I nearly didn't get this done ......

Happy Sunday evening,

Where have the last few days gone ........ I can't believe the weekend is over!   And it's December 1st tomorrow ...... eeek!!!  The big countdown begins.

It's the last day of the month so that can only mean one thing ...... yep .... my Tim Tag!  I'd sort of resigned myself to thinking that I wasn't going to get this done this month ........ I'd actually come to terms with the fact that I was going to miss one ....... my first one!!! (sob!)
But ...... after being told 'don't be a wimp', and that I couldn't possibly miss a month (daughter and other half ganging up on me) I locked myself in the old craft room and got it done!  Not easy when time is against you ...... I'm glad the US is a few hours behind us!!!

Anyhow .... here's Tim's fabulous Autumnal tag ......

Look at the colours in that ...... gorgeous!

And here's mine .......

Same ..... but different! Not quite as vibrant.

I won't go into all the details, you can find all the techniques etc., over on Tim's Blog, and I followed it almost to the letter (didn't have time to do anything else!)

I inked and sprayed .....

Embossed and foiled ...... (actually it's IndigoBlu Mega-flakes ..... the yummy new Chocolate Box)

And finally embellished ......

Job done!!  I'd have been like a bear with a sore head if I'd have missed one!

It's been a bit of a busy weekend ..... getting the house ready for the Christmas decorations.  The first tree is up .... in the little man's room, and preparations are under way to make space for the big one!
Train tracks are being dismantled and moved as we speak (Lego one's that is) and more decorations were bought yesterday ..... just in case I haven't got enough!!

We took some time off from all the festive fun today though and walked through one of the many glens on the island ...... Bishopscourt Glen.
The tress were a little bare, and it was a touch on the chilly side but we had a nice stroll.

Apparently it was originally part of the garden for the Bishop of Sodor and Man ....... alright for some!

We didn't walk the whole glen but we climbed Mount Aeolus .... the mound at the start of the glen, which resembles Tynwald Hill

We found the cave, where it's believed that Bishop Murray took refuge from angry locals, during the 1825 Potato (Tithe) Riots

And we made friends with the locals ......

I think the bread we had with us helped there ....... 

Back to the 'To Do' list now ...... I'm off to soak some fruit, overnight in whisky (hic!) then it's time to get the Christmas cake started tomorrow.

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy your Sunday evening (what's left of it)

Cheerio until next time.

Linda

xx

Finished for another year .....

Happy Sunday to you .....

Welcome to my latest follower .... it's lovely to have you along.  Thanks for spending time here.
I hope you're all enjoying the weekend.  This time next week I'll be relaxing in a beautiful little cottage down in the Cotswolds, with the whole family.  I'm so looking forward to this break ..... it'll be the first 'family holiday' in a long time.

Things are finally getting back to normal on the island ..... TT is over for another year (sigh!).  Bookings are already being taken for 2015 though,  and I believe they've already had record sales.  This year we had something like 37,000 people that came to the Isle of Man for the two weeks, along with about 12,000 motorbikes!

There's not quite 12,000 bikes here .... but there was a few! 

We went up to the Creg-Ny-Baa on Senior Race Day, and these were just a few of the bikes parked up there ..... it's popular spot for catching the action of the TT Races.    

Yes, we were up bright and early after the Poker Stars Summer/TT Party on Thursday night ..... didn't have too much of the old champagne (hic!!)  So we decided to join in the fun and watch the final race.

It's a great spot up at the Creg, you get to see the riders coming at speed down the mountain road ..... blink and you miss them

You can see you're really close to the track so it can be a little noisy up there ......

 
Then .... they slow down to take the corner at the Creg .... this is where you can get a better look at them, especially if you've got your VIP tickets booked .... next year!!

We had the little man with us, he enjoyed it for a while but, when you've seen and heard one bike hurtling by, when you're three and a bit, I suppose you've seen them all! 
We watched the final two laps of the 6 lap Poker Stars Senior Race down at Govenor's Bridge.

Again you're really close to the road, you can hear the bikes roaring down from the mountain road then they slow right down to take the tight right-hand bend ..... great spot for taking pictures ....

I managed to snap Guy Martin coming in on the final lap ...... he finished third this year behind local lad Conor Cummins and the winner Michael Dunlop.

Oh well .... only 355 days until we do it all over again!!

I think I've bored you enough now with the TT .... sorry!  Onto the important stuff ......
It's time for Merry Monday and another festive make ..... Ho! Ho! Ho!

This week we had a colour challenge .......

Aqua and white, always a nice icy looking combination.  Makes me think of snowflakes and frosty scenes.

 
I kept things CAS and went with pink as my splash of colour.

The snowflakes are a mix of Tim Holtz stamps and Inkadinkadoo, stamped using Turquoise Gem Versamagic ink, first and second generation stamping, to get the shading

You can see the splashes of colour are in the gems, two shades of pink, and the sentiment stamped in Rose Bud Memento .....

Aa always I've carried on the theme inside the card ......

Same snowflakes, and a greeting from Penny Black

Thanks for popping by today, enjoy what's left of the weekend.  We're spending the afternoon with Lauren and the little one.  It's the last day for the fun fair down on Douglas prom and as the sun is shining it would be a waste not to enjoy it.

