Is running ladylike?

I think not but, more fool me, I've signed up for the sport relief mile and so really thought I'd better have a go at running.
I honestly believe I've never run a mile non-stop, certainly not since starting secondary school - and when forced to d cross-country, my friend and I just used to run around the corner, walk and chat for most of the sourse and the jog hen coming back into view.
So...... training!
Blimey it's hard work but I can now run a mile as long a sI have some 'walky bits' in the middle and have been working on extending the length of time I can run without stopping and/or collapsin.  I'm up to 1/3 mile now whih sounds good until you realise the mile has to be run in 2 weeks and 2 days.  Not that I'm counting or anything!
IF you'd like us - "&son" is running too we'd really appreciate it.  We have a just giving page  here

So that's why I've not been crafting lately - I've been running instead but I'll be back soon (maybe with blisters!)

'Hello' card - thanks to Rusty

The lovely Rusty sent me some stamped images and I've been itching to use them for a while,

We were hoping that my sister would be home at the end of the month but it now looks like her deployment has been exended by a week or so.  I made her this card to cheer her up with one of Rusty's images

Long post for a (literally) long project. 12ft of papercraft!

Finally, it's finished.  Many of you will probably be bored to tears now with talk of my paper bunting.  I was starting to bore myself to be honest but for you, and me, it's finally over!  Huzzah!

For those of you not in the know my sister is due home from a posting overseas at the end of the month and we won't be there when she gets home as she lives 'down south'.  I wanted to make something a bit special for her return and know she has a love of bunting as she paid a local craft shop to make some birthday bunting last year.  I' know my way around a sewing machine but sadly don't own a working one so I thought I'd attempt to make some bunting from card in lieu of a welcome home card. 
And then the obsession took over. 
I spent far longer thinking about what I was going to do rather than actually doing it.  And the best thing is, apart from the ribbon that it hangs from it's all made from stash I already had with a little bit of judicial borrowing of pens, inks, cricut machine from the lovely Emma G.

This has very much been a team effort by myself and "&son", my little crafting buddy.  It' s been a bumpy ride for both of us- I think I went a bit control freak in the middle because I wanted it to be perfect but then I had a word with myself and realised that my sis would like it all the more for the little idiosynchrosies added by her hephew. 
Each triangle is cut from a 12x12 sheet so when laid end to end there's 12 foot of card.  All lettering and embellishments are cut from the cricut.  The lettering and house from 'Winter Woodland' the flowers from 'Sweet treats". 

Triangles were drawn from template by "&son" and cut to his lines by myself.  Most of the lettering was cut out by him too.  Whilst the gromlets were fixed by me he did the punching of the hole in the middle of each.  He also made up the flowers.  I was in charge of sticking and stamping unless specified differently below.

Enough of the chatting here are the pics.............

12x12 is an insert from a scrapbook album (I assume you're supposed to take these out as I can never squeeze the 'made up' page in the sleeve if this background one is left in'  Stamped with an Autumn leaves swirl.  Sticky ribbon from 'crafty ribbons'

12x12 is bazzill basics stamped with a papermania wooden stamp.

Ribbon from a Crafty Place Stash Swap

12x12 - Coredinations Gemstone.

Sticky ribbon from 'crafty ribbons'

Another 12x12 insert.  Stamed with the papermania stamp in blue this time

Sticky ribbon from 'crafty ribbons'

12x12 and ric-rac unidentifiable stash

12x12 stamped beautifuly by "&son" with papermainia stamp.

Paper lace by k&co

12x12 inlay decorated with card candy

Paper lace byk&co coloured with poppy promarker and then inked with copper

12x12 unidentifiable stash

Sticky ribbon from 'crafty ribbons'

12x12 DCWV Whiteout

PAper lace by k&co coloured with pastel blue promarker

12x12 inlay stamped with Autumn Leaves swirl

Paper lace by k&co

12x12 unidentifiable from stash

Sticky ribbon from 'crafty ribbons'

So that's it - I'll try and take a photo of it hung in her lounge but for now you'll have to imagine what they look like when not split into 2's in order to fit in the viewfinder on the camera.

TTFN!

I sooooo want/neeed a cricut

Lovely Emma has let me borrow her cricut this weekend for a project I have on the go.  I'm making some paper bunting for when my siser returns from Afghanistan.  I asked her whether she'd mind cutting them out for me but she offered to let me borrow the machine instead.  "&son" and I have lusted after it all day.
Trouble is it such an expensive piece of kit - I reckon what she's lent me for the weekend would cost £600 ish in the uk to purchase.  The other trouble is, it's such a marvellous machine - I can almost feel myself justifying that type of spend - and believe me, I really don;t have that kind of money to spare!

