Tim Holtz 12 tags

Ok, so I've only managed 3 so far, and 2 aren't even completely finished, but here is what I DO have so far!....it's been super busy *sheepish grin*

These last 2 baubles are the painting on metal technique on the left and utee over embossed card on the right....need to practise with these again ;)

Kids Christmas crafts

So we have been busy with the kiddies, crafting for Christmas.

the first one we did was a robin hand print decoration, paint hand with brown paint, finger paint a red breast, allow to dry, cut out and glue on eye and red spangles....seeemplz!

The second one is a cool snowman decoration, a kids sock, filled with rice, tied at the top and once more in the middle to make the snowman shape, then the kids decorated him with eyes, buttons and a happy smile.

Ooooopsie!

It has been a long time! Naughty me, but to be fair it's been a busy few months too and it's not likely to get any quieter for a while :)
I just wanted to post these pics of an Advent Calender that I just finished last night. I got the kit from my favourite shop, see it here!
It took me a few days, but I'm not the fastest crafter on the planet. They're cute little boxes that you can fill with your own little things- I love it!

Lily Pad Cards- Love it!

I became a Member of Lily Pad Cards today!  I love this site, there's always something going on and the Sunday vids are great! Check it out :)

Chicken Soup Recipe #44

A little card I managed to make on a dreary wet Sunday, acetate wings stamped with staz-on and a yummy Tim stamp, I might even manage to get something else done today LOL xxx

Chicken Soup Recipe #42

Yikes! I've been a bad blogger and a bad crafter, but what can you do? Sometimes life gets in the way:)
Anyway on to the inspiration for this one which can be seen here... Beautiful!
Here is mine- a card for my Mother in Law who is moving house. It says 'A new home' at the bottom but it's hard to see with the reflection from the opalites.
Thanks for looking :) x

Ah the ickle ones....

Have been seriously creating some great art!

For Mother's day they grew some seeds, sweet peas, and they made a card. I only managed one pic..but they all made a window card with acetate stuck in the aperture, added some peel offs (yes, I blush) and coloured them in with pro-markers. For Easter they have started making shrink plastic pendants for an Easter necklace. They've done an excellent job even while decimating my pro-markers, but really what did I expect? doh! I don't mind really, the kids were so delighted with the results! By the way, shrink pastic is great fun and pro-markers are excellent for colouring in said plastic (and everything else) have a lookie here if you need supplies :) Excellent stock and speedy service!

so seriously....

Finally I have some energy back-feeling better but my voice still sounds like I swallowed a frog, some might say nice and husky? please please let the snot be gone! (I know I can say this coz few read the blog haha!)
Anyhoo...it's now April and I've been feeling like shit most of March, I think it's time that I get totally better now and get back with the programme!

On the bright side, the weather is doing just that and last weekend Brian and I spent most of it in the garden, preparing the beds, the greenhouse, planting seeds and yes...again chasing the damn hens out of the afore mentioned. We did remark to eachother that we need to do the gardening BEFORE we let the hens out of the run for a roam..Hmmmm, deja vu from last year? Yes indeedy! And I will endevour to remember all Summer long ;)

Here is the apple tree that will give us a lot of luscious apples this Autumn! She's looking good unlike her counterpart who fell over this Winter and had a rough time, we may get a few apples from her, but not the bumper fare from last year I fear.

Ahhhhh, the beds look so empty, but I love this time of the year, the promise of things to come, we have a little look every day to see if something has sprouted and are delighted when the weather forecast says that the growing is good. Really, it does! I've left space in one of the beds for Mum and Dad, their favourite veggie is being winged over from Europe in seed form, but I'm sure we'll get the endijvie to sprout and prosper by the Autumn :)

The greenhouse...a little plasticy one, but boy does it get warm in there! Plants are growing like the clappers and we have some early strawberries, beetroot, rocket and herbs on the go. I might have to put the geraniums back in as the hens are loving the tender green shoots...grrrr! Good thing their eggs are so tasty or they'd be for the pot!

