A Slow Kinda Sunday

Today has been a slow, lazy kinda Sunday and I'm really enjoying myself.  I rose at 7.00 am and got elbow deep in grated zucchini (courgette) makin mom's zucchini bread for friends (and the freezer) while hubby was washing cars at church to raise money for faith camp this year.

Each batch makes two hefty loaves of this yummy stuff.  I like it but good job I can resist eating it if I have to.  It freezes so well and comes out just like it went in.  Love that. Oh and my top tip - use liners in your pans - soooo much easier to whip one out and put another batch in.  I have 4 loaf pans and it's still not enough!

Thankfully whenever mom's church put together recipe books to raise funds she sent me one so I have her own recipe 'in print'.  There's barely a day when mom's measuring cups or spoons don't get used in our house (sooooo glad I have them) but they get used double time at this time of year.   I'm sure she used them many times making up this exact same recipe. 

So far I have left this bread on neighbours doorsteps, taken it to work to share, given it away and even sent it along to family whilst we've had a glut of zucchini on our plot to use up. I even let the grandkids make about 4 loaves to take home yesterday. I think we had about 6 plants too many this year because they failed miserably last year would you believe?

Then besides doing a bunch of laundry in between baking - isn't is nice to have some dry weather again?  Never mind hot - just let me get my washing on the line dry!  I have also been crafting on and off all day.

A while back Jessy gave me some pretty papers (to right of photo) that she picked up on a shopping trip and just by chance when I was in at YTOC Saturday I spotted these cute die-cuts that just happen to be from the same range - how cool was that?  I probably over-looked these pretty butterflies more than once without realising it until now.  Better still they were buy two get one free!

And I didn't realise it until I got home but I chose these cute cupcake designs as my freebie set and I discovered she'd given me a couple of sheets of paper to match those as well!  How cool is that?  Guess maybe I was mean't to have em huh?

I have yet to dive into these cupcakes but I've already made a couple of cards with the butterflies and spent way too long pottering around on this page.

I don't even have a photo for it so I don't yet know if I'm gonna keep it, give it or even sell it.  It doesn't really matter which cos all I know is I had great fun tinkering with it today :-) It's full of lovely 3D elements.

I used all kinds of fun things like the Waltzingmouse doily stamps in pink ink which looked stunning with little pearl drops and pretty pink gems for a bit of extra bling.  I inked up chipboard swirls, glittered them up and then used a spray varnish that Jessy bought me so I could seal the glitter.  The whole thing looks really girly and would make a fab baby girl page.

I will post pictures of my cards later.  I still have a couple more things I want to do before I move on to the cupcake designs.  Actually I will probably play some more after work tomorrow and then put these all away for a day or two.  I have a belated b'day pressie to make and pop in the post.  I also have my mother and a couple of my sisters coming for lunch on Wednesday and right now my kitchen table is covered in all this craft stuff - not to mention GLITTER!  It will have to go away before then.

I kinda had a mishap - cleaned up as much as I could and then had another mishap LOL!  DON'T let me near the glitter - seriously!  Not to worry - I'll clean up the entire kitchen long before they arrive.  Thank goodness I got all my baking done early today.

It's actually our 31st wedding anninversary tomorrow.  No fixed plans to do anything unless hubby decides spur of the moment to go to dinner or something but I'm in full craft mode so chances are he won't - bless him.    He knows I'd rather be crafting LOL!  Sooooooo love that man of mine!  And I'm eternally grateful to mom for the fine man she raised too.

Blessings :-)

Suezie

Picnic Perfect!

I had in mind to create a page today so I set all the bits out on the desktop ready for me when I got home from work.  I had a basic design all mapped out in my head and plans to use some of those yummy embellishment stickers by Echo Park Paper Co.

My camera's low on juice so I only have the one picture to share.  It's a bit busy maybe but I just can't help myself I guess.  Love it or loathe it - it seems to be my style.

I used these photos of Maddy on another picnic & play adventure day just to size up and position photos how I think I want them but I hope to use some different ones - just as soon as I take them LOL!

There are lots of cute little features that maybe don't show up quite so well in this shot so I'll explain a few.  I took the journaling blocks and mounted them onto chipboard - even to the point of using my crop-a-dile to cut out the postage stamp edging!  I thought I was real clever doing that LOL! 

