Spring Clean

We’ve had a very productive day in our house today.  In the morning, Hubby cleaned and polished the fire. I cleaned the bathroom and tidied upstaris. After lunch (probably too soon after as I got indigestion!) we cleared the decking of all of the pots – which are looking very sad and not very clolourful at this time of year  - and started power washing the green moss from the decking.  Its come up a treat. The bunnies werent too happy as they got a little wet during the process and I forgot to take in my washing of the washing line so had to wash it again as it got splashed with dirty water! Its very therapeutic having a good clean!

I took hubby into town this afternoon so he could watch the Newcastle v Everton match and then I went into work for an hour to do some testing.

On the way home I went to see my Nephew, Jake for an hour. He’s 14months old and is developing such a cute character and is really clever for such a young child.

I’m going to get a little crafting done now before its time to pick up hubby then its Ross Kemp In Afghanistan on sky one tonight which we love watching.

Most of this weekend my thoughts have been with Jade Goody, its such a tragic situation, and only being recently married myself I know how important today will of been her to in normal circumstances nevermind with the prospect of such a short time with Husband.

Hope your weekend has been a good one.

Lisa

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Sugarcraft spring flowers & Tennis

I finished my spring flowers class tonight (held at cakes, classes and cutters in Gosforth). The class lasts six weeks and has been my first real attempt at making wired sugarcraft flowers (outside of the roses I made for my mam’s birthday!).

the completed display

 

daffodils

snowdrops

 

primroses

 

Some of it has been very fiddly especially the primroses and snowdrops, however the principles for most of the flowers we have made are similar.  We were also shown how to steam the colours which seals the colour and really finishes off the flowers after you have dusted them with colour. After this course, our toolbox is brimming with new tools and our purses are a lot lighter! Its my mother-in-laws birthday in June so hopefully I can put my new knowledge to some use on a cake for her.

Our next class starts next Thursday on ‘patchwork cutters’ so thats something a little different for four weeks.

On the tennis front, my mam and I have heard this week that we have two tickets each from the public ballot for Wimbledon. Mam’s are for the 23rd June and mine for 24th June both days on No.1 Court. As that will be the second week we should get to see to decent players. We havent been lucky on the public ballot for a couple of years so its great to get tickets – roll on the strawberries and cream! Just need to sort out transport as I hadnt realised how expensive train travel was, as its a while since I’ve needed to go to London (about £100 return was the cheapest I could find – ridiculous!)

Goodnight

Lisa

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Perfect Afternoon

I’m in front of the fire with my crafting table out and watching create and craft (sky channel 671). While some of their shows can be repeats and not very interesting, this afternoon Jak Heath (http://crafterskitchen.blogspot.com/) is demonstrating. She’s a local crafter who designs the flippin men and Remember When images. She has launched the flippin women range this afternoon on Create and Craft so I’ve splashed out.

They are really funny, with images including fitness, crafting, horseriding, gardening etc. For those who havent heard of these before, they are called Flippin images because they are double sided. The decoupage is on the front and the back of the aperture. Cant wait for them to come so I can have a play!

Well I’ll get back to my scrapbooking while watching the end of the show.

Lisa

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Peaceful times

Hubby and I were on holiday yesterday so that we could spend sometime with my Mam on her birthday and just chill out as we have both been very busy at work and its not likely to relent anytime soon either.  My Mam loved her cake and slow cooker! I made her a Wimbledon ‘tennis’ themed card and she got all excited as she thought we’d got her some tickets – how disappointed she was when she opened it a saw just a verse! Hopefully we will hear soon if we have tickets though.

The rest of the day was spent just wandering around the local shops and eating a footlong meatball marinara in subway (its the first and last time I will be greedy!).

Got back and we had missed the postie so I had to get up early this morning - well before 10.30 – to go and collect the parcel. It was some lovely diecut decoupage images I had ordered. They are lovely and will make some beautiful cards as they are roses, clematis and daffodils and are photo realistic.

We did our usual Saturday afternoon routine and went to Peter Barratts Garden Centre for lunch. The garden centre was pretty quiet but the cafe was busy. I cant wait for the warmer weather so we can get out in the garden again. I’m at my most creative when I sitting crafting outside.

I think I’ve finally decided on a campsite (Coombe Caravan Park) to visit later in the year as we want to go back to Longleat and have found a campsite near Salisbury which is only an hour from Longleat. It’s also only an hour from Bath in one direction and Bournemouth in the other. So we should be able to visit a few places. I think we’ll go sometime at the end of June – if only we could guarantee the weather since we are under canvas.  Now that we have the bunnies I need to find a boarding place for them, I have found one online in Hexham so we’ll have to visit and see what its like. Putting the cat and bunnies into lodgings will be about £150 for a week, but I am happy to pay it for peace of mind.

