Wish her Luck - X Factor

Natalie my up and coming STAR Daughter is auditioning for X Factor, she has gone up to Manchester and will be auditioning Sunday(today).

Please send her some positive vibes as she was singing before she could talk.

She has her best friend with her for company and I'm sure she will be nervous and excited all rolled into one.

She's a lovely girl and deserves a break in life.

I've added a few pictures from past days in Natalie's world

Exhibitionist

Prom and college

School days

For those of you that haven't heard Natalie sing here is a link to her on You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-dnrEG-xGU

Dawn Chorus

You can tell that Spring is here, has anyone else noticed the dawn chorus? The little beauties are getting louder as the mornings get lighter.

So 3 guess's to what inspired me to make this card?

Distressed, cuttlebug embossed and stamped

Attention to detail...

I used 2 stamp sets from PTI for the image, Birds of a Feather and Fancy Flourishes.

3 pearls were added to make the flourish pop.

Sponging around a circle shape can make the perfect Moon or Sun

Weight loss Update

I have some fabulous news

I went to my Slimming World Club and.....

I have now lost a wonderful ....

1 Stone
Who would have thought it?

I still have a long weigh ha,ha, to go but to say that I am thrilled is an understatement.

I never imagined that I could do it.

Imagine lugging around 1 stone in weight all day long, it doesn't bare thinking about does it?

I'll soon be having to run around in the shower to get wet.

How are you all doing? leave me a comment and let me know.

I thought I would share my find with you all too.

I really struggle with lunch times, I never know what to have to eat that was until I found Mug Shots my favourite is the couscous as it just makes me feel full, 1 of them a mullerlite yoghurt and a piece of fruit and I'm satisfied.

Between Digi Stamp - Digital Pencil Too

This is a digi stamp by Mo Manning of Digital Pencil Too called "Between" isn't she just the sweetest ever?

Pretty papers from Stampin Up, Martha Stewart Doily Punch, Flower and Leaf punches, ribbon and hardware, Promarkers and a bit of love to make this card.

Attention to detail...

One of the many things I'm asked when colouring with Promarkers is what colours do I use for Skin Tones, In this image I used Ivory and Soft Peach.

Tip...

A few of you asked how I managed to get the Martha Stewart Doily Border to go around curves, well all I did was punched the longest side of an A4 piece of card and then cut it into a strip of about 1" then made little snips with my scissors all the way along the straight edge it then allows you to bend the border around a corner.

I finished the card by adding some ribbon hardware and buttons sent to my by my good friend Katie Renz. Then a few floral punch craft blossoms and leaves.

Digi Stamps by Mo manning are available from Digital Pencil Too, they are affordable and whats more they are an instant download.

Jack 5th April

Our precious little man has been so poorly with a rotton cold caught from his Gran and to top it off his eczema is errible at the moment here he is after his bath, he's a slippery little fellow after using all the emollient over his skin, it's like giving him a massage and actually he doesn't mind it one bit.

You can see from this one that even though he is a poorly little man we still get our smiles. he's such a cheeky chap.

Late - Alice in Wonderland

This digi image Late by Mo Manning was just screaming to be made into an Easter Tree decoration.

I coloured the image with Promarkers then cut it out using the Nestabilities Egg Dies.

I used the Nestabilities Egg die again and made a back to the image and used Waltzing Mouse stamps to add the wording and the speckled eggs, then trimmed it useing the Martha Steward Doily border punch, A sheer ribbon to tie the two together.

Would you like to be our Guest Design Team member for May then all you need to do is make a card .

Just click the badge below for details

Easter Sunday - Paste Eggs

Paste Eggs

The origin of the word is French Pasques for Easter, after the Latin Pasca."Hard boiled eggs at Easter were known as paste eggs instead of pace eggs.

You can tie onion skins around them while they boil, this leaves a pretty pattern in the brown colour, boil in red cabbage leaves gives a reddy purple shade, wrap them in string before adding to the water and you will get a spiral effect.

When the children were small we would use Crepepaper in different colours, wrap the egg in them then spray them with water once they were dry the colour would have tranfered to the egg.

I've silk tie dyed them, made faces and painted them but this time I tried stamping on them,(with rubber stamps and not my feet)

These are my Paste Eggs, the two in the back of the picture were made by using Rubber Stamp Tapestry stamps and the one at the front was made with Glass Glitter and pearls, I don't think the one at the front should be ate ha ha.

True Friend

Petrol Blue quite a lovely shade matched with white, on this card I used Say it with Scallops stamp set and the scalloped square punch by Stampin Up, a pretty paper by Graphic 45 Martha Stewart Flourish border punch, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder and to finish a white ribbon tied in a bow and a couple of pearls.

Attention to Detail...

I stamped the True Friends from the Stampin up set Say It With Scallops onto a petrol Blue coloured card and heat set the white embossing powder, using the scalloped square punch I punched out the sentiment and 2 more from the same card and arranged them behind the sentiment. 2 pearls were added to finish.

Using a Inkssentials™ White Opaque Pen I picked out some of the lines on the Graphics 45 patterned paper.

The Winner of Flippin Blog Candy

The winner of the Flippin' Marvelous Blog Candy.

The Prize is

16 Flippin' Stamp Sets donated by La Pashe

Thats 8 of the Flippin'Men & 8 of the Flippin 'Women stamp sets.

The Lucky Winner is

Mr Linky

Number 90 Wendy

Hi Jak...I love your blog, your work is inspirational, I also love your baby Grandsons pictures, he is adorable. My favourite colouring medium...thats a hard one, I love colouring...I think it would have to be my polychromo pencils blended with sansador with paper stumps. Thanks for the chance to win these amazing stamps. x x

Congratulations Wendy, please contact me with your details

Say It with Scallops

Firstly and would like to thank you all for the wonderful well wishes before I go on to the card. I'm still suffering with a desperate bad head but it is now at least a bit more manageable with the help of painkillers, so onward to a card.

