GETTING THERE!

Good morning folkies!  A few blog posts ago I said that I had to try and get various cards done, including a New Home card, and a New Baby card.  Well, the New Home card was done (and blogged) a couple of weeks ago and I have finally got round to doing the New Baby card.  Wth a little moggy around things seem to take at least 3 times as long and I have to pick my moments - ie when I *think* that Misha is asleep because otherwise everything gets sabotaged by 4 paws!  I have discovered the true meaning of the phrase *cat nap* because Misha seems to have an amazing ability to be fast asleep and dreaming of mice one minute and then bouncing around like something on springs the next.

At the moment, Misha aside, things are frantic.  Tonight we are driving down to Kent to take daughter to a hospital appointment tomorrow.  She became seriously ill over Christmas and it has taken them this long to finally get down to the cause of it.  This year has been a huge round of hospitals and more hospitals, with a bit of messy art thrown in for good measure!  I think that getting messy is my sanity check but at the moment the chances to do that are a bit few and far between, and when I do have the space I don't have the oomph.

Anyhow, enough whinging!  Here is the New Baby Card.  I really don't like the way that colours scan in, as they either look washed out or too dark and this card is neither.  

TFL until next time!

Mandi xx

IT JUST AIN'T EASY!

It just ain't easy ... crafting with a cat!

I wanted to play with some Heartfelt Creations dies and stamps but was somewhat hampered in the process by Misha who insists on eating all thing to do with paper.  If she was not chasing a pen-lid round, she was chomping on the cardstock.  I eventually managed to put this ...........

....... together, which is the heartfelt creations hydrangea die and petals.  I had to cut out 24 of the stamped petals to layer on to the card.  The scan doesn't really do justice to the colours.  All this was interrupted by *thunderpaws* ... aka Misha as demonstrated below!

NEW HOME CARD

FINALLY managed to get round to making a New Home card ... which is not at all housey!  It hasn't scanned in very well as it is so bulky but the background has got lots of home-associated words on it.

I used my Heartfelt Creations die, and cut 6 lengths, which I then glued together and scored at 1/2 inch intervals.  I then glued these together, and made them into a rosette to fill an 8x8 card.  The sentiment is from Lily of the Valley stamps, and finished off with card candy.

TFL!

Mandi xx

WHERE DID I GO?

Disappeared ... that's what!  Disappeared in a sea of journeys to and from Kent, March and London ... oh, and the vet's!  Misha Moo is now very much a part of our lives and has managed to take over most of the downstairs rooms in the house, as well as our travel plans!  We can no longer *simply* get in the car and go ... we have to delicately plan every detail which also has to revolve around Misha!  The latest escape has been a two week trip to Cambridgeshire with Bex, which is normally quite a simple process but not any more!  Having decided that Misha would not cope with the journey to Kent from London, and then from Kent to Cambridgeshire, we had to do it in two stages ... all very precisely planned.  No longer do we simply pack a weekend bag, but cat litter, food, toys, feeding bowls, litter tray, scratching post, worming paste ... and cat has to come too - with an overnight stopover in the middle!

I have only tried paper-crafting once with Misha around and for me, it was not a happy, stress-free event.  For her, however it was a small piece of heaven ..... chasing screwed up paper balls around the house ... remnants of a project gone wrong.  On occasions such as these I wish that she was a dog.  At least she might bring the darn things back after chasing them!  The house is now strewn with little balls of paper, mini tennis balls, ping pong balls by the bucket load ... and pen lids which are her latest fad!

I MUST make a new home card, a new baby card, and a birthday card within the next week ...... or maybe I will just go to Tesco's and buy them!  Let me go and ask the cat what she would prefer!!!!!

I will TRY and be back soon!

Mandi xx

FINDING MISHA

Apologies for being somewhat elusive - owing to having been on holiday for the past 10 days at the cottage in Cambridgeshire.  

We came back last night with rather more than we bargained for!

We went out into the garden where there is a bit of wasteground at the back which we have not developed yet.  It has double gates, leading to a supermarket carpark, which have quite a large gap underneath.  Hubby pointed to something in the wasteground and said *look at that*!  I said *oh it looks like a dead cat* to which he replied *yes but it's breathing*.  This was on Saturday lunchtime!  A closer look showed that it was a tiny scrap of a kitten which was pretty much too weak to move.  We are assuming it had been dumped as it was too young to be out.  We eventually managed to pick it up, after a lot of hissing and teeth-bearing and the rest is history!  A quick visit to the pet shop to grab some kitten milk and food, and one ravenous kitten was somewhat pacified and quickly decided that it had got lucky!  Having asked around the neighbours and local pet shop as to whether they knew of an owner, and drawn a blank, the lucky moggy has now been adopted.  The logistics of getting it home have been interesting and involved various visits to pet shops and supermarkets to stock up on basics!  150 miles later (via a trip to Bury St Edmunds to visit my elderly Mum) and *Misha* has a new home and a new name!  We are still uncertain as to the age and sex of it (that will be determined tomorrow at the Vets) so the name might well change but the home won't!  

I can feel a scrapbook page coming on!!!

Love Mandi

JUST ONE!

Just one card today, owing to the fact that occasionally I need to feed the family (shop), make sure hubby has clean clothes (wash) and that we can see the carpet (hoover)!  

Just a quick Christmas card, made entirely with Marianne D's dies.  The colour contrast does not show as well as it looks I.R.L but I was pleased at how clean the black, silver and white looks together.

God bless,

Mandi

CHRISTMAS COME EARLY?

Well I did threaten Christmas cards lol!  Having not sent any Christmas cards or newsletters for the past two years, there are now probably several relatives who think that we have just *dropped off the planet*!  This has not been laziness, but sheer busyness, as we have been bombarded with unexpected hospital visits for all members of the family, as well as the more mundane things.  I used to love Christmas but in many ways that pleasure has gone, largely through the shops beginning their Christmas sales plug earlier and earlier, and as soon as the school holidays are over we will begin to see shops re-arranging their displays to make room for Christmas Decorations and gifts.  It is one of my big *beefs* and drives me NUTS! 

For us, last year's Christmas did not happen ...... well not on December 25th as daughter no.2 got rushed into hospital with very severe anaemia! (We only took her to the GP with a sore throat!!)  What with the snow, and the need for blood transfusions, Christmas Day got cancelled and we had it on 1st January to celebrate the New Year instead!!  I have to confess that I enjoyed it (preferred it even) as somehow it took the panic and exhaustion out of preparing Christmas dinner, and everything that goes with it.  

Back onto the subject of the aforementioned Christmas cards!  I spent the weekend making a huge mess, and so far have done 24 cards.  Thanks to the wonderful Cheery Lynn dies (Dies to Die For) and Marianne D, these were quite easy to make.

Cheery Lynn have a lovely *frame* and I discovered by accident when trying it out on fairly thick cardstock, that whilst it did not cut that thickness, it made a beautiful embossed impression, so I have used that as a background on a few of my cards.

Next job the newsletter!

And then maybe onto Easter cards? !!!!!!!!

Thanks for looking!

Mandi