After a little visit to my Mam’s today we just went back home and perched ourselves in front of the fire as the weather wasnt the best to be wandering around outside. Hubby promptly went to sleep for about 2 hours whilst I sorted out the scrapbooking which I want to get done from our Wedding and Honeymoon. I’ve sorted out all of the photos I have printed (probably about 1000!) and hope to get cracking on the scrapping tomorrow morning when Hubby is at work.

I have recently received my Penny Black valentine’s stamps which I’m going to use for hubby’s card (hopefully he wont read this!). I got them from www.sirstampalot.co.uk . Just in case he does read this blog, I’ll not put the completed card on here until he has received it! They are stamps we saw at the paper mill shop, and he liked them.

We were watching Noel’s HQ on sky one tonight and I have never seen him get so annoyed by something. A council has refused planning permission for a young lad who was badly injured while serving in Afghanistan and his grandparents would like to build him a bungalow on their land. To cut a long story short all of the neighbours are happy about this however the council are not willing to move on the rules. Noel Edmonds got really annoyed about the whole thing and to right he should. No doubt by next weeks show the Council will have changed their mind as even Gordon Brown could see how ridiculous this was. Politics aside we need to look after our soldiers.

I see my blog ‘hits’ are gradually increasing – so thank you for reading my chitter and please feel to comment so I know there is someone out there!

Goodnight

Lisa

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The weather outside is frightful

We were hit with the snow like everyone else yesterday. The below pics were taken from my office window yesterday morning at 8am just before it was fully light. It looks lovely. Today it’s  just wet and cold with no sign of the snow from yesterday.

View from office window

I’ve made my mam’s birthday cake tonight using my first sugarcraft roses. I’m happy with it. I cheated and bought a pre-iced cake from ASDA as I didnt have time to cook and fully ice the cake. The bobbles around the edge are also from ASDA from the cake decorating section.

Not much happening on the craft front as I havent had a great deal of time lately which is a shame. Hubby is on late shift which normally means I get to do all my own thing this week except it hasnt worked out that way. Maybe tomorrow night…

One final image, of Ellie. She’s not a daft cat, she’s all cosy on the window ledge in my craft room next to the radiator!

Cosy Cat!

Goodnight

Lisa

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Sugarcraft Roses

My mam and I took classes at a local cake shop (cakes, classes and cutters in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne) at the end of last year to decorate a Christmas cake and we really enjoyed making the sugarcraft flowers. The writing was free hand and my first attempt hence why its a bit shaky!

Christmas 2008 Poinsettia and Christmas Rose Cake

Following this class we decided to enrol on the ’spring flowers’ course which started two weeks ago. We’re going to be making daffodils, primroses and snowdrops for the next 6 weeks. We’re starting off with the daffodils and its amazing what you can do with some flower paste. I dont think I’ll ever be up to professional standards, but I’m really enjoying it.So this morning I left the hubby at home and took myself to ‘Design a Cake’ in Washington for a wander around the shop as I fancied making some sugarcraft roses after seeing a video on You tube. So thats what I set to tonight – making sugarcraft roses – and I am really pleased with my first attempts.

The three roses only took about an hour and half so not to long.  I’ll make some more later in the week and try to make enough for a centre piece on my Mam’s birthday cake.

This afternoon we had a walk up to our local shopping centre, which is only a 15 min walk and I bought a pink shopping trolley to carry the shopping home! I dont care what I look like because its really practical for bringing the shopping home and saves petrol – well thats my excuse anyway!

Goodnight and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Lisa

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New Header

Oh to be more technical – it has taken me 3 hrs to download photoshop and mess around to get my logo and the text in my header. Its not ideal but at least its a bit more personal than the standard wordpress header.

Hubby has been on night shift this week so I have plenty of time to mess around – just as well!

I’ve been making some wall hangers with some of the Jolly Nation die cut decoupages I had left. The plaques are mdf coasters I got in a craft shop sale. I used my chalk inkpads to colour the edges then mounted gingham paper on the front.

I attached the ribbon hanger to the back with silicone glue then covered the back in gingham paper.

The decoupage image was then mounted on the plaque and the wording ‘congratulations’ added. Job done! I’ve put them on my ebay shop to see if there is any interest for them (having problems attaching pics -will try later)

I think we’ve missed the worst of the frosty weather where I live which is a relief as the bunnies are in their hutch outside as they I think they are happier outside than being in the garage with only a small window.

Goodnight

Lisa

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New Year and I will update my blog more often!

Yes, its over 3 months since I last posted and I promise to myself I will update it more this year. The wedding was fabulous and the honeymoon in Disney World, Florida was magical. We have had a fab first married Christmas with Darrin’s parents coming to my mam’s for lunch which was good. My nephew Jake was one on Christmas Day so we had a great day. I cant believe he is one year old.

Back to normality tomorrow as I’m back to work – I was there on Friday so at least when I go in tomorrow I wont have a boat load of emails to trawl through. Goodness knows what 2009 will bring at work, hoepfully better than 2008.