Sick of being sick

so...2 weeks tomorrow, I've been sick sick sick, and quite frankly, I'm getting sick of it! Poor Brian has had it on and off for 4 weeks now and we just can't shake it.
The kiddies come in with a cough or a cold, you can't send them home because to be honest, there would never be anyone here if we did.....but really, when they're coughing up a lung in the manner of a habitual 60 a day puffer, they really should be kept at home :( It makes me sad for the kids too because if they feel half as crappy as Brian and I do, all they want to do is lie on the couch and watch cartoons.
It's also sooooo unfair on the staff and the rest of the kids when we catch the nasty bugs too......right, that's my gripe for the day- going to go back to the couch and sweat out the frustration

Kate's scrapping a poorly exposed photo Challenge

Thanks Kate! For the photo which I really love, taken on the i-pod on one of Brian's birthday parties(!!!) he has been such a good boy this year that he got two :) and the kick up the bum to actually scrap it, I've also printed off others from that great night in Dehesa and also from the party in Gordon Ramsay's and will do my best to scrap them soon!
If you want to take part in Kate's challenge, lets's face it, who doesn't have a few poorly exposed photos lying around? see it here and have fun!

Chicken Soup Recipe #32

Ahhh, pretty birdhouses and birdies :) I'll be making a few more on this theme, but here is the first one. See the inspiration here! Thanks Ladies :) x

Chicken Soup Recipe #30

Finally, it's finished! Old gig tickets that I've been meaning to do something with for ages and ages.

Thanks ladies!Inspiration here

Shows a slightly dodgy music past, with some good ones and a lot of excellent ones that have been lost in time and space- wish I'd managed to hold onto them all :)

Waxwing!

Yes, a waxwing graced us with his presence in January...we were so excited to see one this far west! He was incredibly easy going and a wonderful model as he withstood the 700+ shots I got of him, Overkill I hear you say? Nope, I was shaking, some over-exposed, some under...nightmare! But I got some very good shots all the same. Digi is fantastic!

Nature at it's best-yes spring has sprung

A few piccies from the last couple of days- I just love this time of the year!

Above is mama frog and to the right, hopefully her babies! The water is dark and horrid looking but it's a bog ditch-the peat makes it that dark,dirty colour










A few little birdies caught on camera-they are so so busy right now

Top-  Great-Tit
Middle- Robin singing it's heart out
left- Blue-Tit queuing for his turn at the feeder. This feeder is busier than Heathrow, hence the holding patterns observed by all

Chicken Soup Recipe #31

I am working on recipe #30, but already had a project that I finished last week that suits recipe #31 perfectly!
Not a cupcake or papercraft, but a cake made for a 50th birthday party.
I love sugarcraft but don't do it often enough anymore and even less if it's for someone I don't know. I get way too stressed about it.
Anyway here it is :)
The candles I bought, but the rest I made...had a few mistakes because I haven't done it for a while, but as they say, practise makes perfect.

I also made a card, just because I wanted to play with the cricut :)

I'm holding it up because as usual when I'd finished it was dark....hard to get a good shot!

Love glitter baby!!!

Chicken Soup Recipe #28 and 29

Right, so back to crafting after a major re-jig of the craft room, which is now also a gym...hmmmmm
While we (I) were busy getting it reorganised, I couldn't reach or find any of my stuff, but slowly we're getting back to normal. I had a chance to do a couple of things today before the decks have to be cleared to do a cake tomorrow. Busy busy!
So first to recipe 28- which you can see here

I was quite literal with the interpretation, but as I got this gorgeous new stuff for my kitchen from my lovely Mum and sisters, it seemed to fit nicely.

and for recipe #29 here I had the perfect photo from last weekend. On our way home from our unsuccessful owl spotting excursion, we saw thousands of crows roosting in the trees. They made a fantastic silhouette against the darkening, blue sky. It's a very simple Layout, but I like it.

Thanks for looking! :)

Chicken Soup Recipe #25

Lots of birthdays coming up so here's another card :)

Chicken Soup Recipe #23 and 24

After a craft-free diet for most of the last month, I finally got a few bits done yesterday. Waiting for phone calls and deliveries seems to be good for the crafter!
This is one I made for hubbies birthday next week and was inspired by recipe #23....

This second one (Chicken soup #24) is a layout of the best holiday ever, I've scrapped these photos before but in a mini album, so I wanted to get them into a main album and the colours worked perfectly!
Thanks for the inspiration ladies, love logging on every Friday :) Check them out if you haven't already http://mojoschickensoup.blogspot.com/

A few tags I made before Christmas, for the 12 days of Christmas on the blog, but never got around to posting- doh!