Cheerio until next time.

Linda

xx

Pinch and a punch .... it's the 1st of the month!

Happy Sunday!

And a Happy 1st of June ........ that means there's only 206 days until Christmas!!!!  Ho! Ho! Ho!

Sorry!  Couldn't resist that ....... it is time for Merry Monday though so I suppose it's a good enough link.

This week we had to use Christmas Food on our design ....... hmmmm.   The first thing I thought of was turkey ..... don't have a turkey rubber stamp.  Next was all the mince pies and Christmas cakes ...... don't have an image for that.  Chocolates and sweets ..... no! none of those either.  Christmas pudding .... I must have a rubber stamp for that ......  but, sadly no!  In the end, I made my own  Christmas pud ......  simple, but it does the job!

I embossed the bottom section of a piece of white cardstock and added my sentiment just above

Finished it with a cute sprig of holly, coloured with Copics and then fussy cut.

The pudding was made using a circle punch, textured brown cardstock and some white glitter card 

Another sprig of holly on the top ..... one Christmas pudding - simple!

I attached it using foam pads for dimension, and of course finished with the inside

That's Christmas card number 25 done ...... the box is filling up nicely.

After a bit of a wet start last weekend, the 2014 Isle of Man TT Races are well underway.  With the Practice week over, Race Week got underway yesterday, and what a glorious day it was.  The sun was shining and the crowds were out ...... we had our first bar-b-que of the summer with the familiar hum of the bikes in the background (we're only round the corner from the start line and the course), and the usual bunch of seagulls gathered waiting for leftovers.

The whole island is buzzing, there's bikes everywhere, and we have a fun fair down on the prom.
We ventured down there on Friday evening with the little man ....... Grandad had to go on the Ghost Train with him ..... we did say it would be scary but the little one insisted.  Let's just say he didn't want to go on it again!

This was more his cup of tea .....

And the Fun House ......

And of course we had to go on the big slide

 He looks so small up there .....

After all that excitement we had to finish off with a visit to McDonalds ..... little man's choice
A Happy Meal and Grandad's smoothie was the perfect end to a busy day

There's no racing today ..... it all gets underway again tomorrow.  Just as well really, looking out of the window it looks like we're covered in mist ........ that's Isle of Man weather for you!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

Kraft and Slate??

Morning folks!

Time to get all festive again with a little something for the Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge

When I saw this week's theme I must admit I wasn't filled with inspiration.  Hmmm .... Kraft card with slate (grey)???  Wouldn't be my first choice for Christmas cards I must say.  But ...... having had a play, and finally finding the perfect stamp for the job (I think) I really like the results ...... in fact, the more I look at it, the more I like it!

I don't use grey cardstock that much but after this challenge it's now on my favourites list.  I think it works so well with the little wintery scene from Hero Arts,  and the touch of Kraft is a really nice contrast ..... thanks ladies at MM ..... great colour combo!

I stamped the image onto white cardstock, using Smokey Grey Versafine Ink,  and just added a touch of Crystal Glamour Dust

The sentiment on the bottom is from Tim Holtz's Deco Christmas (CMS176) and has been stamped using Versamark then embossed with Silver powder

A bit of mat and layering using the colours from the challenge theme, and of course something on the inside to match ....

and the job's done!   Another one for the Christmas card box!

I won't be making Christmas cards today ....... I've got to knuckle down and get on with all the outstanding DT stuff!  I really should have been in the old craft room yesterday but it was such a nice day it was a shame to waste it.

It's nearly 3 years since we moved to the island and would you believe yesterday was the first time that we'd been up to the top of Snaefell, the highest mountain on the Isle of Man. 
There's a well known saying on the island that on a clear day, from the top you can see the seven kingdoms ..... that's England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the Isle of Man, Heaven and Mannanan - the Sea
We took the easy way up there and hopped onto one of the trams .......

There's lots to see on the way up there ......

Alex was fascinated by the paragliders, and watched as we got higher and higher

Finally we reached the top ...... it was quite hazy so we couldn't actually see the 7 Kingdoms clearly .....

There's a plaque at the summit pointing out the directions, and distances of them all ...... we're only 31 miles from the closest point ....... the Mull of Galloway in Scotland ....... not far at all.

In a few more weeks this road will be full of motorbikes travelling at top speeds for the TT Races

You can just see the Bungalow down there, which is where we started out from ....

Of course a certain little man had to get as high as he possibly could ......
 

Here he is stood on the obelisk that indicates the true mountain summit ..... 2036ft above sea level.

After coffee and a nice piece of chocolate cake in the summit cafe (well .... it is Easter after all!) we boarded the tram and made our way down again

As the sun was still shining we finished the day at Laxey Beach ...... finding the perfect stones for skimming across the sea ....

And we even saw the Ben sailing in towards Douglas Bay ..... what a nice day!

Oh well, things to do, people to see and all that.  Hopefully I'll get into the old craft room this afternoon and I'm not coming out until something on the list is finished ..... it could be a lonnnng day!!


Thanks for popping by ....

Have a lovely weekend ....... Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx