I Am So Lucky!

Following on from my recent WIP post earlier in the month (part of the Silkie Sue Freestyle Blog Swop), my parcel arrived whilst I was on holiday. I managed not to open it immediately, but waited until I had unpacked and loaded the washing machine three times and put the boys to bed. Then I sat down and carefully unwrapped my bubble envelope.

I knew that my swop partner was Nicola from Murano Silver and we had exchanged a few emails discussing what to make for each other. I'd supplied my wrist measurements (they are skinny as you will see further down!) and more or less left it up to Nicola to create!

So you can imagine my excitement when I realised there were two packages within the envelope. I opened the ivory organza bag first - the item was carefully wrapped in pink tissue paper.



This is what I opened.

A beautiful and stunning silver bangle (which yes, I can get on without taking my hand off!) and the most wonderful little dangly thing (sorry, don't know the technical name!) with a turquoise like stone in the middle.

After admiring it on my wrist for about 15 mins, I decided to open the box. On the back of the business card, Nicola had written a little note - "Just in case you didn't like the bangle". No, you are right, I don't like it - I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!

And inside was a multi coloured charm like bracelet with all different coloured blocks of (I'm guessing) acrylic or glass of which the pattern runs end to end - the other sides show a single colour. This also fits perfectly on the skinny wrists.

And also this funky ring! Again, fits perfectly!

And I didn't realise until I was packing everything back up that there was another layer to the box and inside was this matching pendant necklace:

I am totally stunned by Nicola's generosity and the beautiful workmanship. And I cannot thank you enough. I've never had any jewellery made for me before (well, except for my Wedding ring as it needed to be shaped to sit next to my Engagement ring) so this makes it all the more special.

I've got two Weddings to go to this summer so will be wearing it all to both! And same frock heheheh!

Thank you again Nicola - you really made my day!

And if you like what you see - go and visit her website - she gladly takes commissions!!

I'll share soon what I sent Nicola as I was really pleased how they turned out!

Holiday

Well we are back, and if Mr Blogger is playing nicely, I shall be able to show you a few photos from the holiday!!

On the way to Ilfracombe we stopped off at Slimbridge so the boys could have a run around, plus it was not much of a detour for us. We set off back on our way only to find that all the traffic was at a standstill and telephone wires and such like were being taken down. We then realised that a large load was coming our way. And this is it:

Yes, that is a Micra and a Transit Van, dwarfed by the big things (we didn't actually know what they were!)

Watermouth Castle was once again (for the third year!) wonderful! The boys enjoyed all the rides and the times in the pool (virtually twice a day every day!) And the weather was not too bad - it did pour down a few times in the morning but by early afternoon, the sun came out. The rainbow photo is taken from our apartment window, looking out over Watermouth Bay.

The gardens were as well kept and beautiful as ever.

So onto the black eyes. Jacob fell onto a ride on car when in a play room and caught the corner of his eye. This was Monday evening - and the ice cream photo was taken Tuesday afternoon. Nice big black eye!

Then Wednesday evening when in the pool, he needed to go to the toilet, which is situated just outside the pool in its own enclosed cubical. However the floor was tiled and wet, and I just didn't manage to catch him before his head connected with the toilet bowl.


So cut above the eye and a bigger black eye than before. Fortunately it was the same eye, otherwise he'd have looked a right mess! Any other discolouring you see around nose and mouth area is purely food or snot related!

We visited Exmoor Zoo again for the day and met the Alpaca and fed the Wallabies. And I must say that the sandwiches in the cafe were freshly made and were excellent!




Thursday afternoon was really warm, and kids plus water equals water fights and getting soaking! So Batman and Superman along with their new friend Ben (he was in the apartment next to us and a similar age to Samuel, so they got on really well) got soaked! Luckily we are only a 2 minute walk back up the path so they didn't have to stay wet for ages!
No holiday is complete without a visit to a beach. On Friday we went to Hele which is just between the Castle and Ilfracombe. The beach is quite rocky and not at all sandy, but armed with spades, buckets and fishing nets (the boys were adamant they were going to catch some fish) we spent a few hours exploring. And digging. And finding two dead crabs and a dead jellyfish.
For the more observant of you, yes this crab is upside down. The right way looked boring!

And Jacob loved the pool this year and managed to do quite a bit of swimming whilst ordering us around. If I manage it, I'll add a video of Jacob jumping into the pool. That's if technology lets me....

And Boo Bear from nursery came with us again. Great. Cos its me that has to write its diary every day.....

So that was our holiday! I think we will be going again next year!

Fancy A Challenge?

A Polkadoodle Challenge?!

