ICAD17: Week 8

Hey,

So here is week 8 of ICAD. This was a hard week for me, with the loss of Archie and the last thing I made before all of that was the Adjective card..

Bizarre summed up my week at that point, little did I know :(

I was torn between the Zombies card and Sepia as my faves..but ended up going with Sepia. 

I love this card, it's so not my style, but I really love it and the 'Sepia' tones you see I created with bronze distress paint and a baby wipe!

I'll show you week 9 over the weekend, but if you want a sneaky peek go here and look at all 61 of my cards.

Cx

Farewell My Beloved Boy...

Hey,

I wasn't sure if I wanted to do this, but I felt Archie deserved his very own post..

Last week Archie was very sick, rather suddenly. We did a whole host of tests, but on Saturday night we had to take him to ER and then subsequently made the decision to put him to sleep.

We had Archie 10 years (some careful maths made us recant the previous 12 year guesstimate) and he was so amazing.

He came to us with his Sister as a nervous, but stroke wanting feral cat. He left us as a semi-relaxed, stroke demanding, inquisitive, blanket loving, playful softy cat.

Once he got to NYC he became Archie 2.0 - he discovered a love of sunpatches, chilling on the sofa and the bed, he found out that cat treats are amazing and his favourite thing ever was to snuggle next to his 'Dad' on the sofa. He also had a mini love affair with my Dad aka Granddad last year and that was so awesome to watch.

Daddy / Granddad and Archie

He trusted us and that made it worth 5 years of patience (we always knew he'd come around).

Hubby and I are pretty broken up and we are missing his physical presence so much.

RIP Archibald, we love you.

Cx

Happy Birthday Hubby..

Hey,

Happy Friday and Happy Birthday to my Hubby.

We have had a seriously rough week, we have a very sick Archie Cat... but I am determined that Hubby will have birthday celebrations.

Hubby loves Sloths and recently we have been watching a lot of nature programs - one of which had a big feature on Sloths. So it seemed right that I use the Lawn Fawn 'Hang in There' stamp for his card.

I decided to make it a shaker, as Hubby is also a fan of a shaker!

Super simple to make and that great window die is by Memory Box and I got it on super bargain sale.

Have a great weekend.

Cx

Naughty or Nice...Over the rainbow...

Hey,

So I am home, back with Hubby and the Furbabies and back at my desk and very happy to be here..

I saw this great challenge blog called Naughty or Nice whilst I was away AND they have a DT call...

I really wanted to enter a) because the image cracked me up and b) who doesn't love a rainbow..

I've been singing Red and Yellow and Pink and Green, etc..as I made my card :)

I decided to use the awesome Unicorn digistamp by Bugaboo that JT gave me as part of last year's $20 challenge. I fussy cut it out and then put it to one side, because I wanted to let the background inform how I coloured it.

I created rainbow stripes using 2 pieces of masking tape to create a stripe, I then used the fat end of my Promarkers to colour between the 2 pieces of tape - voila stripes! I like this technique because you can be as uniform as you like. This time I decided random sized stripes were best.

The excellent sentiment is by Unity Stamp Co and I love it and totally overuse it!

Fun card, I think it will make an excellent birthday card.

I would love to be part of the Naughty or Nice design team, they seem like a lot of fun and I love the idea of 'naughty' cards.

I'm off to brunch now :)

Cx

Reworking Vikings..

Hey,

Happy Friday!

This week has whizzed by and tomorrow I'll be returning home to Hubby and my Furbabies.

I thought I'd join in the MarkerPOP challenge - #89 Anything goes.

I made my cards using the colouring I did during The Daily Marker colouring challenge.

I love the Viking stamp and die set by Avery Elle, I wanted it for so LONG.

I got it just in time for Valentine's Day and used it to make a whole bunch of Valentine's cards.

But I didn't want this really fun stamp to be limited to love related crafts.

I masked off the sentiment that is built into the stamp to create two blank stamps..

I made two cards, but the main photo today is my entry. I created a fun heat embossed background using a Hero Arts background stamp. I coloured the Viking with Promarkers and added a fun sentiment by Paper Smooches.

It came out so well I can't wait to send it to someone.

The second card was super simple -

I really wanted to put the Viking onto a star, but it looked a bit bland, so I used a distress stain through a stencil to brighten things up a bit. The sentiment stamps are by Hero Arts and they make me smile every time.

