What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday #321

Oh gosh I haven't taken part in the desk sharing for so long - apologies Julia

I have little desk activity going on at the moment as I always use the dining room table, this usually isn't a problem as Mr P sits in the lounge using his PC.  But that is having some repairs/updates at the moment and so he is using the dining room table for his laptop so my space for working when he is at home is much reduced.  Instead I am mainly working on my laptray when we are both home.

Whilst sorting some paper pads the other day, I found the little Forever Friends decoupage pad you can see on the left, in my stash.  I didn't buy it so I think it might have been in with some paper pads that a friend gave to me for making my charity cards with.  I love a bit of fussy cutting so had a lovely evening cutting out all the images and then building up the layers with Pinflair glue.  The pad has matching papers and sentiments so hopefully it won't be too long till you get to see some finished cards with the images.

If you fancy sharing your desk and doing some desk hopping, then pop over to Stamping Ground to find out all about how to join in.

How to Kill an Audi

Another sketch from the Sketchy Scrappers Facebook group that was set in November of last year.

 A year ago today we went out for the last time in Mr Ps beloved Audi.  Our Swedish friends Darren and Diana were staying with us for the weekend and we thought we would go out for breakfast.  It had rained heavily in the night and the bottom end of our road was flooded but other cars were getting through so we thought it would be alright.  Well the car got through but then as we reached the end of the road it just died.  Shortly afterwards the fire brigade turned up as even though the water wasn't very deep it was going into the houses at the bottom of the road.  I got these photographs whilst we were waiting for the AA to turn up.  We eventually got back into our house when our neighbour opposite walked round to see what was going on, so we could ask her to open her back gate and then take a short cut through her house without getting our feet wet!!!

I used a really old Sarah's Cards kit (December 2010) - the papers are all from Upsy Daisy 'Home Sweet Home'.  The bottom strip of one sheet of paper made me laugh and sorry Mr P but I had to alter the wording to 'Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance drive in the rain'

The title was made using Sizzix 'Naturally Serif' alphabet sizzlet die and some funky foam.  The butterflies are a Cheery Lyn die and the chevrons are a Stampin' Up punch.

We never got our breakfast out in the end, but we were able to go out later in Darren's car once the Audi had been towed to the garage.  We ended up being car-less for four months but we now have a lovely Nissan Juke - not as glam as the Audi but so much easier for me to get in and out of!!!

Me on Monday

Sian is back from her travels, so this week I can visit her at From High in the Sky and give her a wave!!

The weekend was very blah weather-wise so it was nice to just stop indoors and do some cardmaking,

 Mess around with nail art and my new dotting tools

 Stitched and stuffed teddybears that my Mum has knitted for our fundraising - just their features left to do (maybe by next Monday I will have done that!!)

 So after a pretty lazy weekend, it was time today for my monthly bashing at the chiropractors. 

This is Albert who lives in my chiropractor's room, the other chiropractor at the practice likes to dress him up seasonally, so he is currently ready for summer (he's out of luck today as it is blowing a gale and is quite chilly)

The rest of my Monday is all about starting to sort out the 'room of doom' aka the boxroom where all my craft stuff lives.  I'm not going to show you any before photos, it is just too dreadful.  But I think I will just have another cup of tea before I start LOL!!

Beat the Christmas Rush

The 25th of the month has rolled round really quickly again and it is time for more Beat the Christmas Rush.  If you would like to join in just make some Christmas cards and share your blog post in the linky below.  I will choose my favourite one each month to share.

These are my cards for this month, I made six of these -

 I made the background with Imagination Crafts Sparkle Medium in Soft Purple spread over a snow stencil.

The Hedgehog is from Penny Black T for transparent set 'Winter Play'.  I coloured him with Promarkers, fussy cut him and glued him to the background with pinflair gel.

I used black cardstock for a couple of the cards

The little snowflakes were made with a Martha Stewart border punch and the sentiment is by Personal Impressions on Stampin' Up punched mats.

There were only two entries last month so I am going to choose my favourite card by each of them as they both made some lovely cards.

This one by Sarah

 And this one by Wendy

Feel free to join in with us, put a link to your blog post below and then I can come and visit you and leave you a comment.  Don't forget to mention where Beat the Christmas Rush can be found!!

Bold 2 in 1 Pearls

I have recently been product testing some of the new Bold 2 in 1 Pearls for the Savvy Circle.  I was given the Lavender & Chamomile variety, but they also come in Peony & Cherry Blossom, Hibiscus & Lime Blossom and White Lily & Lotus Flower.

 My tester pack contained a full size pack of Pearls, plus samples to give out to friends and family, along with a short survey and money off coupon for a future purchase.

The pearls were really easy to use, just put them directly into the washing machine, add your laundry and away you go!!  No need to add fabric conditioner or laundry scenting products as the pearls contain everything that you need for clean, soft and fragranced washing.  They also contain no bleaching agents so can be used on coloured loads too.  They can be used at low wash temperatures and I found they always dissolved properly without leaving any 'gunk' behind.

Wash-wise I would say that there were no better or worse than my current laundry products but the thing that really impressed me was the fragrance and just how long it lasts.  I took clothes away on a 9 day trip that had been washed the week before, they held the scent for the duration of the trip and even survived the two day trip home in a suitcase.  It was lovely to be able to hang the unworn clothes straight back in the wardrobe as they still smelt so lovely.  This is down to the 'perfume micro capsule technology' that makes the Bold 2 in 1 Pearls different.  These micro capsules attach themselves to the fibres of the fabric and then release their fragrance when they are touched.  My bedding and towels smell so lovely and I get a lovely waft of Lavender whenever I open the airing cupboard door now.  I also don't find the fragrance too overpowering - I was a bit worried before I tried them as some fragrances can make me feel quite ill.

I will definitely be buying Bold 2 in 1 Pearls again, if only for bedding and towels.  I fancy trying the Hibiscus and Lime Blossom variety next!!

For the purpose of this review I was sent the Bold 2 in 1 Pearls free of charge by Savvy Circle, all the opinions in the review are my own.

Have a Fabulous Birthday!!

My final cards for this month's challenge at Penny Black and More at Allsorts which is 'Use a Sentiment'.

One of my favourite stamps for birthdays is this lovely Hedgehog called 'Party King'.  I was lucky enough to win him via the Penny Black Facebook page when he was first released.

 I made three cards using the same design with some freebie papers from a cardmaking magazine.

 The sentiment is from Penny Black T for Transparent set 'Sweet Wishes'.  The sentiment was punched out with a Stampin Up frame punch.  The border punch used is by Martha Stewart.

The image was coloured with Promarkers and the balloons were given a coat of glossy accents to make them lovely and shiny.

Me on Monday

Sian at From High in the Sky is on a little blog break but I am still going to share my weekend and Monday plans as it has become a blog habit now.

The weekend started off with a lovely meal out with my parents to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary.

Saturday was a quiet day watching the British Open and despairing at the cricket!! 

Sunday was a beautiful day, the charity that I volunteer with Children with Cancer Fund (CWCF), had earlier this year been awarded The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service.  This is the highest award that can be given to voluntary groups in the UK.  The official presentation of the award was made on Sunday at Herstmonceux Castle and it was a lovely surprise to be presented with a badge by the Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex along with other volunteers.  Both Richard and I will wear our badges with pride.  After the presentations and speeches, there was a lovely afternoon tea - oops I forgot to get photographs of the beautiful sandwiches, cakes and scones!!  Then to finish the afternoon there was an outdoor production of Wind in the Willows in the courtyard of the castle.  Certainly a Sunday that we won't forget in a hurry!!

And Monday finds me making my monthly visit to the hairdresser,

And getting my favourite parcels in the post - lovely things come in pizza packaging LOL!!

I have been asked about the scissors that I use to do my fussy cutting - they are Fiskars Softgrip with microtips.  I love them as I can't use small decoupage scissors as my hands tend to lock up trying to use them, these scissors have lovely large handles but nice microtip blades so perfect for very fussy cutting.  I have found them on Amazon, good to know that you can still get them as I would be devastated if I ever lost them.

A Sunny Hello!

Some more cards for this month's challenge at Penny Black and More at Allsorts which is 'Use a Sentiment'.  I also made these cards for the challenge on the UKFiskarettes Facebook page which is 'Summer'.

The stamp is from Penny Black T for Transparent set 'A Sunny Hello' and the sentiment is from that set too.  I made the panel by diecutting with Memory Box stitched rectangle dies the patterned paper from Craft Creations, then I cut them in half and stuck them to a background panel to look like sand and blue skies.

