Beary special

The challenge crew on Crafts by Carolyn say: 'so we want you to make a card for any occasion but it must be

BEARY SPECIAL

Here are three from me:





(Although it's a bit of a wrong time of year to use that one ... roll on next summer!)

'You need to sit down'

Sue set the Friday night challenge on 7 September on Just Bex (yes, I know I'm way behind the times!) was: 'you need to sit down and relax ... now this challenge - and I BET you chose NOT to accept it !!! is to make a card using ........ wait for it ...... PEEL OFFS!!

Sue and many others have shown such style and invention using their peel offs. Mine is just a sad, naff card:

TEAR Fund sale update

I've just heard that I've sold another £10 worth of Christmas cards and someone else wants £10 worth tonight, so that will add another £6 to the total for TEAR Fund. I now have £60 + a donation of £10 to send. I'm keeping it open for a week or two in case anyone else wants to have some cards (if you're local and reading this, you'd always be welcome to come and have a coffee and a browse).

JB September challenge 12

This was one of the challenges on Just Bex: 'This challenge is to create a LO using only back and white and a splash of one other colour'.

I've used BG scarlet's letter papers and other bits. That's me as a bridesmaid when I was six:

HS:MS blade

A flat sharp cutting edge. Find 'blade' in your space today.

Here's a picture of the blade of my food processor. I've had this for years and keep talking of replacing it because the blade isn't half as sharp as it used to be:



Sally was asking about the 'random' photos. They are the result of a daily photo challenge on Her Space : My Space

HS:MS mesh

A material made from a network of wire or threads. Show us 'mesh' in your space today.

This is a sieve that is frequently used in my kitchen:



I hope everyone's having a better day than I am!! (computer problems, not to mention other things).

Tagged by Emma

I was also tagged by Emma

Emma said: Here are the rules which you must abide by if you are tagged.
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Right then here goes:

Firstly I must explain that I've done this one before, so I might be repeating myself (but I don't suppose anyone will remember):

1. I've never ridden a bicyle
2. I can't swim
3. I remained single until I was 43
4. I've had my photo in Hello magazine
5. I've sung a solo in the Royal Albert Hall
6. One of my favourite books is 'Rebecca' by Daphne Du Maurier
7. One of my favourite films is 'A touch of class'

As Emma said, that was hard (even though I've done it before - tried to think up different things, but there are some repeats).

I now tag:

Rachael
Kate
Louise
Diana
etteY
Rach
Sharon

These are all friends on HS:MS - if you haven't visited it yet, check it out!

Tagged by Andrea

I was tagged a few days ago by Andrea and I apologise for not doing this before.

Here goes:

4 places I have worked:
1. BX Plastics, Manningtree
2. BXL, London
3. Brook Street Bureau temping
4. Turnham Primary School

4 places I have lived:
1. Dovercourt
2. Catford
3. Petts Wood
4. Bromley

4 places I have visited:
1. Singapore
2. Perth, Australia
3. Hong Kong
4. Bermuda

4 favourite foods:
1. dark chocolate
2. chips (but don't often have them nowadays)
3. pasta
4. strawberries

4 places I would rather be:
1 - 4. on holiday somewhere warm

4 blogging buddies - because I love to visit their blogs:

1. Chris
2. Bobs
3. Suzy B
4. Charli

Apologies to Andrea and Emma

I got tagged the other day by Andrea and Emma (two different tags) and I told them I'd do them when my sale was over, but I'm sorry, girls, I haven't done it yet. I will tomorrow.

Just Bex September challenge 1 O's and X's

This was the template that Sue gave us:



And here is my card (it really is square, honestly - photo taken on the slant to avoid flash reflection in the middle):



Earlier this evening I did a card for a chinese whisper swap on Carolyn's, but I can't show it yet until all the others have been seen.

HS:MS tray

A flat , shallow container for carrying food, drin k and small items. Find a 'tray' in your space.

This is my favourite tray, although it doesn't get used very often:



And this is one that I use a lot. When I first had a vertebra fracture my mum bought me a special craft lap tray, but I couldn't use it because it was too big and cumbersome. This is my old, old lap tray, but it still gets plenty of use. I find that towards the end of the day however my back has felt earlier, the pain isn't good and I tend now to sit in my armchair for my evening meal, using my lap tray:

Just Bex September challenge 10 folding card

During September I didn't take part in challenges on Just Bex because I was preparing for my card sale. I know that many people incorporate the challenges at the same time, but I couldn't cope with trying to do that.

Yesterday I decided to try and get back into the swing of things, so I started on September challenge 10 foldering card: to make a folding card like the one below . It's made from one sheet of cardstock, and is very straightforward!' and there were clear instructions to achieve the card.

Having got all the bits out to do the card, I half finished it last night and have to admit that I didn't feel like completely it tonight, but I have, and I'm glad I did.

I've made an anniverary card for my brother and sister-in-law (I hope it's safe to show, because I don't think they look here very often).

The hearts tucked inside the little envelope have their initials on them.

Most of the cardstock and bits used were from K & Co Brookfield range:











I'm so thankful that Nicky set this challenge, because it's made an unusual anniversary card - it's certainly something I'll try again sometime.

RAK received

Postie came this afternoon (we had given up thinking there was any post today) and I received a RAK from Karen G on Carolyn's forum:



Thank you, Karen. A bit of cheer on a sad day (family-wise - can't go into it).

HS:MS card

A Piece of thick, stiff paper. Find 'card' in your space today.

A couple of pictures of some of the card in my space. The first one shows a section of eleven A4 trays with ten 12 x 12 trays to the left. The second picture shows part of a 15 drawer cabinet which is now housed inside a cupboard in my newly fitted out room (well, it was done in July, but still has to be decorated). You can see how disorganised I am because I still haven't changed the labels on the drawers since sorting out card.

Patsy's 10,000 hits competition

Patsy is running a competition on her blog. She says: 'As a few of you know, I haven't been very well recently so I thought what better way to cheer me up than to see you create a 'Get Well Soon' card! It doesn't have to be for me really lol! But I'd like to see your creations so post a link here. I'll give you two weeks from today to post here and then I'll get my lovely assistant (DD) to help me pick a winner!
Anyone can enter (worldwide) and you can enter more than once if you so wish.....
So, I can't wait to see your gorgeous creations :) Go on, have a go!!! :)
Patsy x'

So here is my entry:



This morning I've been stamping for a swap on Just Bex - A5 sheets of Christmas stamps - chose six of my favourites, and stamped up quite a few for myself while I was at it - so there will be some more Christmas cards soon.

HS:MS wheel

A circular object that revolves on an axle. Find a wheel in your space today.

I chose the little wheels underneath the basket that pulls out in the dishwasher. I changed it to black and white (it seemed to look a bit better):

HS:MS SOS 6

'Your day to let those photo's shine !!!!!'

My photos today are nothing special, but they bring back memories for me. This afternoon I went to visit a friend in our local hospital. Two years ago today John was admitted there, following a heart attack (he hadn't realised he'd had one) and tests revealed that he was in urgent need of surgery, so that a week later he had a heart bypass op in King's College Hospital. We are both so grateful to God that our GP acted promptly to get John to hospital even though neither of us thought it was necessary. The last two years haven't been easy, but we're so thankful that John was diagnosed (apparently another fatal heart attack would have followed) and given the op he needed. Although he's not in the best of health, these last two years have been very precious to us.

HS:MS SPS 6

Another Saturday, another Self Portrait!!!

Well, here I am at the end of a tiring day. I'm not sure what I did to achieve this, but I firstly made it 'antique' (sounds just about right for me) and then played around with the hue etc:



As a few people have commented on the way I cropped the picture, I thought I'd show the original before it was changed. This was it:



so not much cropping really.

Sale in aid of TEAR Fund

I knew that quite a few people for various reasons wouldn't be able to come along today, but I was still disappointed when the response was poor this morning - although, of course, I was very pleased to see those who did come. There were more people this afternoon (making a total of 14 throughout the day) and in the end I sold £180 worth of cards, so I'll be able to send £54 to TEAR Fund plus a donation of £10.

I was glad that I made packs of Christmas cards - selling 5 in a pack for £2, because I sold 21 of these. I also sold 40 indidividual Christmas cards at £1 each and 50 cards made from recycling other cards. Apart from that I sold 45 other greetings cards, costing either £1.50 or £2 each.

I'm really appreciative of those who came and supported this worthy cause.

Lighthouse ATCs

These ATCs are for this month's swap on Crafts by Carolyn. They are very simple (perhaps because I was running out of time!):

Lemon and Lime ATCs

The theme for this month's ATC swap on Tanda Stamps is 'lemon and lime'. I had the mad idea of using real lemon slices to stamp and emboss. Here are the results.

The first photo is flash and reflects the light, but probably shows up the detail of the lemon stamping better than the non-flash photo below it:





Well I tried something different!