I used the Scalloped Square punch and the Say it With Scallops stamp set from Stampin Up to create the card,patterned paper pearls and ribbon to finish.

Attention to detail...

I used the Stampin Up Square scallop punch on the stamped sentiment and punched 2 more from patterned paper to sit the sentiment on then punched a hole at each side to thread through the cream satin ribbon.

A scalloped Martha Stewart paper punch was used on the patterned paper to tie in with the square scalloped focal image the a little pearl coloured with copics to match the paper was added under each peak to make the card pop.

Blog Candy - Now Closed

Dont forget I am giving away 16 sets of stamps worth £160.00 click here for details ends31st March 2010

NOW CLOSED
I'll be back soon with a wonderful winner

Too Poorly to Craft

I''m not adding cards today as I have developed a stinking cold and to be honest I just feel too poorly to craft, It's now in it's 3rd day so hopefully I'll be feeling much better by tomorrow.

I'm off to my bed to mend my head.

God Bless, night night.

My Birthday Cards

I have a few of the cards that I received for my birthday to show you.

The first is from my Mam, if you have been coming to my blog for a while you will know that my Mam did think of giving up card making at one point, I'm so glad that she didn't, her decoupage work is second to none.

This one is from my AMGF Marge all the way from USA such a special lady who helps to keep me sane, believe it or not but Marge doesn't recognise that she is very very talented.

This one is from Toni on my DT she got it spot on with my favourite flower and not only that but she included some vintage postcards for me too, mwoa xx

This one gave me a giggle as when I opened the envelop the bottom owl fell out I new instantly that it was from my friend Pam who is owl crazy, cute.

This one is from Debs my friend who always makes a wonderful card with very good colour choices.

This one is from my Mother-in-law, she has only been crafting for around a year or two.

This one was from a lovely lady, Ursula Tarn, all carefully and skillfully hand stitched.

Easter Candy Winners

Competition from Dot Com Gift Shop

And the winners for the Easter Bucket are;

Val said...
Happy Birthday Jak! Hope you are having a lovely day.What do I love about Easter - the promise of spring and all that it brings with it - the buds breaking out on the trees bring new life to them with all the different greens, yellows, etc, the colours of the spring bulbs - always so cheeery - enough to brighten anyone's heart, birds building nests, birdsong, and time for contemplation.Last but not least that yummy chocolate, but it must be dark!

Hugs
Valxx

Toni said...
I love Easter as its an excuse to eat chocolate ( not that I need an excuse lol) although I find it always rains at Easter so we usially have a soggy easter egg hunt.This Easter though is goingto be tied up with moving allout from the Kitchen as the new floor goes down Id rather be eating chocolate lol

Pamela said...
Happy Birthday Jak, hope you are having a great day. I like Easter as to me it is the start of the best time of the year and hopefully some better weather.Pam x

Marge said...
Happy, Happy Birthday, my sweet friend!!! I hope you're rested, relaxed and enjoying every sweet moment!!!Wow, what a cute bucket! I love Easter because my Hubby was born on Easter Sunday and I'm a spring baby too. It means gorgeous sun-shiny weather & beautiful flowers, so just a joyous time of year!

Christine said...

Hi Jak a very Happy Birthday Easter to me means the promise of warmer weather the end of Winter..& lots of colour coming into the garden love to see the spring flowers/bulbs..Hugs Christine xx

If all you lovely Ladies can contact me with your full postal address I will get your prizes to you.

my contact details is on my side bar.

Jack 27th March - Sitting Pretty

Jack is now sitting quite nicely on his own, he tends to do the wobble thing to correct himself when he is tipping over.

He's not yet crawling but that doesn't stop him getting to where he wants to be, he simply rolls and then spins his body around.

He's still the cutest kid on the block.

This is a shot where he thinks it's ok to lunge forward and grab what ever he wants, normally resulting in a nose dive.

Slimming - Diet update

Isn't it strange that when you feel you've failed you do the best?

This week I lost 2lb so in total so far that is 11lb I've lost(woop,woop)

I still havent noticed feeling any less in weight but my Mam says she can see it now in my face. I Just need to lose it off my tummy next please.

I'f I could get to the stage where my tummy no longer sits on my lap when I sit on the loo I'd be a happy bunny.

My Mam is doing marvelous and has lost 13lb, she goes to a sit and get fit club and she loves it and she also goes to the hydrotherapy pool too, my Mam is in a wheelchair so isn't as active as most but she doesn't let this stop her (so proud of my Mam)

How have you done this week?

Well I'm 1 week down on my 6 weeks wait for treatment of my psoriasis, I really don't know how I am going to wait another 5 weeks, I'm sore and uncomfortable, I scratch so hard during the night and I am terrified that I loose my hair as it is so thick on my head at the moment.

I remember when I first got psoriasis, I was 21 and just had Lauren, I remember going to the hospital for my first appoinment and seeing lots of people with alopecia many caused through psoriasis, oh lord let me skip this please.

Mummu's Laundry - Digi Stamp Card

Don't you just love freshly dried outside linen? it has to be one of my favourite smells.

This is Mummu's Laundry by Mo Manning and it is real fun to colour, I coloured it using Promarkers.

Attention to detail...

I used the Martha Steward punches on the background papers, the lattice edge was perfect for adding the ribbon.

A matching Prima Flower placed in the top corner.

A couple of pearl headed pins to finish the card.

Dont Forget I have Easter Candy to win end date is 27th March