Wow has it really been.......

......a year since I last posted.
You must forgive me but I have been working hard and haven't had time to blog.
I will try harder to post regularly now that I am not working.

Ooo what a lovely break...

Had a wonderful time up in Scotland last week, the weather couldn't have been better.

The hotel was fabulous and the food great.

We went out to Largs on the Tuesday and spent the day watching the ferries crossing over to the islands then went for a walk along the coast.

There is the most wonderful icecream place there and we ordered the Clyde Coast Extravaganza and 2 spoons, it was to die for - 12 different scoops of ice-cream and 18 toppings, needless to say we could hardly move afterwards.

It was so nice to spend some time just Dave and me together.

altered bag

My friend Sheila who runs our local craft club gave me a gift in this hessian bag, I decided to dress it up ising puffy paints, beads, ribbons and yarns.

great night out

Had a brilliant time last night, I took bug to a summer party night at Whittakers and we loved every minute of it.
There was a huge buffet and dinks lots of gifts, goody bags, make overs, demos and music with competitions and free draws.
We won lots of goodies including perfumes lipsticks powders, bags and all sorts of other things.
We both had our hair done and make-up but didn't get round to having our nails done so maybe we will head straight for the nail bar next time.
So all in all we had a great time and it was only £3-00 each for the tickets well worth it.
And as compensation Dave took Liam to the cinema so he was happy too.

Typical bank holiday....

Oh me and my bright ideas, it was a beautiful day yesterday the sun was shining (unusual for a bank holiday) so I decided to take Liam and Ploppy to Southport for the day (Bug was out with a friend) then Dave finished work early and he came along too.
We did very well we got almost to Ormskirk then yes you guessed it we hit the traffic queue, after an hour we decided to turn around and go to Formby instead, we got almost there and yes of course we hit another long, long queue so after a bit of deliberation we turned round again.
This time we stopped of at the supermarket and I had the idea of going home and having a barbecue, well by this time there was virtually nothing barbecuey left on the shelves, but we got what we could.
So home we went and set it up, put on the music and yes you guessed - it started to rain, but undetered we carried on barbecuing and after a while the rain stopped so it wasn't so bad after all.
Dave says next time I have any bright ideas just forget them and I have to agree.

A lovely day...

Well on Thursday I had a wonderful day.
It started off pretty boring I couldn't even be bothered getting out of my dressing gown, so I went onto facebook for a chat with my old school pal who I had managed to find a couple of days earlier.
We chatted for a while and then I had this great idea of going to see her, now that's fine you might say but let me tell you that she was stunned - firstly we hadn't seen or spoken to each other for nearly thirty years and secondly she lives nearly 70 miles away.
So me being as impulsive as ever jumped into the car and off I went, I am so glad I did as it was lovely to see her again after all these years (even though I didn't recognise her at first - she said I looked just the same, just a bit older)
We met in a pub and had a few drinks (soft drinks of course) while we chatted about old times and caught up on each others lives.
I loved every minute and am so glad I went, I can't wait to go down again.

Rustic Range - stile

Well here is my newest addition to the rustic range, as usual you are free to download this image and use (subject to copyrights)
As usual I would love to see your creations using my images.

Raining.... AGAIN.....

Oh when will it stop, and it's cold, I have had to dig out my jumpers and coats again.
Yestarday I went along to a local craft show and met up with alot of friends, did lots of browsing and just a little bit of shopping (trying to save the pennies)
I simply couldn't resist the Nick Bantock inks for just £2-00 each - I usually pay near £6-00 so that was a bargain, and I got a couple of stamps.
We had Ploppy for the afternoon he had dinner with us (gone in seconds - boy he loves his food) then I gave him a lovely haircut all spikey on top and a bath to wash the hair away.
We just love him to bits he is sooo cute.
Todat I have done a bit of updating on facebook and watched a couple of taped craft shows and noe I am going to go off and do the dreaded HW.
See you soon Luv Irene xx

SAV challenge card

Here is my card for the new SAV challenge, which is circles.
I used a Sarah Kay stamp which I watercoloured.
I tore the corner paper and mounted onto card, then used a cropadile to punch and eyelet some holes then tied ribbon through.
The papers are from K and Co and I finished off with orange gems and flowers.
To see the challenge or take part please go to
http://www.stampavie.com/dt/2009/05/04/sav-challenge-03-circles

Altered tub

I altered this plastic tub at craft club last night, orange and greed are some of my favourite colours at the moment.

I will use it to keep my felt flowers in that I make.

Watch out for more as I am off into town soon to buy a lot of these tubs...

Creative Inspirations challenge card

Hello on this lovely day sunny and breezy (ideal for drying washing...)

Here is my card for the latest Creative Inspirations challenge.

The challenge is to make a card following the given sketch.

I used Stampavie's Sarah Kay stamp which I watercoloured using pink, purple and blue (with a dash of yellow)

I cut the corners with a fancy corner punch and inked the card with colourbox chalks.

The backing papers are inked with colourbox chalks and layered onto silver mirri and pink cardstock.

To finish off I added some purple gems and blue and white glitter.

I hope you like it.

To see the challenge or to take part just follow the link below.

http://cinspirations.blogspot.com/2009/04/challenge-6-sketch.html

Creative Inspirations challenge card

Here is my card for the creative inspirations challenge.
I had to use a recipe of 4 flowers 3 papers and 2 buttons.
To see the challenge please go to
http://cinspirations.blogspot.com/2009/04/challenge-5-recipe.html#comments