Then click here to be taken to the first Polkadoodle Challenge and to kick it off, a fab sketch! And there is a mega load of goodies to be won - £80 worth!!! Now you've just got to try it!!

Good luck!

I'm Back!

Just a little one to let you know that we have arrived safely back home (a little later than anticipated due to M6 closures, traffic and stupid sat nav (not me this time hehehe!)) So, will get all the photos uploaded onto the pc and then will share the highlights.

Highlights include 2 black eyes, lots of blood, lots of water, new friends and Wallabies.

That should keep you in suspenders eh?!!

Coffee Anyone?

This is the last sample I made for the launch of Funky Word Books - this is using Coffee Anyone? collection. I've individually cut out all the letters and added them to acetate pages - so a word book with a bit of a twist! It still opens like a conventional word book but the letters stand out more.

Flowers cut from a Cuttlebug flowers die with added card candy. Ribbon from my stash.

Hope you have liked seeing my samples - the cd is fantastic, which is what you would expect from Anice, but its great seeing all the different collections and the word books that you can make with them! The best bit is that each collection has numbers 1 to 9 so you can now make number word books or use them as card templates. So, why don't you give your imagination some fantastic papers - go and buy!!

Buttons, Glorious Buttons!

This will be a post of few words so that the loveliness of these buttons will not be spoiled!

All are vintage and are sold as colour themed or as sets. You can buy them here and last time I checked these were still available and more had been added!

And if you do buy - mention you came from me!

Funky Flower

Another card made with For The Lads colour collection on the new Funky Hand cd Funky Word Books.


Quite easily made - I used a compass for the circles, roughly ripped the shape, feathered the edges and then inked them. Then layered up the flowers and added the wire embellishments and the button to hide what was underneath!


The curled paper was easy to do - cut thin strips and then wind them around a pencil or something thinner. The 'beads' on the wire were made by shaping some offcuts and then wrapping them again arounda pencil with the end glued.

The stems have been stamped with an acrylic Studio G stamp which is really for ornate corners but I picked the stamps that looked more like stems and just layered them up.

So go and buy your copy of Funky Word Books - its been on sale 5 days!!

By the time you read this, and if Mr Blogger is playing, I shall be on my holidays! I have a few posts scheduled for whilst I am away, but I shall be back on Sunday 24 May with hopefully, some holiday photos to share!

Polkadoodle!

Knock me over with a feather! I am part of a brand new weekly challege blog called Polkadoodle and it launches on 22 May!

There are some very talented ladies on the Design Team - just look at this line up!

Jozza

Enfys

Kirsty Wiseman

LuLu

Krista

Saskia

Vanessa

Lakul

Maggie

Michelle

Sue

I am touched and proud to be part of such a talented bunch of ladies!

So watch out for the first challenge on 22 May! I won't be able to take part in this one due to holidays but I will be there for the second one!

Well, Hello Dolly!!

Sorry - just could not resist! But this is a big

WELCOME

to the newest Funky Hand Design Team member Dolly!!

Go and check out her blog - stunning work and I have a feeling she will fit it with the rest of the mad team!

There were lots of excellent entries and I know Anice had a very hard time choosing - not something I would have liked to do. Commiserations to those who were not successful, but thank you for wanting to be part of a wonderful and supportive team - it means a lot to us!

Christmas Cards All Year Round - May Challenge

Yep, its the dreaded C word in May!! But it really is quite nice to make Christmas cards all year 'round! The Challenge this month is to:

Use Flowers on Your Christmas Cards

And here are my 5. Very much influenced and inspired by the design team creations so thank you ladies!

You'll have to excuse the dodgy photos - I have had a very hectic week (hence lack of posts) with a lot of meetings and travelling and have been shattered, so I've not managed any challenges so far this week, although there is still tonight and tomorrow night to make amends! We, as a family, go on holiday on Saturday for a week, so in between trying to write a diary for a giraffe called Buttons, (that's another story!) work full time, get everything washed and packed and try and do some challenges, something has to give, and I'm afraid it is the challenges.

Anyway, all the papers used are from the Dovecraft Ho Ho Ho collection (8 x 8 papers) and the brads are from the same collection. The flowers are generally from the lot Jozza gave me a while ago (not got many left now!) plus I've enhanced them with either folded red raffia, cut red raffia or white gift ribbon. Card candy from Craftwork cards and the sentiment is a Studio G acrylic stamp which I have coloured in with a black pen.

• Backing papers : Dovecraft Ho Ho Ho 8 x 8 collection
• Brads: Dovecraft Ho Ho Ho collection
• Flowers: Mostly from Jozza
• Enhanced bits around the flowers: From my stash
• Sentiment: Acrylic Studio G stamp
• Card Candy: Craftwork Cards