Even Gardeners need...

...hugs.
In addition to the flower buttons that I found in Poundland I also found a pack of novelty buttons at Pinnacle Crafts...Carrots.
The yarn is beautifully soft but is certainly not a true Double Knit - think I found this yarn in Pound Stretcher about a year ago. Not sure that the yarn has enough 'oomph' in it to keep its shape well but the hug looks cute.......................

How do you start your...

...Sunday?
Do you get the chance to 'chill' with a cuppa and the papers or are you up-and-running from the moment you get out of bed?

Is it a day of rest for you or are you tearing around trying to get done everything that hasn't been done during the week, so that you can start the new week with a clean slate...

I would say, mine is rarely the first and most often the second LOL

Just where do the days go?

One minute you are bemoaning the start of another week and the next you are groaning about the size of that pile of washing that needs to be sorted out ready for the start of ANOTHER week...

I shouldn't moan really. Yesterday I got to play all day long...getting mucky, inky, sticky - and enjoying every moment of it (well I did have my pinny & gloves LOL). So today is catch-up.

Luckily there isn't any of that 'boring' shopping to do as I stocked up last weekend and I've been getting bits through the week because I knew I was crafting on Saturday. The washing isn't too horrendous but a chunk of the day will be taken up popping over to Mum's to help sort out any bits & pieces that she can't manage...still, no dinner to cook as she will be treating me **grin**

Doubt I'll get much of a chance to just 'sit' today until I take up residence on the sofa to watch Dancing on Ice this evening.

So what do you do with your Sunday?.........................................

Better late...

...than never.

The lovely Debbie sent me this award back in January. I can't believe how naughty I've been by not responding until now - sorry Debbie **hangs head in shame**
My excuse for being so tardy - if there can be an excuse - is that I have to share with you 8 things about myself before sharing this with 4 other bloggers. Umm, 8 things about me...tough one...

1. Jamie Leigh-Curtis and I were born on the same day (there - that has let the cat out of the bag for those that have just dashed off to google). Can I say, she has worn much better than me but then she can afford to do so...LOL
2. There seems to be something about my birthday - JFK was killed on it, C S Lewis died on it and the Iron Lady Maggie Thatcher resigned on it.
3. I have a bit of an obsession about my cutlery drawer in the kitchen - each type of item MUST be in the right compartment and they MUST be facing the right way...how sad is that!
4. I love to see snow, I love to take photos of snow, I have snow pictures in my home BUT I hate going out in the stuff.
5. I love 'proper' dogs - reasonable size dogs...I am not one for those little handbag size things.
6. I am not a 'cat person' unless of course we are talking - lions, tigers, pumas etc.
7. Growing-up I attended a dance school and I would watch all the old musicals so that I could watch the dancers (I still adore musicals). In one musical the leading lady character would be bought an elephant ornament by her husband as a good luck charm for her opening nights - they called them 'Polliwashes' a name that stuck and I still think of elephants as polliwashes.
8. My ancestry is a European mix of French & German (great grandparents on father's side - German; something like great, great, great grandpartents on mother's side - French) sadly I speak neither language although I can manage a smattering of school-girl French LOL

Well that certainly took some thinking about **snigger**

Now I have to nominate 4 other bloggers to share in this award: -

Annette
Andy
Paula
Kristy

I would willingly nominate more as there are so many fab blogs out there but with my super skill at 'linky things' (NOT) I'd be here forever & a day LOL so can I just say...I may not have nominated you but that doesn't mean that I don't think your blog is fabulous and I will continue to spend faaaaaaaar too much time blopping around cyberspace................................

How was your day...

...mine was fab!!!

I've had a wonderful time - 6 hours of playing in a Tim Holtz style.

This was the result...
A shadow box with a clock image demonstrating a number of different techniques. The box should have been crackled but mine decided it didn't want to crack...except in the middle where the clock face went...typical **rollseyes**. However, PVA glue has formed ridges in the metallic top coat of paint that makes the box look more wooden. I'm really quite pleased with the finished effect.