I also added the words and 'sweet memories' banner text onto chipboard so it would stand out too.  I 3D mounted the flower stickers using foam pads and added buttons and pearls to them.  I used a fine liner black pen to add lines to my paper so it would be more defined and then finished up with some little pen dots.  I used a mixture of upper and lower case letter stickers to keep it fun.  Remember - you can always click on the photo to see it in a larger size for more detail.

All that's needed is the journaling and of course the right photos but it's nice to know these ones would work if I needed to use them instead.

Well that's it for now.  It's after 10 pm and I have work tomorrow - another day done and dusted.  Maybe tomorrow I'll work on the tags for my picnic in a bucket.  I want to save the rest of the stickers for a few cards so I will have to drag my trusty Sizzix dies out I think.  Should be fun!

Enjoy!

Suezie

An All Round Lovely Day!

Today was my day off this week - a bit strange to have a Monday off but my colleague needed Wednesday this week so I swapped.  I started my day by rising at 6 am (I am an early bird so I'm cool with that) and then Kay came and collected me so I could visit with her in the store for a while which was really nice.  Shirley joined us mid morning and we had an impromptu tutorial.  I expect Kay will teach a Saturday class so if you want to make the cute little box I showed them how to make you'll just have to book on the class LOL!  Sorry!

Next I made it to the post office to post a package to Jessy since it was my turn and even ran an errand for Kay while I was there.  I've been too giddy to venture into town much so it was nice although I had to get right home for an appointment so I couldn't browse much.

My appointment went really well and I even had time afterwards for a quick bit of house cleaning (aaarrrggghhhhh!).  Actually I found a rather unpleasant spider lurking in the bedroom and managed to remove him so it was well worth it. The house isn't spotless - mine rarely is - but it's tidier at least.

Then would you believe?  My groceries were actually delivered at the beginning of my 2 hour delivery slot.  I think that's a first!  We're usually right at the end of the slot.  After I had finished putting them all away I even managed to craft a little before dinner which was a super easy favourite - jacket spud, cheese and beans with a yummy salad on the side - very few dirty dishes to clean too I might add - no wonder I like it LOL.

This evening I have even managed to finish the project I started and here it is.

I needed a birthday card for my youngest grandson who will be 9 next month and I fell in love with this little yellow beetle car!  Once I'd worked out my colour scheme I just grabbed from my scrap baskets and somehow it all came together nicely.

I really liked the black of the wheels and mirrors and since I happened to have a top note die-cut shape in black already cut out on the desktop I added it as a bit of the backdrop.  A few stamped zigzag stitches, some pen detailing and there you have it.  I finished it off with some fun 3D elements like the red chipboard '9', some little white buttons and those BIG gems I grabbed at a yard sale (massive bag for 50p!) that I have yet to use but were perfect for the cars headlights!!!

I know these pictures all look alike but I wanted to show this one to let you see how I changed up the red scalloped circle (way too girly) to a more masculine one.  Die-cut a nestabilities scalloped circle and then on the reverse make a pencil mark at the centre of each scallop (on the outer curved edge).  Working first in one direction - cut from this mark at a diagonal down to where the scallop ends so that you are left with half a scallop and half a point.  Work your way all around the entire circle.

Next flip your die-cut over and cut again - exactly the same as before, same direction, everything.  This should cut the other half of the scallop off leaving you with a pretty cool 'pointy' circle.  You can do this with any size scalloped circle too.  Hopefully this makes sense to you (and hopefully you'll give it a go).

And when I was putting a liner inside I used a 'make a wish' banner sticker I had my eye on and then added a handcut banner strip either side of it.  I may well stamp a further sentiment inside before I give this and if I do I'll use black ink.  I think my grandson is gonna love it!

I was inspired to get crafting today thanks to my visit with Kay and also thanks to her and Amanda yesterday when I attended the little craft fayre they were doing at Bramford near Ipswich.  They'd kindly given me some tickets and by pure chance both Jilly and my god-daughter Natasha were free for the afternoon so we had a 'girls' day out.  Natahsa is definately her 'mother's daughter' and if I have fun with Jilly then it's double fun with Natasha along.

