WOYWW 195

Morning everyone,

Bit of an empty desk for me this morning as I haven't been working on anything much over the half term (apart from our lego project!) and then I tidied up the table on Sunday so that we could eat Sunday Lunch at it and haven't gotten around to mess it up again yet!

Hopefully I will have a play later today though which is why I have put my inks and mat out (at least you have something to look at then rather than a very bold tablecloth!).  You will see I have printed out a couple of pagemap sketches and have the latest copy of Craft Stamper - I am hoping to get the mojo together to do a layout!  I know! I only did about three all of last year.

We shall see!  If you want to join in the fun of having a nosey at what folks are getting up to this week then pop over to Julias and link up a picture of your desk.

Thanks for looking - Feeling Scrappy from Solihull

Getting the family involved

My OH and children have also been inspired by all the attention my Windows Phone quilt and phone cover have been getting that we decided to make a new one together out of Lego! (after all we own nearly every set of Star Wars lego that has been made - so it should be easy right?).

DS2 (aged 8) and I started on a snow day a few weeks ago - I did the phone and email tiles, he did the really cool jedi tile on the top left.  We also started working together on the two people tiles - a lot harder to put together than they look! Then DS1 returned home from school and he got involved making the four squares on the top right.  OH finished work and reckoned that a Lego logo would look good instead of the 20:12 and 20:13 tiles I have used in the past - so he got busy on that one.

We finally got to put it all together this half term - discovering that we were short of black bricks - problem solved though as one of our trips away this past week has been up to the Lego Discovery Centre in Manchester (DS2's second favourite place in the whole wide world - the first being Legoland!) so we went and got a load of pick a bricks on our travels.  Imagine our dismay upon our return to find that we were about sixty short!  Not to worry though as yesterday we finally managed to get down to London and go on the London Eye, we also took a trip across town to have a look at the Olympic Park (albeit six months late!) where we also knew there was a Lego shop nearby! so another box of black pick a bricks later and we were able to complete this:

cool eh!  Why oh why Lego did you shut down the Lego shop in the Bull Ring, Birmingham???? this project would have easily been finished weeks ago if it was still there!

Still we have all had such fun working on this - the children are hoping that it is as popular as my sewing creations have been - so if you find this post please like us on facebook here, retweet us @SunshineGirlUK or whatever else you can to get it showcased - they are both so excited!

Btw it measures 25.5" x 13.5" so not very pocket friendly and no I won't be sewing a cover for this one!

Thanks for looking - Surrounded by bricks from Solihull

Lots going on

Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven't been posting much but I don't seem to have stopped the past few days. Children are currently on half term so we have been busy visiting museums and Lego Discovery Centre in Manchester, I managed to get a play pass out on Monday and went to the Stitches Trade Show with Bernice and Jackie - which was a lovely day out looking at lots of new goodies.  We also had a lovely day out with the grandparents in Stratford on Tuesday and yesterday DS1 was invited round to a friends so we had a good sort out and went to the tip! It's always refreshing to have a clear out isn't it. 

Anyway I have been busy on the crafting front - here is my next class for the crop on 17th March:

lots of T!m goodies on here - talking of which I have arranged to run some T!m workshops in my local Hobbycraft - how cool is that!  I will firstly do a demonstration of T!m stuff on Wednesday 6th March, 11am - 2pm so if you are in the area (Unit D3, Solihull Retail Park, Marshall Lake Road, Solihull. B90 4LD) please pop in and say hello - this doesn't require any booking but I will have on display some cards I will make at workshops which will require booking.  Here are a couple of the cards:

a sewing one (of course!)

then a clean and simple one (look at all that white space though - still might have to ink and fill it with text or something....... we shall see!).

Then on another, very exciting, note Microsofts media company have commissioned me to make one of my now infamous phone covers for a prize in a competition that they are going to start running next Monday (25th) - to join in go check out http://www.facebook.com/windowsphoneuk then (no doubt I will repost on here again then too!).

I also have loads of other things lined up for the next few weeks so I might not be overly active on here - Bernice has asked me if I would like to join in with her 12 Months in View year long challenge blog, she also has a call out for guest blog posters so if you are interested check out the link here http://12monthsinview.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/guest-post-call-out.html.  Then I have been commissioned to write an article for a sewing magazine (never been published in a sewing magazine before so that's another woot!) and also yet another blog hop with the quilting girls over at http://www.sewwequilt.com/ so I am going to be busy, busy, busy. 

Yes you could say my mojo is well and truly back and I now finally feel I am ready to step back into the world of crafting and get creative!  Monday was the first anniversary of my Nans death - last year was such a roller coaster of emotions for me and she is still so sadly missed, but I am starting to feel that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I am approaching it, albeit slowly!

Thanks for looking - Lego Lord of the Rings Champion from Solihull

WOYWW 193

Hi everyone,

Gosh it seems an age since I have joined in for the weekly snoop!  Main reason is that I haven't been doing much paper crafting, and although lots of sewing has been going on it has been for blog hops and publications so I haven't been able to showcase it.

I have, however, spent the last two days trying to get some cards done but I seem to have spent hours fiddling about with bits and pieces and not actually sticking anything down - but still lots of fun has been had!

Here is my dining room table so you can see some of my creations dotted around but I have to confess yesterday I had my big craft table out in front of the tv so this has been piled up on the table ready to work on a bit later today (after coffee and a luxury manicure!):

I will be doing some Tim Holtz demonstrations at my local hobbycraft store in a couple of weeks so I need to get prepared for that too! whoo hoo, so there are some Tim bits and pieces dotted around - newest being the frosted film - very nice to play with and the modelling paste is because I need to prepare 20 backgrounds for my next crop class (luckily I have five weeks to get those ready!).  Hope you all like my new extremely bright and funky American Diner table cloth too!

