The Wonky Alarm Clock Strikes Again...

Hi folks...the Furry Alarm Clock well and truly malfunctioned this morning...rousing his sleepy headed Mum from her slumbers at 5.30am...yeah...middle of the night for the party animals amongst you but seeing as I was tucked up in bed by 10.30pm last night after a hectic day...I'm feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed after cup of coffee numero uno and ready to tackle today's list of things to do. I don't mind the occasional early morning rude awakener but here's hoping my "up with the lark" Furry companion doesn't make a habit of it and just between us...it's amazing how much you can get done before the rest of the household stirs in a couple of hours.
And before I make a start on that never ending household chore list and a bit of gardening if the weather holds up...I'm sharing a slider card made with the Simon Says Stamp May Card Kit...one that was way out of my comfort zone using the exclusive Animations Clear Stamp Set by Uchi's Designs...not my cup of tea normally but I rather like the finished result when all is said and done...

Can you believe it's the last day of April already...4 months of the year gone in a flash and tomorrow is May Day when we are all supposed to rush out at crack of dawn and wash our faces in the morning dew. I'll be passing on that little ritual...if it was guaranteed to be the "get rid of all the wrinkles" elixir of youth...I'd have been bottling the stuff years ago.
Enjoy your May Bank Holiday weekend and I'll see you all tomorrow with my DT project for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge...you still have time to join in this week's challenge with the chance to win a $50 spending spree at Simon Says Stamp online store.

Hugs Kath xxx

Better Late Than Never...

Hi folks...I'm a bit late to the party this morning but better late than never. I've been busy measuring up the cubbyhole for the new flooring and doing a bit of maths converting the measurements into square metres...dividing that by the square metres in each pack and praying that I've got my sums right.
This Project Manager thing is a whole lot more complicated than crafting so I had a little de-stress session in the cubbyhole yesterday afternoon...making another two cards with the Simon Says Stamp May Card Kit...

 using Simon Says Doll Pink Cardstock and the Illustrated Faith Numbers Acetate sheet...

 Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Worn Text and Label Letters...

No Friday Girls meet-up today so I'm planning a great big cook-a-thon to stock up the freezer...with the chilly arctic weather set to continue into next week...a huge pot of home-made soup is first on the list and if I get a wiggle on...I may have a taste tester bowl for lunch with a big slice of crusty bread.

Have a great weekend everyone whatever you plan on doing and I'll be back during the weekend with some more Simon Says Stamp Card Kit makes.

Toodle-oo for now

Hugs Kath xxx

Calm Down and Take A Breath...

Hi folks...the cubbyhole is NOT a happy place right now...the resident crafter has turned into a grumpy old woman and her furry companion has deserted his post preferring the quiet life in the front room with Dad. Old habits die hard and I'm so used to having everything at my fingertips so production has slowed down considerably...I did try making a list of what I needed for each project but hey ho...this is crafting and if you're anything like me...you'll change your mind umpteen times throughout the process so I've been running hither and thither "did I put that in the kitchen or the garage" but eventually I managed to finish next Monday's Simon Says Stamp DT project but not without the shedding of a lot of blood (only kidding) sweat and tears and a few choice words thrown in for good measure.

So my Simon Says Stamp May Card Kit may have arrived just in time to save my sanity...I decided to set myself a "calm down and take a breath" challenge to use just what's in the box...

and made two very stress free "as simple as it gets" cards...

I'm planning another "keeping my chin up" day...I'm off to source the flooring for the cubbyhole (hunky joiner may be able to come and lay it next week...fingers crossed) and then I'm meeting up with a special friend for lunch...a girl's gotta to do what a girl's gotta do.

Toodle-oo for now

Hugs Kath xxx

Back To Reality...

Hi folks...it's back to reality after my trip to Paris or perhaps I should say "Back to Normality" because it didn't go as swimmingly as we hoped...the 2 hour wait at Immigration while the "job's worth" arrogant Border Police sat chatting to each other ignoring the hundreds of frustrated travellers in the "as far as the eye could see" queue...the hotel that was more shabby than chic...no light in the bathroom to apply the morning polyfilla...a toilet that didn't flush and a rather strange conversation with the not very helpful gentleman (and I use that word loosely) at reception...

"Room 201, the toilet is not flushing"

"When did you notice this?" 

"In the middle of the night"

"Did you report it?"

"In the middle of the night?! No!"

"You should have reported it" 

"Would you have sent someone to mend it in the middle of the night?" 

"No" 

"Well, I am reporting it now - will you send someone to mend it?" 

"No, it is too early, you should have reported it in the middle of the night"

We did the whole tourist thing...visiting most of the iconic Paris sights...
Notre Dame...

