Been AWOL!

OK I know I said I was going to try and post every two weeks, but life - well travel actually, has been getting in the way.
First we went to Australia to visit my sister and her family.
Then a three day stopover in Dubai turned into a week!
Then I went on a fabulous Friendly Plastic retreat in Tintern and last but not least I went to another FP retreat in Colorado and stayed there for three weeks!
So today, my friend is arriving from Colorado and we are going to have a mad month as I show her around the UK.
So watch this space to see our exploits and enjoy.
Take care.

The Matching Necklace

Here it is – the matching necklace I told you about two weeks ago.
I returned to Simply Craft on Saturday for another jewellery class and this is the result.
Once again, it was a relatively straightforward class, but with more of the wire work involved this time.


The things that I find difficult are: turning the t pieces on the round nose pliers to make a nice loop and opening and closing the rings to join things together!
Apparently practice is the key – so I need to sit down with a length of wire and do just that.
Take care.

Golden Wedding Card

I've just made a very quick card for our friends Nancy and Dave, who celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary a week on Saturday.
However, have you noticed that when you make or receive a card using gemstones, that they often pierce the envelope while they are in the mail?


To overcome this, I bought a sheet of holographic dot peel offs and used them to create some faux bling.
This is basically a superfast card. A sheet of gold mirri board, with a section of Kanban cardstock matted onto it.
A few of the afore mentioned holographic dots strategically placed on the flower centres and swirls and a peel off sticker for the word Golden.
I do hope they like it.
Take care.

Beaded Bracelet Class

Now, I tend to be allergic to just about everything when it comes to bling, so I decided that making my own could be the way to go - if only I knew how.
My local craft shop has a very full timetable of classes and yesterday morning I signed up for one on making a white seed pearl and crystal beaded bracelet (and earrings).

I have to say that it was remarkably easy, very enjoyable and completely addictive. Oh dear, I see another pile of stash developing already!
Hope you like the results as much as I do and also some of Vanessa's alternative choices of bead combinations too.
In two weeks time we are going to make a matching necklace - watch this space.
Take care.

Mrs Bucket!

For the novice blogger like myself, getting to grips with Photobucket was yet another challenge in the slow and sometimes painful process.
But it did bring a smile to my face when I logged in and realised that my account is R..... Bucket!
Almost immediately, scary visions of Hyacinth sprang to mind.
The social-climbing snob and her candlelight suppers, who insists her surname is pronounced Bouquet, from the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances
For those who never watched the show, or those who enjoyed it and need a reminder:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/keepingupappearances/index.shtml
So from one Mrs Bucket to all the other Mrs Buckets out there,
Take care.

QVC Outlet Store, Shrewsbury

Well yesterday was truly a Shop Till You Drop Playday!
I've been to the QVC UK Outlet Store in Shrewsbury a couple of times before and yesterday it was time for a well overdue return visit.
It's about two and a half hours drive from my home so we set off at 7am!
It's always a bit of a gamble as you never know what they are going to have on the shelves, so quite an adventure really.
I left my friend browsing the clothes rails (70% off Outlet Store Price) and headed straight for the craft section! LOL

First thing I spotted were some Anna Griffin Craft Totes. I have loads of her stuff but had thought this set was expensive at the introductory price of £44.76 plus p&p.
They were marked at £27.41 less a further 25% and appeared to have most of their contents too.

Next up I spotted another favourite designer, Heidi Grace - Baby Girl kit - now I really should have bought two of these as they were priced at £3.99.












So the goodies are in the car, we grab some lunch and hit the charity shops.
I saw a really nice blouse in the window of the Scope shop and as luck would have it they agreed to undress the mannequin and it fitted perfectly £3.50.
Then another bargain in The Works - a Dena Designs 12 x 12 scrapbook for £5.99.
Last but not least, in Boots, No 7 Time Resisting Day Cream has changed to new formula, so original stock reduced to half price, also on three for two and extra points. What a result!!!
Can't wait for the next time.
Take care.

Shabby Miss Jenn Designs

Well having created my blog earlier this week, I set about looking for ways of making it look more attractive.
I experimented with some free backgrounds but I didn’t like the way that the blog moved and the borders didn’t.
So I started looking at blog header designs for sale and quite by chance came across Shabby Miss Jenn Designs.
If you are looking for a blog kit or kits for Digi Scrapping, then you simply must take a look at her fantastic range of ridiculously inexpensive kits. Click on the beautiful smj button at the bottom of the page.
Anyway, it did take me a while to decide as they are all so gorgeous, but eventually I chose this one - French Attic.
So I click on Paypal and before you know it I have a download with instructions, HTML codes to copy and paste into Blogger and the most delicious selection of images to add text to.
In addition to the instructions, there are great tutorials on her site too, but working on the basis that I have never even used picture hosting websites before, I must admit I did struggle a bit.
So what followed was for me at least, a very steep learning curve – think Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Mount Everest and you should begin to get the idea – but a couple of days later I got there and I hope you’ll agree that it’s looking pretty cool now.
By the way did you know that the 2009 Everest Challenge was in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care? I didn’t.
If you want to read more, or make a donation, take a look at this link: http://www.mariecurie.org.uk/supportus/fundraising/everest/
Finally, if you want to read more about the designer - Shabby Miss Jenn - use this one: http://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/treatofthemonth/shabbymissjenn/
Read all the way down to the bottom and below the images you'll find another link - scrapbook bytes gallery - where she has twenty pages of the most beautiful layouts. Where does she find the time?
Take care.