So glad that I had a go at masking off the stamp, I can't wait to try out more sentiments in his beard :)

Have a great weekend.

Cx

Being with you is so much fun...

Hey,

I have recently been going through my digital stamps and printing out the ones that I haven't used in a while..

They have been fun to colour whilst I have been traveling.

Today's card is a Tiddly Inks stamp - I am a sucker for the Wryn and friends range. This one is called Scooting by and it comes with a dog and a cat version.

I have a friend Denise, who like me has furbabies instead of real babies..She is a lot of fun and this image made me think of her scooting around in the San Diego sunshine :)

So I mounted the die-cut panel onto the beautiful heart card blank - by American Crafts..they come in several colours.

I added a great sentiment from a Hero Arts set and then went over the image using a wink of stella clear brush pen.

Cute card for my fun loving friend.

Cx

Cityscape..

Hey,

I'm heading home to NYC later on today.

I thought I'd share this fun card I made for a friend, using a new Studio Calico stamp set (bought during the great BF sales..) and Clearly Besotted stamps for the Happy New Year.

I coloured the image with distress inks and an aquabrush.

Another super quick and easy make.

The card blank was made by me, as I bought a big stack of cardstock from Simon Says Stamp in bright colours so I could make fun card blanks.

I'll be back Monday..tomorrow I will be hanging with Hubby and cheering on my Seahawks in the playoffs..

Cx

Critter Christmas..

Hey,

I head back to NYC later today - looking forward to seeing Hubby and my furchildren..

So continuing from my last 2 posts here is another Christmas card variant for you..

I made these when I was colouring for the 3rd Daily Marker colouring challenge..I miss it.

Once again because these Mama Elephant critters have banners, I figured they would work for Christmas.

I coloured them and die-cut them, but initially I thought they were not Christmassy enough and so made them a hat...hated that idea (or perhaps it was poor execution..), scrapped that and this is what I ended up with -

I used a Lawn Fawn stitched square die to cut all the Christmas papers..that are ancient and from my stash.

I also did something I have NEVER EVER DONE before..I cut a stamp in half (falls off chair) yep, I couldn't find a stamp that fit the banner..I am not buying anymore Christmas stash, so needs must. As you can tell, I am still alive and survived this traumatic experience..

Super simple cards that made good use of my stash.

Cx

Have machine...will quilt (part 3) - Finished Quilt 1

FINALLY!!!!!

I spent the majority of Sunday getting the quilt for my Parents finished.

It is amazing, I love it, but not enough to believe it warranted all the hard work! I believe I am going to stick to cards and clothes!

I followed this superb tutorial and there isn't really that much I would do differently.

It's far to painful to get into the detail of the pinning, the cutting, the ironing, the turning and the sheer physical pain of quilting it together...did I mention the pinning?!

Here are a few more photos that document the latter stages..including my furry helpers!

Archie helping Mummy, by sleeping on the Quilt!

The trim all pinned onto the nicely furry Quilt - thanks Archie!

Boscat and the finished Quilt...2 mins later she was on it!

If you are interested you can view the earlier stages here and here.

It has been handed over to my folks, who love it, so that almost makes it alright!

Thing is I can't quite say never again, as Quilt number 2 needs to be finished...sometime between now and retirement!

Cx

Weddings and Anniversaries..

Happy Friday everyone.

Good news here in NYC, I have had the final part of my work documentation approved, just need to wait for the official notice and then back to work I go. So I'll be enjoying the time I have left!

I thought we'd have a departure from birthday's and the like, also as I received my new Stamping Bella stamp earlier in the week, I have been itching to use it :)

The main photo is a Wedding card for our friends Jenn and Steve - they are getting married in July and unfortunately only Hubby can go - partly finance, but partly because it's too soon to introduce someone new to the Furchildren....a move to a different Country is enough in one year!

I have no idea if they will be theming their Wedding pink, but I felt it suited their blondness :) The heart paper is an old fave by Pink Petticoat and the sentiment is from my new Pebbles banner stamp set.

Here's a detail shot, so you can hopefully see the glitter on the dress.

Dress detail

I am head over heels in love with this stamp (even though the flowers are a *bleep* to colour in) and I am going to make a couple of variations to sell on Etsy.

The next card is an Anniversary card for our friends Lora and Dan - they are such a fun couple and when JT gifted me this stamp I thought of them instantly.

Happy Anniversary

I did a bit of retouching (hoping that Kenny K won't mind) but I wanted to make it less wedding. Here is the original stamp.