Eiffel Tower

The Louvre

Arc De Triomphe

Champs Elysees with it's crazy Paris traffic

and don't be fooled by the blue sky...why did we think that Springtime in Paris would be warm when in fact it was BONE CHILLINGLY COLD...1 or 2 degrees at best with an arctic wind blowing off the Seine...so cold in fact we had to buy large cosy scarves just to survive and make lots of coffee stops...top up our energy levels with fabulous lunches and my favourite was a huge bowl of the most delicious piping hot French Onion soup...the best I have ever tasted...

treat ourselves to fabulous dinners and this crepe filled with smoked salmon and Chive Cream was SO GOOD...

and keep ourselves topped up with alcohol to ensure our blood didn't freeze...

and we very nearly upset the "entente cordiale" apple cart with our first trip on the Metro...the machine quite happily swallowed our euros but refused to print our tickets but thanks to a lovely kind mademoiselle we were saved from the wrath of the long queue of angry commuters...were soon on our way and never looked back...whizzing from one end of Paris to the other like the locals. I fell in love with this beautiful Metro Station at Louvre-Rivoli with it's gorgeous Italian marble walls and Greek statues...very chic...very stylish and very Parisian.

Despite the traumas...we really really did have a great time on this Parisian adventure...laughing until tears ran down our faces as one disaster after another unfolded and we met some lovely friendly kind Parisians and one or two lacking in manners and people skills but hey you meet them wherever you travel in the world and of course it wouldn't have been half as much fun without the company of my lovely buddy Enfys...so thanks En...hope you don't need therapy to recover.

But it's back to reality and it's far from normality in the cubbyhole...the way things are progressing at the moment I'll be staring at the weird multi coloured walls and working on my postage stamp sized desk for some time to come.

C'est la vie as my Parisian friends would say...

Toodle-oo for now

Hugs Kath xxx

Simon Says...We've Got Your Number

Hi Everyone...welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog...thank you for joining us for last week's "Splash It On" Challenge...we hope you can join us this week too because...

and the theme for this week is...

We've Got Your Number

I decorated an Idea-ology Flip Frame to make a Wildflower themed Desk Calendar. 

I painted the frame with a coat of White Gesso and then a coat of Iced Spruce Distress Paint. Once dry I applied Black Soot to the intricate detail sections and wiped it back with a soft slightly damp cloth, then drybrushed the entire frame with Iced Spruce, Tumbled Glass and Picket Fence...

I cut 6 pieces of matboard to size... measured where the holes needed to be and punched using my Crop-a-Dile...

covered one side of each piece with papers from Tim Holtz Memoranda Stash Pad and repunched the holes before covering the other side. If you forget (take it from the voice of experience) you will be poking around trying to locate them...just saying...

I then used the Numbers Mini Layering Stencil from Set 7 with Iced Spruce, Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo Distress Oxide inks and added strips of Rose Design Tape...

I used Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Numeric and Number Block stamps to stamp the numbers on to Memoranda papers using Walnut Stain and Broken China Distress Oxide inks...

cut them out leaving a small border around the edge and fixed in place with Ranger Collage Medium Matte. I then used Dylusions Creative Dyary stamps inked with Ranger Potting Soil Archival to stamp the months...

and Versamark and Black Archival for the small number panels...

I used Sizzix/Tim Holtz Wildflowers 2 Thinlits Die and Distress Core'dinations to create the flowers for each panel...

added Picket Fence Distress Paint splattering,...Numbers Remnant Rubs and highlights to the months and large numbers with the Signo Uniball White Pen...

I coloured Crinkle Ribbon with Mustard Seed and Wild Honey Distress Spray Stain and used it along with the plain white Crinkle Ribbon to create a double bow.

and decorated the frame with Ruler Pieces...an Adage ticket stamped with Odds and Ends...a Memo Pin and an Enamelled Tag decorated with Remnant Rubs...

a Word Stick and an Adornment Star coloured with Tumbled Glass Distress Paint

You can find all the products I used over at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp online store...just click on the links below...

Why don't you pop over to the Monday Challenge Blog and check out the amazing creations from my very talented Design Team mates and as always you all have the chance to win a $50 gift voucher to spend at Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time...1pm UK time...2 pm CET to join in...

You can also follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

and if you use Instagram...

please add #sssmchallenge to your entry uploads so we can see them on there too

Tickets for the awesome CREATE Event at Simon Says Stamp have sold out but If you're in Columbus, OH or plan on being in the area on April 28th & 29th, SimonSaysStamp.com will be having a pop up store during the event. This store is open to the public so don't miss out! Check out all the details HERE

I look forward to seeing what you all create this week...

Have Fun and Happy Crafting

Hugs Kath xxx

InLinkz.com