I'm going to try and declutter my house this year.  "&son" wants to save up for a wii and I said I'd sell some of his stuff for him on ebay to help him along so maybe I'll set up a cricut fund from ebay profits and see how things go.

Tonight I played about a bit with the fonts.  As the bunting is triangles cut from a 12x12 sheet I had to work out which font would give me the largest letteryet still fit on to the triangle if the letter had a 'broad bottom' like W or M

Off topic I know but when we travel to manchester we always drive to Glossop then catch the commuter train in - it stops at loads of stations with brilliant names but our family favourite is 'Broad Bottom' - "&son" firmly believed it was called 'Wide Arse [said with a Mancunian nasal twang] until he could recognise letter's!

After much faffing I couldn't resist Winter Woodland. which has a bonus font in it.  You can also cut 3d houses, trees etc to make a Christmas scene. 

The bunting is going to be a kind of shaby chic patriotic red white and blue.  As a taster, here is the W scanned in.  You cut out the shadow and the letter separately.  How pretty is that!  It's about 7 inches wide and just over 5 inches tall

Christmas Catch Up Part 2 - Shadow Frames & Clocks

I'm glad I waited to blog these because at the time I was just too frazzled to enjoy it.  I gave myself too much to do and kept beating myself up about 'not being as organised as last year'.  It was nearly Christmas before it clicked that 'last year' I'd been signed off sick for most of December so had plenty of time to do lots of crafty things.  It's not so easy when you're working late, taking kids to Christmas parties etc etc etc.  Some of these went to the wire - I was up at 2 in the morning on Christmas eve finishing off one of the clocks but, in hindsight, they seem to have been worth the effort.

I bought the kits from home bargains (where else?) a while ago and they were ridiculously cheap.  From memory the clock ones were £3.99  and the plain shadow boxes were £1.99.  They came with paper, etc but I used my stash instead

First up - for my sister Jane.
this uses Crate Paper 'lil sprout

This one was for Mum and Dad using a mini-kit that my lovely friend Emma G gave me containing the letters, ribbon and bling.  The background paper is by Cosmo Cricket.  The bling by basic grey.

Next up, my other sister, Ruth's clock - she's moved to Germany now so she'll have this in her new flat as reminder of her darling nephew

The polka dot paper  and charm came with the box on this one, The other paper is MME - Bloom & Grow

And finally

A picture of my godson for his Mum, my best friend from Uni.  Crate paper again but Orbit range this time.

The art of Crochet?

It's been a long standing ambition of mine to learn to crochet but I keep on trying and getting nowhere.  I rarely see adverts on the tv but spotted one after Christmas for ' The art of Crochet'  It seemed perfect having a dvd with the first edition so I could actually see how it worked rather than have to imagine it from pictures in a mag.  Sadly, everyone else thought it sounded like a good idea too and it was impossible to get hold of.  Mum was put on the case and she tried newsagents across Sheffield to no avail.  And then I struck lucky.
Over on MSE there is a thread called Learning to Crochet and I'd been popping in now again to see if there were any updates on stock availability.  Then a lovely lady on there called magpye offered me her dvd and magazine and promptly sent them off to me.  I've been doing my best ever since to make something impressive but to date have not even mastered casting on neatly enough.  But I'll keep trying!  Nothing beats me in the end!
I made this card to say thank you.  The card blank is pre-printed with gold swirls.  The flower fairy was from 'Lets Make Cards' and the ribbon was from a cracker at Christmas (I'm going to end up on the life of grime at this rate if I don;t learn to start throwing stuff away).  It's not really tied in a bow, I just pushed the ribbon through the hole in the sentimenet but I like the full effect of the 'bow'.  Sometime soon I'm hoping to have crotcheted flowers on my cards.  Some day......

Proud Mum

My son, Tom has taken it upon himself to sell cards in aid of the Haiti earthquake appeal at his school tomorrow.  He's spent yesterday evening and this evening (once he'd finished school and street dance/cross country) making cards and has managed a staggering 31 cards! 

In on the other hand have amade 1.  Pathetic

Here's a linky to his blog so you can have a look at most of his makes - I found 4 more in his box after he'd gone to bed.

I'm really hoping they sell ok as he's put so much work into it. I've told him that in the unlikely event that he doesn't sell them all, to bring them home and I'll hawk them at work and amongst my friends.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow.