Wow!

The room has been fitted - a couple of hitches, but nothing disastrous - someone will have to return at some point but it probably won't be this week.

Today (it's now Monday, but this will show as Saturday because the rest of it was saved in draft) we had someone come to measure up for carpet. We chose what we wanted - he phoned to order it and said it would be delivered tomorrow and fitted on Thursday!! It won't go with the room as it's now decorated, but I'll have to put up with that because the decorator can't do it till the autumn because he has so much outside work throughout the summer.

I'm already much appreciating the space of the worktop, which has enough depth to enable me to push my laptop back and have enough space in front of me to craft - and plenty of other space to spread out - I'm sure you other crafters will appreciate that we can never have too much space around us.

I spent most of Friday evening and Saturday doing some of the challenges on Just Bex (in fact I was silly because I should have listened to John when he said I was spending too long and my back would feel worse - and he was right).

I saved all the scans and photos of the challenges in draft (needed to put them on here so that I could host them for displaying on Just Bex forum). Because of the way blogger works they are in reverse order, but I'm not going through them now to change them. Also I would normally say which challenge each is for, but it would just take unnecessary time.

So here they all are:

More detail:

At last

At last here is the other part of 'one template two tasks' on Just Bex. I did the card ages ago and here now is the LO.

It's a happy picture of me with one of our grandchildren.

The papers are from the K & Co 'red hat society' paper pad. It's quite unusual to put red and purple together, but I felt that it went well with the colours in the photo.

Card template four squares and a lonely circle

This is what I made for this challenge on Just Bex:


The papers used have a lovely sheen on them and I think are quite unusual. Unfortunately, I can't remember where they came from (I discovered I'd got them among my 6 x 6 papers). If anyone recognises them and knows the make, I would love to know so I can get some more.

Irl the Congrats circle stands out more as it has a good dollop of silicon glue under it.

Just Bex June Challenge

I've now finished stages 1, 2 and 3, so here are the remaining scans:






This means I'm now up-to-date with this, but there's a final part which is going to be launched tonight. It depends on how the room goes and how I feel (back isn't at all good today) how much crafting I get done.

I want to finish off a couple of things for other challenges and also a couple of CJs.

ATCs

'In the garden' ATCs for the swap on Carolyn's:

'Postal art' ATCs for the swap on Tanda:

The men have arrived to fit the spare room. The disorganised chaos this morning is more disorganised than ever!! but it's all in a good cause. I've managed to put my laptop and printer/scanner on the dining table and so far broadband is still available via my router. As the router is in the spare room, at some point it will have to be switched off, so I'm making use of the connection while it's still here.

Craft organiser

Here is my craft organiser so far:

Outside cover, back and front:


Inside front cover, with a pocket for notes:

Inside back cover, with a pocket for receipts:

Diary section:

So that's parts 1 and 2 of the June project on Just Bex - now I need to see what part 3 is - I think it's printing out templates etc, which I've done already - just need to organise them!

I'm only three weeks behind everyone else!

At last I've finished off the front and back cover of my craft folder for the June project on Just Bex. So that's a start. I need to decorate the inside and then do something with the dividers, print a calendar and insert projects etc.

Today's post

I received this from Christine (Charliecat) for the postcard swap on Carolyn's.

I also received a gorgeous keyring from my secret sender on Carolyn's (I'll take piccie later when time permits).

And I received another page for my Style fat book on Paper n Lace - this time a gorgeous page from Susan. When I've received all my pages (and made my own) I'll show them.

Beside the sea

Here I am again after an absence of nearly a week. The past week has been taken up with sorting my craft stuff and getting it moved out of the spare room ready for the room to be fitted. We're waiting for the phone call to tell us whether the workmen will be here tomorrow or Friday. John has been so good moving my boxes (because of my back I'm unable to help much) and now we have piles of books and boxes in every available space in the lounge (plus quite a few boxes in odd places in bedroom wardrobes). It will all be worthwhile when the room's done, but at the moment I'm trying to catch up with some crafting and I can't readily find what I need.

Anyway, here is my CJ for the group on Just Bex. It's a small group (just four of us) so it won't be too long to wait to get this baby back.

I've enjoyed doing this and am so glad that the seaside QVC scrapbook papers etc arrived in time (began to think they were lost in the post), although in the end I've used a fair bit of other supplies because I had to get started before it arrived.

Masking

I don't really know whether this is worth showing, because the scan is quite poor and doesn't clearly show one shoe behind the other. This card is for the RSC012 on Carolyn 's. I used one of my favourite stamps by 'My Sentiments Exactly'. Firstly, I stamped a piece of white card that had a gold shimmer with tattered rose distress ink and clear embossed it - which left patches that I then dabbed with Brilliance galaxy gold, going over the top again with clear embossing. I then stamped one shoe image with Stazon blazing red and then used a masking paper to stamp the other shoe behind it . (The only problem was that because the stamp is wood mounted I couldn't see exactly where I was placing it, but, fortunately, it went where I wanted it.)

Perhaps a photo, instead of a scan, would show it better (might have a try in the morning).

Apart from this, over the past few days I've still been trying to sort my craft stuff ready for having our spare room fitted. I did some 4 x 4 pages for fat books on Paper n Lace - for five different people in the group - and posted them off today. I forgot to take scans of them, so I can't show them.

I've got my 'What a day!' CJ back - it is beautifully done by my friends in the green team on Carolyn's - thank you so much, everybody. When I've got time (which might have to be after the room's done) I'll put pictures on here. Actually, I'm the only one to have their CJ back because someone did their bit early, so I might even leave it till everyone else gets theirs, which will be two or three weeks' time.

Sorry - I think that's enough waffle!

Circle Journal DLO

I've finished the DLO on Nick's CJ in the group on Carolyn's. The subject was 'A great Saturday night'.

I admit that I just wasn't sure about this one, but now I've done it I think it's OK. I was afraid that mine would be too much like an earlier dlo, but I think it's sufficiently different (hope so). Only one more to go and then we'll be getting our own CJs back!

I haven't done the other half of the challenge I did yesterday. Went to church this morning, but haven't felt too good today. Was disappointed not to be able to go out this evening - it was cafe church and I've missed going along to that.

Half a challenge

This is for the challenge on Just Bex: One template 2 tasks. Here is the template:
One task is to make a card using the template. I made this one using various K & Co papers and a padded heart.

The other part of the challenge is to make a LO from the same template - hopefully I'll be back later to show what I've done (have a lovely photo ready somewhere, but can't find it yet).

Sue's Card Template 3

This is a card for Sue's Card Template 3 (boxes) on Just Bex.

Here I am again

Here I am again, with a card for a challenge on Just Bex: make a Father's Day card without the word 'father' or 'dad' on the front.


My dad died about three and a half years ago, so I don't now make Father's Day cards, but it was lovely to do this one as a tribute to my dad.

A bit of advice

If, like me, you sometimes feel as if you are getting nowhere very much with your crafting, then have a look back over what you've done. I've just been looking back at my earlier blog entries and it has helped me to realise what I can achieve. Not that I'm very talented in what I achieve, but just encouraged. I appreciate other blogs I visit, for the inspiration and talent that people possess - I wish I had a bit more of it, but, nevertheless, I enjoy what I do.

Getting back into the rhythm

One of mum's friends requested a card for her husband's birthday - she asked for it to incorporate a Bible. He is keen on gardening, so I thought a little bit of something floral wouldn't go amiss. I'm hoping she'll like it. The Bible is actually gold foil, but doesn't show up on the scan.

It's one of my niece's wedding anniversary today so the first card is from us and the second one from mum. My brother and sister-in-law are visiting mum today and we're meeting up with them for lunch at the local Beefeater. Then they are going on to stay with my niece, so they will take the cards with them (thank goodness, because I hadn't got organised enough to do them and post). The layer with purple hearts on the second card is acetate.

With all that's been going on in the last week or so, I suddenly realised this morning that I forgot someone's birthday on Saturday, so this is a quick one made with a fabric embellie from a strip from Poundland layered on to magic mesh: