HS:MS: HS and Mid-week Catch-Up

I thought I would just check in with a quick catch-up.

I am a regular reader of the HerSpace:MySpace:HisSpace photo challenge blog but I don't get to play along as often as I would like, particularly at the moment when it's dark when I get in from work.

Anyway I popped in today and the prompt was 'Tip'. I could have taken a photo of my craft room which is mostly a complete tip, however I opted for the tip of one of my new set of fineliner pens.

As you know I love doing fake stitching on my cards and so I have been on the look out for suitable fineliner pens so I can stitch in colours other than black, so I was delighted when I found a set of 10 0.3mm ones in my local Sainsbury's. They are in a really clever pack which means you can stand them up on your desk as I demonstrated here (can you tell I love stationery?)

My crafty mojo seems to be in residence at the moment and last night I set down to have a go with my new Sizzlits owl die. I only intended cutting one to see what it was like, but I ended up making a full card!

Ingredients:
Sizzix Sizzlits owl die
Ovals cuts using Nestabilities
Basic Grey 'Infuse' paper
Coffee cup sleeve
Papermania brads
Inking and pen stitching (using one of my new pens)

The lovely Ellen commented on my last post, asking about the recipe binder. Yes, I have started it, but it's still a work in progress. I decided to start the one for my friend's birthday first (as I am on a deadline with that one). Here's a quick pic of it as it is at the moment:

I have done the cover, and one of the dividers but I still need to do the rest of them and design and print the recipe cards themselves. I will post full details and more pics (taken in better light) when it's finished.

I found the idea for it here: http://cathyzielske.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/09/if-you-like-foo.html

I almost forgot, Ellen gave me an award too:

It's the Marie Antoinette Award, but Ellen if you read this can you let me know what it's for :)

Cheers

Ruthie x

New Header and A Bit of Scottish Refreshment

Well, I've finally managed to design myself a proper header. I'm quite pleased with the result although I did spend far too long on it! The black background paper is part of the 'Love Me Forever' kit from 'Sweet Blossom Designs'. It's a great kit, so pop over there and get it. I am determined to do some more stuff with it. I found the link from another fab blog here.


I also found some time (in between faffing on Photoshop and going to the gym) to join in with today's HerSpace:MySpace:HisSpace prompt which is 'Scottish'. I resisted the temptation to pop off to Spar and but some Tunnocks tea cakes, and raided my bottle cap collection instead. So here's my take on 'Scottish' courtesy of the Calendonia Brewery.




(I'm saving the bottlecaps to make one of these fab Crimbo decs)

Cheers

Ruthie x

The Felt Obsession Continues

Well, I just can't get enough of felt on my cards at the moment. I just love cutting it in my Cuttlebug. I think I may be stuck in a bit of a style rut to say the least. It was my mum's birthday this week and this is the card I made (festooned in felt of course).

Papers are SEI, letters are Cuttlebug red tag sale and I added the stitching using embroidery floss.

I am once again lagging behind with the HerSpace:MySpace prompts, but I did manage 'bag' with this shot of my totally lurverly Paul Smith Mini holdall. It was a pressie from Mr Crafty Blogger :)

Had a totally fab evening yesterday. The sun was shining and we headed of to Morecambe for the evening as there were fireworks as part of the Morecambe Seaside Festival. Before the fireworks we had a walk along the prom and a drink the the fabulous cafe at the Midland Hotel.

It's not the greatest photo but it does show how fab the bar is. (This is straight out of the camera so if anyone has any suggestions for how I can improve it using PSE 5 I would be really grateful.)

Of course we had to wait for the sun to go down before the fireworks could begin, but in Morecambe that means you are treated to the most fabulous sunsets:
Here's a couple of shots of the fireworks which were set off from the end of the Stone Jetty.

As it's Sunday it's also SOS day on HerSpace:MySpace and my entry is another shot I took last night.

Morecambe has the totally fab 'Sunset Ices' which parks on the prom near the Midland Hotel. Check out their website here, it's fab. It would have been rude not to sample one so Me and Mr Crafty Blogger both opted for the Stem Ginger ice cream which was yummy.

Cheers,

Ruthie

I've Done It Again - another card and more photos!

Well, I'm on a bit of roll, I've managed today's promt on HerSpace:MySpace and joined in the this week's dare over on Daring Card Makers.

First, the card. This weeks dare was sponsored by Funky Hand and the challenge was to make a card using a template posted on the DCM blog (view here). I needed to do a birthday card ready for when I go back to work tomorrow and so it provided some much needed inspiration. Here's the finished item:

I used K&CO Amy Butler papers, hobbycraft ribbon, cuttlebug cake die, cuttlebug bloom dots embossing folder and more Sizzix felt flowers.

Today's HerSpace:MySpace prompt was 'Sweet'. I don't need much encouragement to find 'Sweet' in my space, although I found these babies down at the Spar this morning and decided to give them a good home.

I love Tunnocks tea cakes and I've found out via the wonder of the interweb and the fabulous I Like website that they have a tea room at the factory. A trip (further) up north beckons methinks! (Check out the I Like pics of the tea room here)

I also found another sweet in my space courtesy of my sugar pourer as I have been doing lots of brewing up for the joiner who is working hard on the new Crafty Blogger kitchen.

Over the last week I've also discovered the joy of Flickr. I hadn't really used the site before but I registered to post my pictures of the Midland Hotel and Morecambe. I'm loving the whole 'group' thing. A couple of my pics were picked up by the admin for a Midland Hotel group which introduced me to the whole concept, but today I found that 'Jug of Tea' has it's own group, so I just had to join and post the pic I had taken on my birthday trip (see earlier post). It's great that a derelict seaside tea hut has been photographed by so many people.

Today's blog post is brought to you...................

............. by the letters I, O, E and Y


I'm catching up with the final few letters on SuzyB's challenges over on HerSpace:MySpace.


First is 'I'


This is another shot taken on my birthday trip to Morecambe. It's the magpie hopscotch game on the stone jetty. I was hoping 'I' would be one of the letters Suzy picked when I saw the shot. I've tweaked it a bit in photoshop Kirsty Wiseman stylie using one of the tutorials from her Zyuz It Up Elements pack (buy it here).

Next is 'O'

I took this shot this morning, after I decided I didn't really like my original 'O' shot.

Now 'E'


I really struggled with this one. In the end I opted for a shot of the corner of a photo frame which has our wedding picture in it. I'm not really sure how obvious the 'E' is though.

And finally 'Y'

The stem of one of my orchids obliged for this one:

I'm off now to try and find someone or something for SPS. But finally in honour of the post title, a little pic not taken by me.

Cheers

Ruthie x

New Perfume

Two dares on this post. First up is the 'New', courtesy of Lynne's dare over on Daring Card Makers.

'New'

So not only New Year, but maybe New Home, New Baby, New Job or maybe a card for someone who is starting a new chapter in their life.

I opted for a new home card, kind of apt for me at the moment as we are selling our house at the moment and so hopefully will be moving in 2008. Who knows, this card may get left in the house for the next owners of our home!

Once again I used the bound spine effect - quite into that at the moment. Not the best photo due to dark winter afternoons (and my lack of photographic ability).

The papers are all BG Infuse, silk blooms and ribbon from stash and brass key charm from Crafts By Carolyn. The chipboard flower is my fave technique - mountboard covered paper cut in the Cuttlebug!

'Perfume'

So that was new. Now onto 'Perfume' which was yesterday's prompt on HerSpace:MySpace photographic challenge blog.

Combining this with a post about new is quite apt as I got some new perfume for Christmas and here it is:

Both bottles came in a gift pack, I can't quite decide which is my fave at the moment but I think the red one may run out first.

Cheers,

Ruthie