I removed the veil behind the groom, the bouquet and the arm that was holding it. I think it works better this way for an Anniversary. Please note how thrifty I have been, as I used a remnant of the heart paper from the Wedding card.

The final big news for this week is related to this post..basically this post means I have equalled the number of posts from 2012 - which is pretty superb as it's only June!! I have been trying really hard to keep the posts regular and I was succeeding until the big move, now I am back on track - lets see if I can hit the 100 mark this year, then I can take my foot off of the gas next year (maybe)

Have a great Friday and a fun weekend...Hubby and I are off to eat BBQ with our new friends this weekend.

Cx

WOYWW #206 - First one from NYC, advice needed!

Hi ladies and happy WOYWW - live from NYC :)

Go and visit Julia at Stamping ground if you don't know what WOYWW is!!

So we have arrived in NYC safely. We have moved in to our new apartment, the furchildren made it in one piece, we have internet and some furniture. My desk is a work in progress but I love it!

Before we move on to my desk. I just wanted to ask the USA based WOYWWer's what online sites do you use for purchasing supplies? I am far from ready to do that yet, but I love to browse :)

The main photo today is my desk - it is a bit random, but that is because A) the rest of it has yet to be purchased - this will make more sense in a few weeks, B) majority of my craft stash is in on a ship in the Atlantic - yet to arrive. You can see some bits and bobs from my stash littered around. My new improved desk has space for my laptop and on the top of my shelves you can see some cards that we were given and have been sent since we arrived. You can also see my shiny new 'C' which I bought as a treat from Michaels - yay! I love Michaels

Here are a couple of pics of our apartment = semi-empty!

Boscat, on our new bed, complete with Union Jack cushions

Archie in the empty living room

Hope to see you next week, looking forward to trawling through some desks today.

Cx

WOYWW 192 - Finished Clock

Happy WOYWW everyone. Once again the time has flown and here we are again. Pop over to meet Julia at Stamping Ground if you don't know what I'm talking about!

As you can see on my desk, I have the finished clock, which I am actually going to give to my Ma when I see her later on - hence why it is there as I am going to wrap it. I think it looks great and it was really easy to do. I have another clock face and mechanism, so I need to think about who to give that one to.

Here's a close-up photo of the clock -

Finished Clock

On my desk today is a random assortment of things (as usual)...to the left is a Kenny K stamp (loving these right now) balanced on the card she is going on for a friend's 40th, a couple of promarkers, doilies incl new coloured ones (swoon). In the middle is a lone heart - I need a teeny sentiment for Hubby's card (any advice here would be useful), a card that I have started making with doilies and paper flowers - the paper flowers are from a batch that I have made for no particular reason...I just wanted to see what I'd end up with - you can see the rest at the top right. Also there are a couple of punches, my glasses, a corner rounder, some tools and bling scattered around (I dropped the bag this morning whilst trying to shoo a Furchild off of my desk).

Pretty tidy today - but to be totally honest I did have a tidy up last night..is that cheating?

I'm off now to hang out with my Ma, I'll be doing my desk nosying when I get back :)

Cx

p.s almost forgot to mention the new dressform you can just see in the right hand corner - I've wanted this for so long, but it was £20...£.4.99 in the sale - YAY!

Merry Christmas..

Well, it's the last working day of 2012 for me today! Whoo Hoo!

It's been a pretty epic year for Hubby and I - not all good, but we have rolled with it and all is well.

It is with great joy that I officially anounce to you all that the long awaited move to NYC is finally happening in early Feb 2013. I can't believe it, we have visas and now my Project Manager skills are being tested to the max - getting us and the furchildren to NYC in 7 weeks is no mean feat...

I'm pleased with all that I have achieved with Ham'n'Mule in 2012 - 60 posts (22 up on last year!), new look and feel for the blog, new website and a partner (JT). I've had a great deal of craft fun this year, not least because of my amazing craft buddy JT. She's been a friend, a colleague and a craft inspiration this year - so thanks for that JT.

Our playdates have been hilarious and get especially funny around 9pm after 7 solid hours of crafting!! This is when we start to make really weird crap and one of our husbands has to kick the 'guest crafter' out! Let's hope the Skype playdates I am envisaging will be as much fun.

Thanks to everyone that has read my blog and JT's throughout 2012 and supported Ham'n'Mule.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone.

