Every day is a beautiful day.....

.......except somedays we are beneath the clouds. An apt quote I heard on the Rugby commentary...yes honestly I did. Who would of thought these commentators could be so worldly wise? The quote summed up a somewhat difficult May for me and my family. But you have to put up with the rain to see the rainbow.....another quote I like.

So I managed to start and finish an LO yesterday with a photo of a dramatic sky I had taken on a trip to London for Roberts Birthday. Originally I had wanted to use this photo on an LO about a family saying we have.....'It's dark over Will's mothers'. Meaning it's dark over yonder (yeah I know it's strange but it is hubby's side of the family who use it but they are from Peterborough!) But when I heard the quote 'Every day is beautiful......' and then found these purple Bo Bunny and Bazzil papers, stapled on some ribbon, added felt flowers and hidden journalling on a tag and the LO came together in no time.

Yeah I don't know who Will is either........

Matchbox Swap

Ohhh, look at the lovely pretties I received all stuffed into a beautiful decorated cooks matchbox. Who would of thought you could squeeze so much in....I didn't. The matchbox is courtesy of Amy from The Scraphappens Team. We all decorated matchboxes and then filled with our swappers favourite colours. As you can see I like lots of colours, I really couldn't choose one favourite so asked for any bright colours or naturals.

ATC Trail

I've only had time to do a couple of ATCs these last few weeks so it's pretty lucky that I joined UK Scrappers ATC Trail not long ago so I can still get a crafty fix. All the ATCs I have received so far have been beautiful and there is such a variety of styles by the talented ladies on this forum. So in true Blue Peter style...here's some I prepared earlier. From top left going clockwise there is Queenie, Fly Away, I'm Late and Transform.

At the moment I have been experimenting a lot with different techniques from altered art to bleach stamping. Making ATCs is a good way of trying new techniques because if you go wrong you can either a. grunge it up so it looks like it is supposed to look like that or b. throw it away as it's only a piece of cereal packet you have wasted.

So if you are interested in having a go and swapping with like minded people come on over and join in here http://www.ukscrappers.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=293266.

Sweet Cupcakes

It's a busy time at home and school at the moment so not much crafting going on I'm afraid. So I thought I would share a little sugery goodness in the form of this 18th Birthday card I made for a friends daughter a few weeks ago.

I have recently got back into using stamps, although I have never really got into them in the first place. The intentions where good, I could see the possibilities and the interesting results you got with using stamps......but......I just couldn't be bothered with the faff that they can bring. You know the cleaning, adding colour etc etc. But recently I have tried my hand at colouring them in using promarker pens. I then found that I started to enjoy stamping more and more.

So these Hero Arts cupcake stamps where just perfect for colouring and a touch of stickles finished off the frosting perfectly. I used my Martha Stewart punch for the pink strip of paper, which unfortunately went a bit skewith and the punched holes did not line up on the opposite edge....but I'm sure you didn't notice did you?

I still don't like cleaning the stamps after use though...so I don't!

How On Earth

....does he eat so much and still stay slim?

Robert stuck right into his noodles at our favourite Japanese restaurant, Wagamamas while visiting London as a 15th Birthday treat. We visited his favourite comic book, sweet and game shops and ate jelly beans and ice-cream. A fun day had by all.

I used some new paper by My Minds Eye and some old Basic Grey stash I had been hoarding for the perfect project. I love this pea pod and veggie paper and I think it fits well with the foodie photos. Can you see the edamane (steamed soya pods covered in salt) on the table. We all love these...you just suck the beans out and discard the pod. Sounds weird but they really are good.

So an answer to my question......hollow legs?, growing lad? I think 'just being a teen' sums it up.

I Heart ATC's.

I have just got into this ATC swapping lark but look at the amazingly beautiful ones I have received so far. All from the wonderfully talented ladies on UKS (Sniggle, Lacemaker, Honeypip and Sharon B. I think it's a shame to hide such lovely works of art so when I spotted this wire card holder (in just the right shade of duck egg blue) I had to have it to hang in my hall and show off my cards. I intend to change them every so often and display my current favourites. My hall wall is still a work in progress so when I am finally happy with it I will reveal it to you in all it's glory.

Off to try and make some equally stunning ATC's of my own now (try being the operative word).