Leave me a comment if you have enjoyed your snoop here today and if you want to join in yourself (go on show us your workspace - you know you want to!) then link up and join in the fun over at Julias.

Thanks for looking - Enjoying the fun in Solihull

Tims February Tags

Yes I said tags!  Whoo hoo - this months challenge has helped kill five birds with one stone! (such a strange saying that isnt it!).  Be warned this a very long post......

The first one is that my mojo is back! whoo hoo, the second is that I have finally gotten around to have a good play with my distress markers that I bought a few months ago, the third is that I have entered T!ms challenge, the fourth is that instead of a valentine tag I thought I would use a Christmas theme instead but then I remembered that I had set myself the extra challenge of using a British or Nursery Rhyme Theme - doh - so I went scouring the internet and this is what I came up with:

Tag one - snow:

Incy wincy spider climbed up the Christmas tree
Down came the snow and incy wincy freezed
On came the Christmas lights and melted all the snow
So incy wincy spider had another go

Tag two - Snowman:

To the tune of I'm a little teapot
I'm a little snowman round and fat
With a wooly scarf and a little bobble hat
Can you count my buttons 1 2 3
pick up some snow and throw it at me!

Tag three - Christmas Tree:

to the tune of 5 currant buns in a baker's shop:
5 christmas trees stood all alone
their hearts were sad cos they didn't have a home
chop went the axe, down went the tree
off it went to a happy family

4 Christmas trees...

and finally, tag four - Soldier:

Five little Soldiers stand in a row,
Four stand up straight and one bends low.
Along came the Seargent and what do you think?
Up pops the Soldier, as quick as a wink

or I could have gone with Nutcracker and:

The Nutcrackers sat by a plate on the table.
The Sugartongs sat by a plate at his side.
And the Nutcrackers said, "Don't you wish we were able
Along the blue hills and green meadows to ride?
Must we drag on this stupid existence forever,
So idle and weary, so full of remorse,
While every one else takes his pleasure, and never
Seems happy unless he is riding a horse?

"Don't you think we could ride without being instructed,
Without any saddle or bridle or spur?
Our legs are so long, and so aptly constructed,
I'm sure that an accident could not occur.
Let us all of a sudden hop down from the table,
And hustle downstairs, and each jump on a horse!
Shall we try? Shall we go? Do you think we are able?"
The Sugartongs answered distinctly, "Of course!"

So down the long staircase they hopped in a minute.
The Sugartongs snapped, and the Crackers said "Crack!"
The stable was open. The horses were in it!
Each took out a pony, and jumped on his back.
The Cat in a fright scrambled out of the doorway.
The Mice tumbled out of a bundle of hay.
The brown and white Rats, and the black ones from Norway,
Screamed out, "They are taking the horses away!"

The whole of the household was filled with amazement.
The Cups and the Saucers danced madly about.
The Plates and the Dishes looked out of the casement.
The Salt shaker stood on his head with a shout.
The Spoons, with a clatter, looked out of the lattice.
The Mustard pot climbed up the gooseberry pies.
The Soup ladle peeped through a heap of veal patties,
And squeaked with a ladle-like scream of surprise.

The Frying pan said, "It's an awful delusion!"
The Teakettle hissed, and grew purple of face.
And they all rushed downstairs in the wildest confusion
To see the great Nutcracker-Sugartong race.
And out of the stable, with screamings and laughter,
their ponies were cream colored, speckled with brown.
The Nutcrackers first, and the Sugartongs after,
Rode all round the yard, and then all round the town.

They rode through the street, and they rode by the station.
They galloped away to the beautiful shore.
In silence they rode, and "made no observation,"
Save this: "We will never go back any more!"
And still you might hear, till they rode out of hearing,
The Sugartongs snap, and the Crackers say "Crack!"
Till, far in the distance their forms disappearing,
They faded away and they never came back!

who would have thought that there were Christmas nursery rhymes?  anyway each tag uses a variety of stains, inks and markers.  Kraftcore cardstock embossed with one of T!ms Christmas folders, Christmas twine, Christmas tissue tape, Noel Ideaology adornments (coloured with promarkers and either bottle, snowcap or ginger alcohol inks). 

On the snowman tag I added one of T!ms diecut snowmen which was done in shrink plastic and melted in my melting pot (such fun!) and two old epoxy stickers I found in my stash, on the Nutcracker tag I added a T!ms Christmas ticket inked with Festive Berries, on the Tree tag I added a fragment with a Father Christmas image and one of T!ms epoxy stickers and metalz framez - remember them? must be about 8 years old - found those in my stash too! and for the Snowflake tag I added another epoxy sticker and frame along with a glass bead mounted onto a Lily of the Valley Christmas quote.

All in all a fun day's play!  What is the fifth bird I hear you ask - well come December all I have to do with these tags is mount them onto a piece of music paper and then onto a card and I have four Christmas card done! Whoo hoo.

Sorry this has been such a long post - hope you have stayed with me until the end......  A big hello to all my new followers who have joined me from the Dare to Dresden blog hop - so glad you all liked my cog quilt! That was such a fun hop wasnt it!

Thanks for looking - Feeling Christmassy again from Solihull

All the above poems were taken from the following websites:

http://www.nursery-rhymes-fun.com/rhymingstories-nutcrackers.html
http://rhymeslyrics.blogspot.co.uk/2008/01/five-little-soldiers.html
http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/Christmas/a1630524-Anyone-know-any-Christmas-versions-of-nursery-rhymes

oh and I have just noticed that this was my 400th post! whoo hoo.