Would you believe that this started out life as a cardboard box that had been the packaging for craft supplies...a cut out panel to create the frame, a coat of Ranger acrylic paint in Espresso, a layer of PVA glue covered in bronze metallic paint - attacked with a heat gun to speed-up the cracking and that was the shadow box.
The flowers were created from petals cut on the Cricut (can't remember the name of the cart - think it was 'Mother's love' or something similar). They were cut out of glossy paper and then inked with Adirondak alcohol inks in Mushroom & Espresso. The leaves were cut from green bazzill using the Sizzix "Tattered Leaves" and inked with a Distressed Ink pad in Frayed Burlap. All the elements were given dimension by curving them over the edge of the table and then assembled in place using Pinflair glue. The centre of the flowers were finished with some flatbacked gems.
The clock-face was cut from a sheet of 12x12 colour core card from one of the new Core-dinations stacks. These are lovely as they are already embossed (all over or just in specific areas) and can be sanded to give even more interest to the surface. My sheet had family members scattered all over it...Mother, Father, Aunt, Grandmother etc. After sanding I inked the edge of the circle with more of the Frayed Burlap and also brushed the ink over some of the words to make them stand out more. The numbers were wooden shapes that I inked with a Hazelnut Adirondak ink pad - then to give them an aged look Zig glue (the blue stuff that goes clear) was applied randomly and gold leaf flakes applied to this. The numbers were attached to the clock face using Glossy Accents. The clock hands were cut on the Cricut from miri card and then leafed in the same manner but using a tape runner to apply the 'sticky'. The completed face was mounted in the box using Pinflair glue to raise it slightly from the background.

I really enjoyed this project - there were 7 of us in Andy's class and every box came out completely different because of the colours folk chose to work with.

The only problem I have now is where do I put it as it is quite big.................

We're getting ready to...

...do Something Funny for Money

With 2011 being an 'odd' year (rather than 'even') it means that Red Nose Day is on its way. At work this is a charity that we support because it gives us a chance to be a 'bit nutty' and after all...it only happens every other year (Red Nose Day that is - not being nutty) LOL

This year RND is on Friday 18 March - so we have plenty of time to get things organised.

Because we have a lot of part-time staff we normally organise events throughout the week of RND so that everyone has a chance to participate in something.

We are intending to have a red-themed quiz, silly dressing up events and one of the managers is going to be sponsored to eat a "Yard of Jaffa Cakes"...there will be a time limit set.

In addition we will be holding our ever popular "Red Tombola" and requests have already gone out to folk in the building for donations for this...given the amount of time we have there should be a good collection as folk are normally very generous. To meet the 'red' theme items need to be either the colour red, have red in their name or be packaged in red. We have a lot of fun as folk can be quite inventive or literal...a tin of 'red' kidney beans/red wine/ready salted Walkers crisps...you get the idea. Our collecting box for these goodies is a large cardboard box covered in white paper with lots of different size red circles (noses) stuck randomley over it.

I'll be making a few red mug hugs for the tombola but I also wrapped some candles/holders in cello-bags and added a red topper...
It is amazing what you can find in the cupboards at work if you have a rummage LOL There was some red card, Tipex, fine black markers and of course sticky tape (the cello-bags were from my stash).
A bit of fancy cutting out with the scissors, some faux stitching with the markers and a bit of artwork with the Tipex and there you have it...

I'll have to see if I can think of anything else to come up with...............

Frustrating...

...tell me about it.

**Huff, puff, moan, grumble**

Although I can access my blog from my work PC (and create posts as this proves) I am very limited as to what I can access in order to make comments. This can be soooooooooo frustrating if I get to pop on here during lunch or tea break and I want to leave a comment and find I can't.

Oh well, I'll have to catch-up when I get home........................

Thursday crop and...

...another LO completed.
Another snowy LO using some more of the Best Creation Inc PP that we are using at the crop. The PPs are lovely and have glossing & glitz already on them...problem is that it makes it difficult to decide how to do the LOs without covering too much of the pretty design.
This crochet-edged coaster was a bargain that I found in Poundland - a pack of 12 for...yep £1 LOL I thought it worked well as a matt for one of the photos.
As you can see here - the PP has plenty of it's own blinginess (is that a word? must be a crafting term). I added a few small red gems to just lift some of the berries a bit.
The title was made from some of the Thickers that we got as part of the pack.

There is just one session left of this 4-week block...need to sort out some more photos that will work with the remaining PPs..........................