....5 or 6

Welcome welcome welcome
As you can tell lately i have been in a card making mood so here are my weekend efforts.

Now i am finally up to date with my 52?'s as of last night of course so i expect there will be another one today. I really like the idea of these, some of the questions i have found hard and some don't really apply but i am having fun using lots of scraps and trying new techniques.

I haven't been able to sew at all lately (ie hand sewing on my coffee table quilt) as i tried out a new nail lady last week-i have been having manicures on and of for the last 25 years-and never ever have i had a reaction like i have got now. I don't know what cream she used but my fingers are red and itchy and lots of broken skin suffice to say that the chemist took one look and said i cant help you :( Surely their must be something i can put on them it looks a bit like eczema and i know that can break the skin and that there are creams for that. hmph!!

Okay that's my whinge and quite possibly my BIG excuse for not doing any sewing.

Joe is still away and we haven't heard from him for two days now as their mobiles are out of range. (In Aus our cell phone coverage does not cover all of Australia, and Joe is in the remote north of WA I guess you would call it the outback). It's fathers day on Sunday as well and he wont be here for that, very close to dads passing so i will make sure that mum is with us bright and early.

Boy when i started this post i thought that i didn't have much to say. Ha should have known better.

Am going now, have a wonderful week everyone

Linda

xoxo

A Girl & Her Grandfather

Yippee it's the weekend.
Our house is so quiet without Joe, it's amazing how much of a difference it makes. Joe is away for a whole two weeks (the longest he has been away from home) with the FESA Cadets (fire & emergency) they are participating in the GWN Trek. Going ahead of the rally cars and setting up the bases for all of the drivers and crew. This year they are going up the middle of WA and stopping of at most country towns giving away show bags and raising money for Appealathon-i think.
They will finish in Broome which for all you non WA people is quite a big country town famous for its perfect beaches,tropical weather and pearls.

Here is a LO that took me half an hour earlier this evening. I knew how i wanted it to look and i must say that it came out better than what i had in my mind so you have to be happy with that.
Again the papers are from Basic Grey, it has a lot of "white space" but i like that look. I came across the two younger photos of Caitlin and dad when i was sorting through a very big box of photos that mum gave me. I always remember when i was little dad used to have this old shoebox with hundreds of little black and white photos in it, i would sneak in and start looking at the photos but as i didn't know anyone in the photos i quickly got bored and completely forgot about the box. I wish that i had remembered as i could have asked dad a lot of questions and done a lot of vintage scrapping. There is also quite a few photos from mums childhood so i am going to sort through them and get her to write about them so i will know for later when i get to scrap them.
There were photos of dad that even mum said she had never seen before or maybe she had but it was such a long time ago that she has forgotten. This is what scrapbooking is all about, recording things a bit like a diary for future generations to share.
WOW that was D & M.
What does everyone have planned for the weekend?
Andrew and I are home alone on Saturday night so maybe we will go out to dinner.
Whatever you plan to do I hope that you have a good one
Linda

.....or 3 or 4 (Continued)

Gosh it's cold here today. Surely it must be 15 degrees maximum and when you are not used to the cold it sure does feel cold.
What a perfect day for making bread, more lemon cordial and lots of crafty things.
This is the last of Tracey's card packs that i had to finish. For the orange one i needed a mesh stamp and as i didn't have one i improvised and drew one. The top right one was not as Tracey's instructions as i was too lazy to cut out circles :) This is another idea that i borrowed/stole from Tracey. These are tiny cute little cards for lunch boxes. All made from scraps and a great way to try out some of my new stamps. The edges are perforated so you just tear them open. This one is for Caitlin and inside it says "I love you" (mushy huh). The one below is for Caitlin's friend Brie and says "I hope you are having a good day". I would not dare put one in Joe's lunch box. I have made them before and Caitlin was wrapped to open her lunch box and find it (everyone loves little surprises even 17 yo girls.)

I am still about 6 questions behind on my 52Q's quest so here are 3 more and i will get to work on the rest.

As you can see my new stamps included some cute Asian dolls (all from Hero Arts) for the middle tag i painted some canvas and embossed the little girl over the top.

We had a nice lunch with mum and she got to take home a plate of leftovers and half an apple pie that I made.

As i look through my window outside what a parody i see. Andrew sitting reading by the pool ALL RUGGED UP with his headphones on listening to the radio. How anyone can read and listen to music at the same time is beyond me, he must be freezing.

That's all my papercraft for the weekend i am now going to go and do some stitching on my never ending coffee table quilt.

Have a good night

Linda

A Card or 2

Helllooo everyone, i hope that you all are having a wonderful weekend with a little bit of r & r and a little bit of family time and of course a little bit of me time.

