Hand Crafted Memories

Oh dear I just don't seem to be able to keep up with my blogging. I have some creativity to show but just don't seem to be getting around to posting them here. One thing that has been sadly neglected has been my project of the month from Craftwork Card s. I am behind by two kits but when this month's Moorish kit arrived, I just had to make something. These beautiful Moroccan themed papers are just delicious. As usual everything is beautifully coordinated.   Have you booked your tickets for the Great Northern Papercraft Extravaganza ?  How about a breakfast workshop, here for Saturday or here for Sunday. Where else are you going to find 40 exhibitors under one roof that weekend?

Often when somebody looks through my scrapbook they ask how long it takes to make a page. This always makes me laugh, sometimes it takes days. This always produces a stunned look on their faces, followed with why do you bother? I bother because I enjoy it. It has also given me the chance to revisit and sort out the thousands of photos over they ears and record the story behind the picture. Nothing there that any scrapbooker would be surprised by. I decided to photograph a page coming together. It all started with a challenge over on UK Scrappers .  On the first Thursday of every month they post a colour palette and sketch are posted, then on the third Thursday of the month a variation of the theme is posted. The idea is to rummage through your stash and adapt the challenge to suit what you find. This is perfect for me this year, I want to use as much as I can and not buy unless it is going to be used up immediately.  In January the colours were Hot Pink, Storm Grey and choco...

Today I will be muching on these     Red Velvet Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. How times have changed once I would have looked expectantly to the door mat for a card from some imagined mystery admirer, now I make romantic cupcakes to take to work and share with my colleagues.

Its always sad when somebody has to have an operation, but it makes it worse when the operation goes wrong. I recently spent some time with somebody who needed the same operation that I had 2 years ago, she was very worried and I tried to do my best to settle her mind. It was difficult because my op developed complications. Two weeks ago she was admitted and unfortunalty as they began the operation they cut an artery. She has been very ill and to make matters worse the original procedure has still not been done. It has been a very stressful time, especially for her family but she is now improving.  With this sort of sutuation how do you say get well soon? I had to leave it until I knew she had improved enough to know she was due to be discharged then I made her a card I love this image, it made me smile while I was making it and I hope it made her smile when she got it.

I used to love Star Trek as a child but its really not my thing anymore. I was in Washington DC in 1992 and there was a Star Trek exhibition at the Air and Space museum. I went under duress but it was such a great exhibition that I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Over on UK Scrappers there is another year long challenge hosted by Shimelle , on the 10th of every month a list of products is released. Then on the 20th step by step instructions for a layout are posted. The idea is to you your stash up, that's exactly what I did and substituted everything on this list with stash, I did follow the instructions closely though. The thing that took me so long was getting the photos printed at the right size, so I missed the deadline of the 30th but I still posted it.

I hate the snow, I love it when I'm inside looking out and I don't need to go anywhere. I thought this year we were going to escape, but no. I went to a Stampin Up party at my friend Carolines on Friday, then I was staying over and three of us were going to spend the next day crafting. All was fine until lunchtime on Saturday and then it came. We decided to pack up and because we had that much stuff to pack, by the time we had loaded our cars we had to clear the cars and it took us about 30 minutes. Caroline took some pictures of us, and this is begging to be scrapped. (photo courtesy of Caroline ) We made a card and a little tag as a little make and take at the party, I loved the colours. I like the Stampin Up products and it killed me to try and stay within the budget but as I'm going to the Scrapstars retreat in April and I still need to pay for it I showed restraint. Here is the card and tag.  jut noticed the greeting doesn't look straight on this.

I've decided to stock up my card box, although I like making cards with specific people in mind but sometimes you need a card quickly.  I made a couple of cards that can be used for a number of occasions and popped them into the standby box. Here is the first one, it can be used for a wedding or an engagement. I love this Martha Stewart Heart punch, its very elegant and was perfect for this card.