Through my dirty kitchen window

Oh dear, I really must clean my windows! Hazy though it is, I was really chuffed to get this baby blackbird in one of my ground feeders :o)

He/she comes to visit every day and when I went out to get in the car yesterday I got to within 3 feet of it before it hopped nonchalantly onto the grass and under the buddliea. It's a shame I hadn't got the camera in my hand then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was going to add a card here but it won't upload so I will try later.

Have a great weekend everyone :o)

Jackie xx

Made before breakfast...

... this morning! I had bought two new toys yesterday at Byrkley park and just HAD to make something, anything, using them :o)

The new toy on this first one is the GoKreate large scalloped circles. The largest is about 5.75" and as you can see just fits nicely on a 6x6 card.

The new toy on this one is a Craft Concepts embossing folder which just nicely suits an A6 card. Methinks I will be using them fairly often  :o)

Jackie xx

First baby robin...

...that I have ever seen and I was so chuffed to get a photograph :o)

I have been having gravel laid in my back garden so the ground feeder was placed out of the way onto a prostrate conifer and the baby robin seemed to like it there as he kept coming back :o)

Here is one of Mum too, or is it Dad? Being very nosy watching the work being done :o)

I am off out today. A friend is picking me up and we are off to a pub lunch then a nosey round at the ruins of the Grace Dieu Priory just on the edge of Charnwood Forest

Jackie xx

Oh my, how the time does fly

I cannot believe how long it is since I last posted, the time is going so fast! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I will be at work this afternoon but tomorrow I am off out for lunch and a visit to the ruins of the Grace Dieu priory on the edge of Charnwood Forest.

My followers have not come back yet but I appear to have another new one. Whoever you are, welcome to my blog and I hope that I may be able to see who you are soon :o)

These are the only 2 cards I have made in a whole week, but I did spend quite some time printed loads of inserts which have to be put into cards for all the June/July birthdays I have to send out.

Anyway, I made these two using my lovely new Lindsay Mason stamp set. As you can see, they are very simple cards. For the first one, I stamped the flutterby onto rainbow paper and the second was stamped onto white paper and coloured with promarkers. Both are mounted onto nestie cutouts and layerd onto 6x6 base cards which I cut and folded :o)

Jackie xx

Made becuz I wanted to

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all well and happy. Sadly my holiday week has come to an end and it's back to work later today :o( I had a crafting session yesterday to finish a great week off.

They are all very simple cards, 2 A6 and 2 4x4 minis. 

The 3 above were all made using my lovely new SU embossing folders. Stamped image is SU coloured with copics and cut out with nesties, flutterby cut with a Marianne die, an few sticky pearls and Bob's yer Uncle.

This one was just a little experiment. My friends had shown me how to do the crackle painting so I had a go in a very small way and this was the result. The very crude flower is my effort and painting one free hand :o)

Jackie xx

It's that bleached daisy again

Good morning bloggers, I hope you are all well. I know you won't agree with me but thank goodness it's cooled down, all that heat drains me completely!

Unfortunately I have to go back to work tomorrow after having nearly a week off and going here, there and everywhere.

Yes, it's that daisy again, I just love this stamp and it is so right for bleaching. I love the way it makes the flower centres pop. This is the first blue one I have made and I am quite pleased with the result :o)

Jackie xx

Commissioned scenic notecards

Good morning everyone, what a lovely sunny start to the day here near Derby.

My cousin asked me to make some more notecards for her with some of my photographs  which were taken within my fairly local area. All of these places are within a 40 minute drive, and the closest - the horsey one - is only 5 minutes away.

The recipient was born in this part of Derbyshire but now lives in Cornwall and loves to receive images from places he knew during his younger years :o)

Jackie xx

HOORAY! It worked this time

Just a simple CAS card in my favourite sepia colours

I used beige card from PDA for the basecard. Stamped the agapanthus straight onto HOTP paper from the wedding collection, then cut with nesties and matted onto brown card from stash. Added some sticky pearls and that's all there is to it :o)

Jackie xx

I had intended uploading a card...

...but Blogger obviously doesn't want me to grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Oh well never mind, I will try again later.

It's good to see the sunshine again after such a miserable day yesterday.

I have broken up from work now until next Monday so I mean to have at least one crafting session, hopefully more :o)

See you later

Jackie xx

Brilliant day, a moan and a few recycled cards

Good morning Bloggers, grab yourselves a cuppa and relax for a little while, becuz this is a long post :o)

What is Blogger playing at, will it ever be right? I even have to sign in again to be able to upload pics from my own PC now Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I wonder it it will let me leave comments on your cards today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a brilliant day out with my daughter yesterday. We set off at 8.30am for the delightful little county of Rutland - about an hour or so from home - and went to Barnsdale gardens. Some of you will remember the days when the BBCs Gardener's World used to come from there with Geoff Hamilton presenting.

 What a lovely place it is, with no less than 38 small gardens to wander around and filch ideas from. We had luch there before going on to Rutland Water, which is virtually just across the road. The wind was blowing so strong but it didn't stop us having a stroll and then a bit of a spend in the gift shop/information centre. We finally arrived home around 5pm very tired and weary but what a great day it was :o)

Anyway, onto my cards!

They are all made using images from last year's non handcrafted cards and they are for the Ilkeston Hospital League of Friends. They have a card and second hand bookshop in the foyer of the hospital so I hope these will make then at least a few pennies!

Did I hear someone snoring?  :o)

Jackie xx