum off there for a few days, then Friday I am off to Stoke to see my eldest daughter and then we are off to the NEC Sunday for the craft show and will also meet up with my bestest buddy from Walsall, not got much money this year for the show so will have to bargain hunt. I am a bit nervous about going because just getting over the Vertigo and these hot flushes I keep having- major crowds is probably not good idea but have to try. Then Monday onto Lincoln to see younger daughter at University(can't wait) on our way back home phew exhausted just writing about it!

Onto my card now its for Christmas Crafting and this month I had to decide what the challenge would be, so I chose decoupage. When I first started making cards this is what I used to use so thought it was good idea to go back to my roots of crafting so to speak. So I used a 8x8 card and used House Mouse decoupage and used some lovely black papers for my base, added some ribbon, flowers and a sentiment.

Well thats me for now may get the chance to do some challenges later in the week. So whatever you are up to this weekend have a good one and thanks for dropping by love and hugs Arlinex

3 Challenges but Head off on a Whirl!

Well thought I would make some challenges and see how it would effect my balance/vision, so all was going well until I had finished and then I felt like I was drunk it is a real weird feeling due to the Vertigo. GP last week decided she would refer me to Neurology at the hospital to rule anything else out and as an urgent case....first urgent appointment is 7th January 2013! I hope it is just Vertigo as could be really ill by then! So here are the cards I have made the first one is for Lili of the Valley Challenge and their theme this week is Classic Christmas. So I have used this cute image of two angels and kept the colours traditional-added some flowers, ribbon and a sentiment.

My next card is for Penny Black October Challenge and it was the sketch, so this is my take on it. I have used a cute little hedgehog image, kept the colours simple and added some ribbon and a sentiment.

Finally this card is for House Mouse Challenge 130 and it was to use an ATC on your card. So I have used this image of the little rabbits dressed as bumble bees and used greys, yellows and black to make this card. Added some flowers, ribbon and a sentiment to finish it off.

Well that's it folks thanks for dropping by and leaving your lovely comments, love and hugs Arlinexx

Little Home Made Gift for Homesick Daughter!

Have recently been speaking to daughter who is at Lincoln University in her final year and she is a bit down and a bit homesick, not helped by the fact that her student loan was over a week late so had virtually been living on fresh air. We had filled her cupboard, fridge and freezer up when we dropped her off beginning of September but think she was sick of the site of pasta by last weekend. Then her laptop broke down and there was problem with her phone so think things got bit on top of her and also she was home for about 16/18 weeks this time. So I had made her this little book for her stocking for Christmas of her favourite pin up at the moment and that is the diver Tom Daley. She is Tom Daley mad and has collected all the mags, papers etc of him over the summer. So I have put some photos here below of what I made-think this will cheer her up- what do you think?

Well there it is just a few pages of my little creation that I made for her and I am sure she will be thrilled with it and hopefully will cheer her up. Thanks for dropping by. Love and Hugs Arlinex

Gosh Where does Time Go!

Hi everyone again I have let my blog posts go downhill what with work etc just don't seem to have had much time to do anything and still have hundred and one things to do before the Festive season is upon us. Since I last updated my Blog my brother and his wife came to visit from Sussex and my youngest daughter has returned to University for her final year at Lincoln Law School. I have been off sick again from work these past couple of weeks with Vertigo- brought on by homonal levels due to the Menopause, so doc says. Well ladies all I can say is I wish it was at the end and not just the start I feel dreadful with the sweats, no sleep, etc I can tell you and now to have the Vertigo due to the sweats is terrible, so I haven't been able to do much or any crafting due to inbalance. When it comes on as I know some of you who have been through it will know its like a whoosh and you feel all over the place! What else is new- my youngest son who has just finished his Masters at Sunderland University is off to RADA at the weekend to do a workshop. He has always wanted to do acting and I hope he enjoys his day there, it has cost him enough to do one day. He eventually wants to move to the London area to do acting but he is brilliant at writing stories, scripts etc and feel that is the road he should take but he knows what he wants to do. So you have to encoursge them to reach their goals in life even if they don't work out, they have to at least have the freedom to try. I have made one card these last few weeks and it is for the monthly challenge over at Christmas Challenge blog, so why not take a look and enter your creation, you may win a lovely prize and as we are now fast approaching the Christmas festivities maybe you would like to enter. This month we have been sponsored by Bugaboo and we have been given a digi stamp of our choice to make our creations with. So below is mine and I have cut the image out and used tradional colours to make my card hope you like it.

Well thats it for now folks thanks for dropping by and leaving your lovely comments. Love and hugs Arlinex

Very Productive Day Crafting

Well we have ahd a busy week here at our house. Wednesday saw me finish work at lunch time and drive to Lincoln and back (as couldn't have day off on Thursday due to staff shortage) to drop off younger daughter off for resit Land Law Exam on Thursday morning. Then it was back again on Friday to pick her back up and where we had a really dreadful meal in the Toby restaurant in Lincoln. Needless to say they have had a very strong complaint letter sent off to them! So on Sunday we decided to get the craft stash out on the dining room table- not all of it or the table would have collapsed- we had a fab time. Lindsay dosen't get much time to craft being at uni all term time but I think she had a great time and she made quite a few cards, for various friends and relations whose birthdays are coming up. I think she may need to update her blog it must be well over a year since she did anything on it. So here is a few cards I have made for a few challenges this week the first card is for I love Promarkers and there theme this week was Anything Goes and also Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge which was Animal Antics. So I have used this new stamp I bought while on holiday and it is of Owl and Pussycat in their team GB boat, I have added a sentiment and some bunting along the bottom of the image, that was a bit of a fiddle but it looks nice, when I eventually got it stuck in the right place! Promarkers used were poppy, denim blue, china blue, vanilla, blush, sandstone, tan,caramel, peach,slate, warm grey 1, duck egg blue, and cool aqua.

My next card is for Lili of the Valley Challenge and also for Allsorts Challenge and they both had Anything but a Square Card as their challenge this week. So here is my little card and I have used a LOTV image and used the colours from the backing papers as my inspiration. Added a sentiment, some flowers and a small bow, hope you like it?

My final challenge card today is for Just Magnolia and their theme this week was Pretty in Pink and the sketch was this weeks from Sketch Saturday. So I have used this image of Magnolia and used various shades of pinks to colour her with, used some delicate patterned paper and then some bright spotty paper. added some flowers, ribbon and sentiment to finish it off.

Well that's almost it but just wanted to add one more card I have made this evening and its for one of the Community Sisters I work with. She has been on holiday for two weeks and arrived in today to tell us she moved home yesterday to a farm near Durham which has been standing empty for two years! She has got a very good deal on the rent and all because the lady and her daughter loves horses! She has three I think, maybe four and she was having to pay to have them stabled out of town and she lived in the town centre here in Sunderland and she saw this proerty last week and moved in yesterday, so hence the Good Luck card with a horse on it. I do hope her and her daughter will be very happy there, together with their horses.

Well happy crafting everyone, thanks for dropping by and leaving your lovely comments- Love and Hugs Arlinexx

Christmas Crafting Challenge for September

Hi everyone just a quick post but will be back later with longer post. I am a DT member for the Christmas Crafting blog and for this month our theme is Traditional Colours(red greens gold etc) so here is my creation for this month. Why not visit the blog and enter one of your creations this month we are sponsored by Lili of the Valley who have given us a fab gift voucher worth £10.00 just think what you could spend that on if you entered and won! Wow wish I could enter myself- so if you are into making Christmas Cards or Christmas Creations why not enter and if you do Good Luck!

Been away too long from Blogland!

Good evening everyone well I haven't been on my little blog since 1st July! I just don't know where the time has gone, work has been manic and I have been away to Stoke on Trent for two weeks to look after DD cat while she and her hubster went off to Canada and guess what she had 90 degrees heat, we had rain rain and more rain. Its good job Olympics were on or we would have been so bored. Didn't Team GB do us proud? I don't like much sport but I do like to watch the Games. Well today I came home from work and decided to do some crafting but that didn't go as plan either you know when you have a great card idea in your head and it dosen't come together well I have had one of those sessions today but I decided not to start again but to try and make the best of one of my cards. Unfortunately I cannot show it yet as it is for next months Christmas Crafting Challenge and it won't be on that site until 1st September never mind, will show you what else I have done today instead.

My first card is for Saturday Secret Crafter which was to use a circular card and also for House Mouse Challenge 126 and their challenge was Double Trouble so I have used this image of the little mouse getting a got scrub from his mum in huge teacup. I have kept it quite simple just added some ribbon and some roses to finish it off and haven't added a sentiment then I can use it for any occassion.

My next card is for Penny Black Monthly Challenge and that was also Double Trouble so I have used this images of these cute friends in a Union Jack Mini, I hope this will be okay as there is three of them not two! I have used reds and blues mainly added a sentiment and some little Papermaina flowers.

This is my final card for tonight and it is my take on the Sketch Saturday Challenge and also for Promarkers Challenge whose theme is transport this week. So I have used a image from Hanglar Stanglar of little girl riding her bicycle and used dusky pink theme for the back ground colours, added a sentiment and some buttons to finish it off. Promarkers used Blush, China Blue, Denim Blue, Tan, Caramel, Sandstone, Pumpkin, Berry Red, Amethyst, Cool Grey1&2 and Ice Grey 1&2. Well that's all for tonight, thanks for dropping by and leaving your lovely comments and hopefully will get some more crafting done over the Bank Holiday weekend. Love and Hugs Arlinexx