Apologies...to all my friends

Apologies go out to all my blogging friends , Im afraid ive been a terrible blogger since I returned to work.

However , I intend to come back if you forgive me ( hopes everyone can forgive )

Ive still been creating and crafting and Ive taken photos, so I think the best way is just to upload some of the things Ive been working on while Ive been away and then start a fresh with challenges etc.

As always the doors on my work station are never closed and I cant wait to get back into challenges.

Thank you for your patience , I have missed you all xx

Its booked ..........Disneyland Paris here we come....

Cant wait....im all booked up......Im going back .........heaven........

So excited ......

Rubber Stamping on icing sugar .............

As I share my birthday with the anniversary of Elvis Presley I like to make something to mark the occassion.

Usually its a scrapbook page or some atc's. This year however as i needed to share a birthday cake with my son as we had a joint party, it was a cake that was made.

Years ago before i started crafting I made alot of cakes and spent alot of time decorating them to personalise them for people.

However when I came to do the cake this time I couldnt seem to get motivated to start. I was looking at my Elvis rubber stamps and wondering what I could make for myself and had a thought, what if the rubber stamps would work on icing? using edible ink pens to load the rubber stamp?

I set out and cleaned my stamps , then did them with antibacterial cleanser to be on the safe side and gave it a try.......................

I was pleased with the results , although I think it could have been better with a little more practice.
I will certainly try it again and my only real gripe was that it was hard to trim around the image once it had been stamped.
I found because it was soft , the image would easily get distorted so patience was needed( i need to get more of that !)
Also you dont need to press on as you do with card or paper as that distorts the image too.

I used football images for Andrew's side of the cake.

Anyway Ive tried it now so it just needs perfecting for the next time, I could certainly imagine a cake could turn out quite spectacular with the right stamps and design.

Let me know if you have used stamps in this way I would love to see what else others have done.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, and thanks for all the birthday wishes I had a fab day as usual with my 24 hour Elvis films and my champagne.......

ABAA - Birdhouse

This is my entry for the ABBA challenge

I apologise, what with starting a new job and school holidays I just dont seem to be able to catch up on crafting projects these last couple of weeks.

Hoping to find inspiration for another vintage page with the birdhouse theme, i have been searching for just the right image amongst my pictures.
The ideal ones would have been the ones I used when i was the guest challenger , but already used those, so that put pay to that.

Anyway I stumbled across this image which i thought was so funny , im afraid I couldnt resist a little tongue in cheek humour. I only made a litle atc , but its better than nothing.

I hope I havent offended anyone, and I know not all men fall into this category ....but alas with my experience it strikes a chord for me LOL.

So I hope you get a giggle at it if nothing else.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Old and New for Lots to do Challenge

As Paris is my absolute favorite city I just couldnt pass up a chance to get involved with this weeks Lots to do challenge. As well as the atcs which have been made for a trade I have included my Moulin Rouge behind closed doors and a layout from my vintage album of my grandfather who served in France during the war in the medical corps.

I could go on and on as I just adore Paris in any form.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

The Donna Gotlib Award.......

A BIG THANK YOU to Donna Gotlib for this wonderful award.

Donna has been a good friend since we met when i started blogging in 2007.
I am proud to have been with her and our friend Denise on a testing journey . Donna showed amazing strength through some difficult times and she is a truly lovely person whom I am glad is in my life.

Donna has kindly given me this award and the rules are ,

The Love My Friends Award is given to those bloggers who aspire, inspire and share the most beautiful of human attributes: art, wisdom and friendship. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more.

My friends who I would like to pass this on to are ,

Denise, the other Muskateer.....always there day or night, Denise continues to make me laugh even through the most dreadful moments I can always count on her to make me smile.

Linda , whose work leaves me speechless, I am in awe of the most beautiful work that this friend creates , and her friendship is endless.

Rosie, who creates the most wonderful pieces of art , what an inspiration , a hard act to follow but a real friend who has helped me alot.

Susan, who is always there at the end of an email......always. We have shared some laughs and we have so much in common.

Nancy , another good friend who has created some masterpieces and whose work has grown so much in the time I have known her.

Renee, whose support is second to none, a true inspiration and a remarkable lady.

Annette , my good friend who closed her blog as life was getting in the way, in the hope that she gets time to start a blog up again.

Karen, a fab friend who always inspires me with the fantastic things she creates making everything look so easy always. A good friend who is always there for me and with some sound advice and always ready to help me.

THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU. Im sure I have missed many people out and Im sorry I can only pass the award on to 8 people.
Heres to friend the world over .......keep doing what you are doing , theres strength in numbers !

Lots to do challennge

This is my entry for this weeks lots to do challenge.Hannahs dad passed away just over 2 years ago, I decided that on every occassion, ie birthday , xmas , fathers day etc I would do a page for her album in memory of him and she would eventually have a whole collection in a memory book.

This is the one I have just finished for Fathers day , although hes sporting a christmas hat he loved the beano annuals which he always got for christmas.
I spotted a shrink plastic Dennis the Menace a couple of weeks ago and decided it would make a great embellishment for a page for her book.

The collage is made up of snippets from the BEANO comic.

Thanks for stopping by my blog

Random Vintage Pages

Just some additional random pages I have been working on lately, thanks for stopping by.

ABAA & Lots to do - both challenges

Im so sorry Ive been a bad blogger and its taken me so long to get mybutt into gear !
This is my entry for the monthly ABAA challenge which this month was Dragonflies.

This layout is of my Dads sister Jennie in her younger days. She was very pretty I think.








This next layout is my entry for the Lots to do weekly challenge which was stamping.

The picture is of my dads sister Edna with one of her friends. I use my "Girlfriends Matter " stamp as Ednas friends meant alot to her and another stamped quote.

I also added a grungeboard swirl which I originally had ready for last weeks challenge and Im sorry I didnt get around to posting.

Im really sorry its taking so long these days, my after school clubs have broken up now for the summer so that should free up alot of time, but on the other hand I have just got a new job so after the initial training hopefully things will settle down again. Its not like im not crafting, Im actually doing more than before, its just that im not getting the time to blog and blog hop. Apologies to everyone I havent forgotten you all, and i will get around to visiting soon i promise.

Thanks for stopping by my blog I appriciate your support.

ABAA - Shells & Vintage layouts

As everything revloves around my vintage scrapbooking these days this is my entry for ABAA I have so many pictures to do I knew I would be able to find one to fit most themes.

This one is of my Dads 2 sisters on the beach at Whitley Bay. Those bathing costumes look fab, very different from the ones girls wwear now hehehe.

This is Edna and Jennie, and this picture is the start of the new images I have just inherited from the other side of my family. Now I am working with both sides of the family and I have just bought the 4th album for my vintage collection. I am so pleased with how quickly they are coming together, although I cant say the same for the pile of ironing.....









These pictures are of my Mam , Jean when she was younger, I enjoyed this layout , loved colouring all the butterflies with distress inks.





I think my camera must need charging as the colours do look as vibrant as they should.







This is May Gray, she was the daughter of my Grandfathers sister Annie, May used to enjoy performing on stage just like her cousin Amalia (shown in prvious layouts)

I used a stencil and distress inks to make the flowers on the page.





The last page is of my Grandmothers 2 sisters and her brother in law.


Thanks for stopping by my blog.