I know this post is long but can I just give a SHOUT OUT to the lovely lady who served us tea and cake - you know who you are :-)  Actually I neglected to ask her name - shame on me! - but she recognised me because she follows my blog.  I promised I'd get back to it so I hope I haven't disappointed.  Maybe we'll bump into each other again and if we do I promise to ask your name - sorry.

Like so many out there I'm watching the pennies right now but I did splurge on some pretty papers and a fab 12 x 12 sticker sheet which was also my inspiration for this card.  Isn't it yummy?  The reverse of the yellow honeycomb paper has cute little bumble bees all over it!  It's made by Echo Park Paper Co. 

I had in mind to do a summer picnic page since we're taking the kids to the park this Friday.  The Abbey Gardens has totally revamped the kiddies play area and now has a little beach section with a decking bridge and a water pump so you can get the sand just right for building sand castles - how fun is that?

I have some brightly coloured buckets somewhere that I intended to use for Easter - one of those 'when I get around to it' projects.  Well I've now decided to pack picnics in each one, walk to the gardens (we're only 5-10 minutes away), eat our picnics and then use the buckets to play in the sand.  I thought I'd use a few of these stickers to make fun tags on each bucket and I even had the idea to tape some coins inside - under the picnic so the kids can go buy themselves an ice cream afterwards.  I'm told the weather should be good again by Friday.  Good - I can't wait but for now I'm lovin the rain cos it means we don't have to go water the vegetables for a while.  Instead we can come home from work, put on our PJs, lounge around and relax a bit.

And just in case you're out there thinking this all sounds like too much of a perfect day - it wasn't.  My washing got drenched and I've had to re-do it which was a bitter pill to swallow but then I did manage to get home from town without so much as a drop of rain on me so I can't really complain.

And I finished off the day with a completed project and a post on the ol' blog.  All in all a lovely day off I think :-)

Hugs to you all out there!  It feels good to be back, be inspired, be crafting again - I've missed it.  I'm now thinkin about the page I want to create with these yummy stickers.

Blessings

Suezie

Yay!

I'm back up and running and it seems like FOREVER since I blogged.  I can't tell you how good it feels to be back!  I just love our good friend Jo who is a computer whizz (IT teacher).  She just happens to be a really busy person so it's taken until tonight to get her over but it was soooooo worth the wait.  Seems like something I downloaded ended up blocking some of my blogger functions - it was as simple as that!

So does anyone by any chance remember the card I made for my daughter using the WMS banner stamp set?  When I sent it I also sent a package with a few extra stamped images for her.  Well I can now post her efforts.

She was so inspired that she grabbed a few Tim Holtz bits and changed up the colours and style to make her own version.  I wish you could see this for real - she sprayed the whole thing with a glitter spray once she was finished so it looks fab up close.

You might just be able to make out the glitter at the bottom of this close up shot.  The whole thing had a lovely shimmer to it.

And since she didn't have an envelope to put the finished card into she used this lovely tissue paper to wrap it up.  Knowing Jess I'm sure she knew I'd like the wrap every bit as much as the card.

I was so surprised by her card that I just had to ring her up right there and then and tell her how much I loved that she had made it for me.  I have now made a further card to send to her since it's my turn to send a package to her but as yet I haven't photographed it.  I will post a picture soon tho'.

In the meantime I will quickly share a little something that I made hubby for father's day.

Jess had included some neat TH papers in her package and one of them was perfect for this giant peg clip.  I knew I had some metal tool embelishments and some screw top eyelets so once I'd mod podged the paper onto the clip I added them for a lovely 3D effect.  My hubby works in a wood shop building bespoke cabins and summer houses so I thought this would help him keep his plans and paper work handy.

I also have plans to make a wooden 'pen' pot to match.  I just couldn't get to YTOC to pick up a pot in time so he'll just have to have it 'post father's day' LOL!

Well that's as much crafting as I've done whilst I've been gone.  Not a lot really but things have been just a bit haywire of late so crafting has taken kind of a back seat for a while. 

Besides bidding farewell to my Great Aunty Dolly (end of an era for sure) we also bid farewell to Amanda's dad John, both in the same week so things have been kinda rough to say the least.  I need to get a package off to Jess at some point and I need a birthday card for my BFF Jilly so I will have to get crafting soon.  I promise I will post piccies when I do.

It's sooooooo good to be back!