Whoo hoo!! .... it's the weekend

Happy Friday .........

Have you missed me?  The blog has been a bit neglected this week ..... sorry!  I was feeling a little under the weather at the beginning of the week ...... started with a cold that never really went anywhere.  But ....... that was the start of the week ...... I'm feeling great now, just as well really as things have been a little busy round here (so whats new!)

Hubby's booked us a trip away for the week after next, so I'm trying to get all my DT stuff done and ready to go before we leave on the 30th.  The beginning of the month is always a bit frantic ...... I'll have my laptop with me though so I can keep an eye on things .... and keep you posted on where we are.

We've had birthday celebrations this week ........ the little man was 6!  He's growing up so fast.

We had a special family birthday tea on Tuesday ........ Alex chose the venue, and we all went to Alessandro's in town.  He even paid the bill ...... well with Grandad's card of course!!!
Wednesday was his actual birthday, so that meant  PARTY TIME!!!  Lots of little people having fun, playing games and eating lots of cake!!!  And of course a special birthday card .....

Six little aliens ready to party .....

Each with their own balloon ....

Alex loved it ..... but then he always a fan of Grandma's cards!

As I said, in between all the fun that's been going on this week, I've been busy with DT stuff .... getting ready for a whole new batch of challenges at the start of next month ...... and, I've also been getting stuff ready for this weekends workshop.  Yes ...... I've got my group of crafty ladies gathering again and this weekend should be loads of fun.

We're going to be carrying on from the last one ..... using Mica Powders again but this time in spray form.  We'll be adding in some Mixed Media along the way - texture pastes, gel medium, tissue paper, along with fabric, and lots of embellishments, to create a gorgeous canvas in the very popular Finnabair style. I've done a couple of pieces recently and everyone has said they would like to try the techniques ...... so ...... I'm here to please and tomorrow they'll be giving it a go.

Here's a few sneaky peeks at my inspiration pieces .......
You've probably seen this one before .... it was done a few months ago on a workshop with the lovely Maria Simms ..... mica sprays on a black gesso base ......  gorgeous!

Another sample using Black Gesso before spritzing with those gorgeous micas ..... I do love this effect

And finally ..... one done using White Gesso as the base colour ....... you get a different look when you start spraying those micas onto the white ..... really pretty!

So .... will the dramatic, black base be more popular ....... or will it be the more delicate white? Whichever one they go for I'm sure they'll have some fun.

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day and have a lovely weekend.

I've got the little man for a sleepover tonight ...... hubby's gone for a quick drink with the lads after work so it's take away for dinner when he gets home .... yum!

Cheerio until next time .........

Finally ...... it's finished!

Happy Tuesday!

Did you all have a good Bank Holiday Weekend?  I do hope so seeing as how it's the last one before Christmas.
I spent most of mine in the old craft room catching up with stuff!  Well, there was no point in trying to go anywhere with the Manx Grand Prix roaring it's way around the island.

At least the weather's been good all weekend, so race week got off to a great start. It's raining today though, but I don't think it's a race day so no problems there.  Does this mean summer is over? (sigh!) 

As I said I've been busy trying to catch up with stuff.  I realised that it was my day to post on the Craftwork Cards DT Blog today and I had nothing prepared (oops!)  Yesterday was spent making a cute little mini book with the Time Flies Collection
Here's a little sneaky peek ........ if you'd like to see more you'll have to pop over to the Craftwork Cards Blog

Over the weekend I also got around to finishing a birthday card for that very special little man that visits over here regularly .......... Alex.  He's three in a little over 3 weeks ...... boy has that time flown!!
What do you think?

It's actually a Melanie Heaton design, done on one her Cricut Workshops I went on earlier this year - back in March in fact!   As soon as I saw what we were making I knew exactly who mine was for.  It's perfect for him.  It's taken me a while to get around to finishing though - good job I took pictures at the workshop otherwise I would have never remembered where all the pieces went!
The whole card front has been done using the Cricut machine along with the Nate's ABC cartridge. And in true Mel form there's lots of layers and lots of dotting and dashing. It was a very busy workshop, she doesn't half make you work.

This little guy moves around - he's on a wobbler, so cute! 

I've changed mine a little from Mel's original design, it's slightly smaller to begin with,  which meant that everything couldn't go on the outside, but ....... I put it on the inside instead ....

I do like to decorate the inside of my cards as you know.

All the lettering has been done using the Cuttlebug Alphabet dies - Olivia, and the balloons are cut using the new Penny Black die - uplifting

Now I just have to find, or make an envelope big enough.  I think I may just wrap it instead!!

It's the big countdown this week for our eldest - Chris.  He finishes his job on Friday, ready to go back to Uni in Sheffield the weekend after (sigh!).
 

Next week is going to be chaos getting all his stuff ready.  I'll be washing and ironing for England, and no doubt there'll be a shopping trip sometime during the week, that's going to cost a small fortune.  Not to mention the Leaving Do at the weekend, that's going to get messy!   Oh well, it's his final year, hopefully it'll all be worth it at the end.

Thanks for popping by today.  You'll be seeing me again later in the week, I've still got my Timmie Tag to do.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio for now

Linda

xx