The sun die is by Lil 'inker and the image was coloured with Promarkers and then fussy cut.  Those whiskers were a bit of a challenge but thanks to my Fiskers softgrip microtip scissors they managed the task easily with no loss!!

The Rijksmuseum

This sketch was set back in October last year in the Sketchy Scrappers on Facebook group.  I made a start on it at the 12 hour crop in February but have only recently got it finished. 

 I used a kit bought quite a while ago from Papermaze with papers from Kaisercraft 'Save the Date' and Echo Park 'For the Record 2'.

The photographs were taken at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on our trip last summer to see our friends in Nijmegen.  It was a scorching hot day, getting up to 39C at one stage so it was blissful to be in the air conditioned museum.  It was also lovely to get up close to Rembrandt's De Nachtwacht (The Night Watch) and a self portrait by Van Gogh.  I used AC Thickers for the title and the butterflies are a Cheery Lynn die.

Happy 20th Anniversary Mr P!!

Talk about time flying, I can't believe that it has been 20 years since our wedding day.

The years have certainly gone fast and there have been a lot of changes in our lives since that hot, blustery July day.

As always I have made Mr P a card (there would be big sulks if I didn't LOL!!), I used a lovely image from Penny Black T for Transparent set 'The Touch of Love'.

The papers used are a polka dot print from Craft Creations and the floral pattern is from American Crafts 'I Do'.  I coloured the doily with Ice Grey 1 Promarker and the bakers twine is from Stampin' Up.

The stamped image was coloured with Promarkers and was stamped twice so that I could make the image 3D - those tails were so fiddly to cut but I managed it without doing a tailectomy!!  I added some yellow Stickles to the champers in the glass.  The heart was die cut with a Cheery Lynn die.

I am entering the card into this month's challenge at Penny Black and More at Allsorts which is 'Add a Sentiment'.  The little tags were punched from Stampin' Up Smoky Slate cardstock with a Woodware tag punch and then I stamped two little sentiments 'xoxoxo' and 'I Love You' from Penny Black T for Transparent set 'Snippets'.  The larger Happy Anniversary sentiment is by Crafty Impressions.  The grey pearls are from Sarah's Cards.

Sadly Mr P has to work today but we have a special meal out planned for Friday to celebrate.

Christmas Cruise 2012

I've got quite behind with blogging some stuff - luckily I keep a list of everything that I make and then cross it out once I've blogged it.  At least that way I can see how behind I am with some things!!  This layout was using the sketch set in Sketchy Scrappers last September but I think I only got round to actually doing it back in February at the Cardinal Colours 12 hour crop.

 I made a layout to be the title page for our Christmas 2012 cruise to The Canaries

I used Fancy Pants 'Down by The Shore' papers and alphabet and the anchor die is by Cheery Lynn.  The sequins are from my stash.

Me on Monday

Me on Monday is the brainchild of Sian over at From High in the Sky, she is on a blogging break at the moment but I thought I would still do my usual Monday post.

It was a weekend of Prosecco drinking, parents visiting, cardmaking, men's tennis final watching and cheering on England's cricketers in the Ashes.

 And Monday finds me dealing with our monthly shop from Tesco which was delivered this afternoon!!

Needless to say I had to have a freezer fight to get it all in but I won!!!!

I hope whatever you are up to this week that you are having a good one.

Hello Sweet Friend

The challenge this month at Penny Black Saturday Challenge is Friendship.

Ages ago I stamped and embossed with black embossing powder these lovely poppies (PB Poppy Parade).  I also stamped some extra images to cut up for decoupage.  I finally got round to colouring them with Promarkers and turning them into a couple of cards.

 The card blank was stamped in Black Versafine ink all the way round the edges with the same poppy stamp to make the background more interesting.

The sentiment is from Stampin' Up set 'Six-sided Sampler' on a mat made with Stampin' Up punches.  The red pearls are from The Hobby House.

A close up of the decoupage

Marillion Convention 2015

This is the sketch for June on My Creative Sketches

I used some photographs taken on the Marillion weekend at Port Zelande.

The papers and alphabet stickers are from Bella Boulevard 'Birthday Boy' collection.  The stars were punched with a mixture of Stampin' Up large star punch, EK Success border punch and Woodware small star punch.

There is still a bit of time left to take part in the challenge as it doesn't close till 14th June.