I have spent a couple of hours tonight updating my website (www.pinkpawsdesign.co.uk) with my greeting cards and nappy cakes.  I’m still trying to sort out my online shop so its just a basic website at the moment. I really need to keep on top of the website this year and try to build it up as my handmade crafting is what I would like to be doing full-time. I also put a few cards on Ebay to try and restart my shop as I’m paying a lot more fees now for the shop since Ebay restructured their charges.

I took myself into my room tonight and got some Jolly Nation character cards made which I have had for a while. They are really quick and easy to make as the decoupage is die-cut.

Horse riding Lady decoupage card

Well I’ll sign off as I have a cup of tea to make for my lovely husband and off to bed as its an early start tomorrow.

Goodnight

Lisa

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Update Blah…

The butterflies are building in my stomach as its now only 2 weeks and 2 days until the wedding. I think now that most of the arranging is done it is giving me time to think more about the day. We have eventually finished the order of services after a lot of trouble with my printer leaving dirty roller marks on the inside of the card.

We went to Linden Hall on Friday to go through the final arrangements – lets hope the day goes ok after the hassle we have had there.

We had a lovely relaxing weekend at the caravan in Rothbury.  We took my new Lumix Tz5 camera – it is fab!

Our lovely view of the cheviots at sunset

We took a trip to Jedburgh on Sunday - there’s really not that much there except a jail at the top of the hill. The weather seems to be getting a little nicer so I’m hoping it will last another couple of weeks. Florida is still experiencing a lot of thunder storms which is not good for our honeymoon.

 

 We collected our wedding rings at the weekend which was another exciting job done.

Our bespoke platinum hand-engraved wedding rings

I also had a word with Keith (The Jewellers Guild) about displaying my jewellery and tiaras and he seems willing to. So after the wedding I’m going to speak to him more about this. He has recently got the preferred jeweller status at Doxford Hall, which is a lovely new venue in Northumberland and he has a cabinet at the hall displaying his jewellery and has said we can look at displaying some of mine – this is an offer I cant refuse as it provides a great outlet.

On the craft front, I have upgraded my website subscription and am spending some time trying to setup my shop. I just hope I can manage and all of the functionality works. I’ll definitely not get it finished until I get back from honeymoon – I would like it live my mid-November. I havent had a great deal of me-craft-time so nothing to report.  

I’ve finished Sarah’s bridal jewellery for herself and her bridesmaids.

Bridesmaid jewellery - 6mm swarovski crystals and rondelles

With Darrin’s assistance tonight (he coloured in the stamped image) I have made a card for Sandra using my new art impressions stamp M1241 (from www.sirstamplalot.co.uk). The background is a paper I’ve had for a while and it is nice as you can easily cut out the flowers and 3d them, as I have on the right hand side of this card.Sandra’s birthday card.

I got a phone call from my mam tonight asking me to go and rescue her and her friend Pam from our local pizza hut as the lense had fallen out of her glasses and she couldnt get it back in, so she couldnt see to drive home. How funny!

Goodnight x

  

 

 

 

Final planning stage

We have spent quite a bit of time over the past two nights getting our wedding details sorted out. Namely, finishing the table plans, place settings, almost finished the orders of service until I ran out of card. We have organised the boxes which we need to take to the venue on the day before the wedding. They are going to have a fit when they see how much stuff we have and how much they have to setup. Its the least they can do after the hassle we’ve had with guest rooms…but thats another long story. I’ve helped them out by packing all of the table settings in individual boxes for each table so we have seven small boxes to take up and about two large boxes with the candles, bubbles, balloon, guest book, pen etc in.

Its exactly a month to the wedding tomorrow and we found out last night that the arrangement we had made for one of our flower girls and bridesmaid dress alterations can’t happen as the seamstress isnt very confident. And not only that but the bridesmaid is now on holiday for two weeks. So when she gets back it will be a frantic dash to get her dress shortened. If its not one thing its another.

I’m not sure overall how I’m feeling. I think there are nerves, excitement and absolute disbelief all mixed in. We have been planning it for 18 months and it has come round very quickly.

I’m almost finished ready ‘The Unoffical Guide to Walt Disney World’ in preparation for our honeymoon. I’m really pleased I have read it as it really does prepare you for what to expect and what to plan for. That’ll be another military operation to plan!

I met with Sarah at work today to discuss her wedding jewellery so I’m going to take in some samples for her tomorrow. The jewellery sales are going very well at the minute and the extra cash has come in handy this month. It’ll be nice to be able to put aside some of my profits once the wedding is over and put it back into the business. Also I need to find time to update my web page – I’ve started trying to transfer it into an online shop but since I’m not expert its taking me sometime….time which I dont have much of at the minute.

Well its an early night for me tonight as I got called out at 2am this morning and didnt get back home until 5am so I’m ready for my bed.

Goodnight

x