Feelin' groovy!

I keep singing the first line of this song, as the time just seems to be running away!
I've been quite busy - making things and having time with my grandchildren and the days just seem to have run into each other. At least I know I'm not on my own though as I'm sure quite a few of you are experiencing what I call gingerbread clock lol.


I made some friends some needle felted flowers which they seemed to like.

                 My favourite
I've also made a few cards but with limited time I limited my stamps and made several on this theme

Using one of Lindsay Mason's stamps from her fabulous winter themed stamps 'Build a snowy scene'
I also made several similar to this....

....using a snowman from a set that I think was Inkadinkado from a few years ago. I love him so much I thought it was time he came to play again!


Finally I must show you this, my son gave me this as a surprise present for my birthday this week(I've reached that Beatles song age!) I had requested no presents(it's ok I will get presents at Christmas) but I was so pleased with this - it's a dull old stone cut in half and has the feature carved out and polished...isn't he cute?

 here is the bottom, although the poor light and shaky hand doesn't show it up very well.

Right off to get ready, we're off to see Santa with grandchildren tomorrow. I feel strangely excited.....the magic is getting to me!
Thanks for looking, Chris

Little monster!

My youngest grandson loves Moshi monsters so when I picked him up from school and the usual question came up -"Are we crafting today Gran?" I told him we were going to do something different but "yes we we were crafting!" I had taken my needle felting bag with me, he chose his favourite monster and we cut out some felt and looked for wooltops in an appropriate colour. He is only 6(and 3/4!)but managed amazing well after having 'the safety talk' - mind your fingers etc. 

We did use my little holding tool for starting off but once he got going as you can see he did quite well


We then came up with a combined effort of an imaginary monster which he stuck to the fridge with a pair of magnets as soon as I had photographed it!

                     Cute huh?


On Wednesday my other grandchildrens' school closed for the strike so I had a lovely day with them too! My eldest grandson loves playing football on the WII(he has to have a time limit or I think he would do nothing else all day!!)so of course it was challenge Gran time - I lost count of the number of own goals I scored lol!
My grand-daughter was able to play with my new toy. 

I had bought her a child's version a while ago but she couldn't manage it(having tried it myself I'm not surprised) but this one she managed quite well, with a bit of help!It makes the most fantastic thick tubes! 
I had some lovely fluffy wool with rainbow colours through it so we made two bracelets on to which I then sewed coloured buttons (she was quite fussy about the choice of colours too)

I only took one photo but they were very similar. She wore them with pride when we picked Daddy up to go out for some tea!
 So....today - get on with making some presents, but what an awful grey light and rain pounding outside, might need chocolate as well....


Thanks for looking, Chris.

Not too late am I?

Phew!!!Only just got around to taking photos so just a few days late with the last of the year's 365/2011 journal. This is organised by the talented Kate Crane and if you want to see more look here.
It has been a busy month with one or two traumatic moments but I'm slowly getting back to normal(well, normal for me lol )
Here are November's pages complete

and I've already started to fill in December's pages.

Hopefully a better month, although I'm not looking forward to the cold weather - weren't we lucky to have the mild days we did?


One thing we have to look forward to is getting our flat on Saturday. We will be getting alterations arranged, we hope to have a new kitchen and bathroom and some decorating done before we move in sometime next year(have to sell our house first)I will have to remember to take 'before' pics won't I?


Thanks for looking, Chris

Jogging along!

Things still a bit wobbly but I am getting on with things! Year books for grandchildren almost done, some presents started and some journaling too. Books are still secret as are presents but here are a couple of journal pages!

I had convinced myself that I could  live without chocolate -but realise that sometimes it's a staple food!!

Just playing around with pen, paint, ink and getting a 

few thoughts down made me feel better! Just added a bit of lace and mop up baby wipe to give a bit of texture afterwards.

I went for a bit of retail therapy yesterday, Abakhan had 15% off everything so I came back with wool, beads, some fabric and a new toy which I'll show you soon!

Thanks for looking and Thank you again for all your encouraging comments which are greatly appreciated.

Chris

Wishing!

Sometimes I wish I had a magic wand or a time machine that could take me back to a time when I could see trouble coming and that maybe I could head things off. Unfortunately I have neither and events that have happened recently have turned my world upside down. I don't feel it fair to talk about these events as they are not really about my world so much as members of my family but I feel so helpless!


I have been trying to carry on as I had a commitment to provide some things for a charity stall at a craft fair but haven't taken any photos. I have also been trying to keep up with the scrapbooks for my grandchildren. I try to make a memory book of events we have shared over the year. Sorry, can't spoil the surprise there!


So here are some pics of some of the things I did back in October.   

These two are made using a template from Molly Makes magazine. I couldn't resist the pear shape, but decided they needed a bit of needle felting into them.

This was made by just sitting playing one day. The stripy heart shape was cut from a piece that I just felted random threads into. 

I hope I can get myself back to normal soon, I have been sitting at nights needle felting and knitting with a little bit of journaling but just haven't felt like taking photos the next day -not sleeping well:( 

I hope you will come back to visit soon. Thanks for looking, Chris

October over, November new

There was I, all set to show you my new pages when I realised I hadn't taken a photo of October's pages and it was too dark to take any photos 'til today.

This is for Kate Crane's 365/2011 journal challenge. I am amazed that I've kept up with this, but like lots of others I really enjoy doing it! 

Here is how November's pages started, I was thinking 'fireworks' and just started by smooshing in distress inks in black soot, faded jeans and dusty concorde then a quick spray with Perfect Pearls mist -blue smoke, then splashed a water brush over the end of some NeocoloursII to make splashy fireworks. I then ran the brush over the page in swooshes. When it was dry I rubbed some black soot ink around the edge.
I then chose some bright papers stamped with a little snowy, starry stamp from Hobbyarts using a Big and juicy pad.
It was only as I started to stick the papers down that I started to recite the old rhyme, Remember, remember, the 5th of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot...and thought that Remembrance day should have place in these pages, especially as we have a special date 11.11.11. 

Hence, along with the stickles fireworks I have Mort with a poppy!

It looked a bit empty so I drew in some silhouette houses

 Had to use the computer for the words as when I was writing it  I made a spelling mistake,he'he!!Two identical words and I make a mistake....

I'm still busy trying to sort the 'stuff' we seem to have collected over the years and I'm almost ready for the boot sale on Sunday(thank goodness it's indoors as the forecast isn't good) I know that is by no means all we have to sort - I've only been looking for potential boot sale items recently. Meanwhile there is no news on the flat front, just waiting for paperwork to be completed.

Will try to get back soon with some more of what I've been up to, meanwhile I hope to get to have a peep at how others see November. Thanks for looking, Chris

Yes,yes,yes....

It's ok I haven't gone all When Harry met Sally, this is because I've completed my pages in time for Dawn's Journal's Journey challenge. I love being part of this, if you want to know more either click here or on the button in my sidebar (thanks Dawn - I did it, yay!)
This month the theme was Autumn and Nature. As I'm a big Kinks Fan this had to be my starter!!!

 Layers using distress inks and perfect pearls over a mask(whoops, can't remember what, I started this ages ago), a peel off, then drew in leaves and berries, words written onto a page from an old gazeteer.


This last two weeks have been just a little busy, and with hubby off on half term last week too. We did get away for a few days but came back to a pile of sorting out so we can do a boot sale this weekend - a bit of an ongoing job too as I'm determined to have a big clearout while we can - I was quite shocked to find that boot sales now start 6.00 in the morning!


I did find some time to craft while we were away and will try to get to show what I've been doing later this week.


Thanks for looking, Chris