Cx

ps. Today's main photo is courtesy of 79 ideas, via Pinterest

Alternative Christmas?

I have been out waaay too much during the festive season and tonight is my 2nd to last outing. It is totally time to sit down, eat some Turkey and relax for a few days.

Today's main photo is from Country Living, I think this is a great idea and I've noticed this year that there are lots of alternatives to the 'normal' Christmas tree.

The idea of not having a Christmas tree saddens me, but unfortunately that is where we are at due to furchild no.2 being unable to not scale the tree, pee on the tree (real or plastic), chew the Christmas decorations, strangle herself on the tinsel and shock herself by chewing lights...

So once again I have no tree. Seeing all these great ideas have inspired me, so next year I will have a tree of sorts!

Here are some of my favourite alternative Christmas Trees (most of them came from this great blog)

It's wooden, so I'll paint it with silver glitter paint and add a fabric star!

OMG, if only I was allowed to do this...

I'm not convinced this would fare any better than a regular tree..

Cx

WOYWW 19th Dec 2012

I have just found this great blog and Julia who runs it does 'What's on your workdesk Wednesday' Genius idea! So I decided I'd play and took these pics before I left for work today.

I am quite pleased at the minimal amount of Christmas stuff on my desk! As this is my first WOYWW, I am going to take you through the key features of my desk, some that you'll see every time (until we move..).

This week my desk looked very tidy, but to be fair I do try and tidy up a bit after my craft exploits. You can see my little stack of finished Butterfly Thank You cards, that I talked about in my last post. You can also see a new pack of Butterflies...yes I bought more of them. In the background are the Hero Art's Basic Tree digital stamp, I am making Thank You cards with these, I think...I'll write about them soon.

I always have a random stack of small pieces of paper on my desk. I can't bear waste and so I keep the smaller things to hand so I use them up. I chuckled at the 2 pairs of glasses, I have so many pairs of readers (from Poundland or Primark) that I acquire them from all over the house and they often congregate on my desk!

The little stack of really useful boxes are full of buttons, Candi's, Stampin' Up Owl, Bird and bunting pieces and mini fabric bows. I love my corner rounder and that is always on my desk. There is also the great photo of Hubby and I on our wedding day, the frame is really ornate and beautiful and one that I bought for 99p years and years ago. My new favourite heart stamp for use with Candi's is out, as I am making anniversary cards with it.

I laughed at the fact that one of the glitter glues was on it's side...Bos in the night no doubt nosying around on my desk - this photo was taken on a Weds morning, following a Tues night craft session, as I can't craft during the day :(

It's fun to take a photo of your desk, it kind of shows you what's going on!

Cx

Furchildren.

As I am at home recovering following my hospital visit, I thought I'd stay away from craft things, so I don't exert myself too much. The pictures today are of our furchildren - Archie - is below and looking especially cute and Bos is the main picture today and looking very posed!

Bos does like to help when I am making things - especially when I am sewing...
Archie is more of a recluse and doesn't like any noise that might occur during my craft related activities, so actively stays away from me when I am working in the craft room.

They are both on our bed - the fetching zebra blanket is covering our bed to prevent it being covered in fur!

I am loving the instagram app - I think using it has made the cats look even prettier.

The windows are still being installed (not today though) and should be complete early next week, hopefully I'll be able to restore the craft room before then. Hubby assembled my new shelves today and they are now back in the craft room. Everything is just shoved on the shelves - this is because I realised that I need to (yay!) purchase alternative storage to the makeshift stuff I have been using - time to get online and start spending some of that HamnMule money.

Hurrah!

Cx

I love the sunshine!

Bah humbug!

I am back from my lovely trip with my girls - Tenerife was hot hot hot and we had fun fun fun. More pics to follow.

I managed to craft whilst away and made brooches, Christmas decorations and continued to crochet my lovely scarf - which my Ma said is actually looking ok, she says I've improved greatly - so A+ for me.

It was so nice to be away, not to work, to feel the sun on my body and wear flip flops like it was summer! I am totally bummed about being home - but it has been lovely to see my gorgeous Hubby and of course the mewling fur children.

Do you remember the wedding I went to in Rye and I mentioned I had helped out with the favours, well the picture above is the favours that I put together - the bride sent me a pic, don't they look gorgeous! I am so pleased and that has relieved some of my misery at returning home to the cold dark winter.

Perhaps next year, I'll just stay there all winter............

Cx