First up is my entry for the monthly challenge at TM's
It's a bit different than what i usually do-I have never used paint like this on a LO before and the colours would not be my choice as i tend to opt for the warmer and natural colours. This is why it's called a challenge. It's funny these things sit in my too hard basket for a couple of weeks then I get them out and inspiration strikes. This is one of my favourite photos of Joe he was 6 months old. I have made quite a few cards this week (none are my own designs). These Christmas ones are from a kit designed by Tracey aren't they gorgeous.

And these ones are a kit from you guessed it my favourite Co. "Basic Grey". They were really easy, everything is supplied even the envelopes. Two are missing as I have already used them.

If you are in to handbags click on the link on the left. (DIY Bag Lover)What a fabulous blog, there has to be hundreds? oh OK, a lot of patterns here for so many different handbags and they are all for free. Most have tutorials as well-that's for people like me who need step by step instructions. Even if you cant sew its worth a look and then maybe you could find a nice friend to make one for you. Ha - don't ask me b/c you will be waiting a loooooong time.

My mum is coming over for lunch tomorrow and we are going to have roast lamb (it is Sunday after all). I figure that mum will probably never cook a roast again as it is way to much for one person to eat and as mum has a sweet tooth i had better go and think about what we will be having for sweets.

Thanks for stopping by
Linda

An Abundance of Lemons

It's that time where we have an abundance of lemons and i was going to make lemon butter but when i saw that the recipe makes 3 jars and they all have to be consumed within two weeks, i like it but i don't like it that much. So then i got out my trusty new cookbook "A year in a bottle" by Sally Wise and came across this super easy recipe for lemon cordial. No waiting around for this one, once it has cooled you can use it straight away and it was so easy to do. The cordial keeps for years and it really does taste nice. I am looking forward to having a nice cool refreshing drink of this when summer comes around. Now i am not to sure about copyright laws so if you want the recipe just email me and i will give it to you. Rumi gave me this recipe for iced tea which i had to try as Andrew and Caitlin love this drink and I added lemon slices to this as well. A big hit they really liked it. (Thanks Rumi)

Here is a LO that i made this week, a fun one and yes i know...i need to take some more photos of myself.

I hope that you all had a good weekend and that your week ahead is not to busy. Remember to take a little time out just for yourself even if its 1 hour, to read, craft or just relax we all so deserve it.

Thanks for visiting

Linda

Jeans,Jeans and more Jeans

A couple of years ago when i was visiting my local quilt store these quilts were all the rage although i must say that i only ever saw them made in flannelet (sorry wrong spelling). Now with my sewing as i have said before i always take the easy approach and near enough is good enough so i had a good look at how they were made and thought i could do it. Now back at home i had a huge pile of old jeans that i thought was a waste to throw away so here we have my denim quilt with the seams sewn on the outside and clipped, no binding or quilting required. If you look closely i even made the pockets into squares. This quilt is one of my daughters favourites. So don't through your old jeans away make a quilt. Here are some more cards that i have made. All quite easy really as i need them asap.

For the leaf one i even attempted "masking" something i have never done before. It's an Ok card nothing flash. I like the one with the bird transparency on it.

My two children have got their athletics carnival tomorrow. I think that Joe is praying for rain. As this is Caitlin's last year at high school we have spent the last two days getting gold face paint,hair dye, hats and you name it. I think that it's the very first sports carnival she has ever looked forward to.

Now i am going to go and do a LO or oops i should be doing the "challenge to myself" post last month. Andrew has gone and purchased the rods to hang my applique on and ooooppppps i still haven't made the pockets for them.

Hope you all are having a good week.

Maybe i will go and read all of your posts, yeah that sounds better but first i am going to make a coffee and go find something sweet.

xx

Quick & Easy

THANK YOU all for your wishes, prayers and thoughts. When the time came it came quite fast and although I had often said in the past couple of weeks that i wish my dad would die in his sleep to end his suffering the reality of it was another thing. We all didn't think it would happen as fast as it did. My mum is coping extremely well my DH not so well. Me i am fine I just don't think about it too hard. Anyway enough said, time does not stand still.

I have been doing a few crafty projects but mainly ones that are scrap lifted and didn't require much thought. This one is a lift from Nerrida Mitchell you can find her original here
a cute photo of Andrew holding Caitlin a precious new born only hours old. This is a scraplift from one of my favourite American scrappers Kelly Goree who just happens to be a designer for Basic Grey my very favourite scrapbooking co. I know that its pink and i know that i have put a boy photo with it but who says that pink is just for girls and pink and green what a fab combo. AND pay attention Susan,Tracey and Rumi this has sewing on it. I actually got out my machine and used it on this LO. Too bad you cant really see it.

Now this LO is all mine. I got these fabulous journalling cards from 7gypsies that i just had to use and as you can see i have used my cricut (cutting machine) for some of the title and embellishments.

I have also made a stack of thank you cards for mum but she took them before i got a chance to photo them. Never mind now i have to go and make a bunch for myself to send out.

Thank you all once again.

Hope that you are having or have had a good weekend.

Love me.

xx