Can you see what it is yet??

Here is the start of my beautiful tiger. Can you see what it is yet? LOL!

Here's a close up of the stitches. This small part took me almost 3 hours to stitch! The crosses are so tiny. It's stitched on 18ct aida! I've stopped for tonight coz I really need it to be daylight to stitch on black. I've just realised a tiger has black stripes... blimey... black on black...

I've joined a great bunch of girls over at Stitch a long blog to help me get on with this fab design. Have a look on the blog to see the other great work they're all doing. I shall update my links on the right tomorrow with some cross stitch links as well... I think I need to separate the links into various crafts.

Latest stitches.

This is going to be on the left hand side of Matthew's door name plate. He loves dogs and it's a sleeping pooch, so I thought this was a good picture for a bedroom door! I still have his name to stitch as well, but I'm waiting for the door plate to arrive then I can see exactly how much room I have to play with.
I've also JUST started the tiger cross stitch!! OMG! I say started... I've stitched four stitches so far, lol, but I'm off so it's a start! I have it on a frame and I think the only problem I shall really have is stitching on it at night. I did have a floor stand that had a lamp and magnifier attached, but the stand broke and is now useless... oh well... I shall be ok I think, but watch this space!

So I jazzed it up a bit...

...and here's the result! I love it! I hope he loves it too, but I don't think he will until he's older, I think his parents will appreciate it more, lol. Matthew thinks it's great! I have to get on with his door plate now, although he says he's not going to have it on his bedroom door until he gets his new bedroom when Darryl moves out with Abby.

Now the following image is what I should be stitching... isn't it gorgeous????? I bought this kit about a year ago and have so far scanned part of the chart, coz it's SO tiny... I think I'm out of my depth on this one. It's not the black aida that's so daunting, it's the chart! I think I need to use some highlighter pens and use them on the scanned chart so it's easier for me to see. What an achievement though if I manage it!!

Cross stitch for Sean.

Here is my finished cross stitch picture for Sean. I think maybe I should have got a bigger frame. I'd wanted a square frame, but I couldn't get one in town today which was annoying... so I had to make do with a rectangular one... I think I'm going to jazz it up a bit with some lettering or something to help, using my Cricut.

...yeah yeah yeah...

Yeah I know, I've been quiet again!! But I've been busy!!!
A friend of Matthew's (who Donna has met in America), Sean and family, are due to go back to America in May. Matthew has known Sean for three years and they're having a party a week on Saturday and we're all invited. I kept trying to think of a present to get for Sean which somehow represented his stay here in England when I came across Cross Stitch Card Shop magazine last on Friday in the shops, and there was the perfect gift! Among the pages were some charts incorporating the British Union Flag and a teddy dressed in various British outfits. I chose the Guard design and have also stitched his name, where he lived here, and the years he was here for, and I finished it tonight!
I've washed it and it's now drying flat. Instead of putting it in a card I'm going to frame it so that it's more of a keepsake and he can hang it on his bedroom wall or somewhere. I think it's fab!!! I'll upload a pic when I've framed it.

Some photos from this Easter weekend.

Yesterday we spent around 3 hours walking and visiting a local Trim Trail that I didn't know existed until Thursday! It's just behind Matthew's school, so he knew it was there. It's great! It's really long and has about 15 "obstacles" to climb on.
We went out at about 11am, straight over to the Trim Trail.

"Come on Dad, I'll give you a hand"

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"

"Help dad, I can't move!"

"Helloooooooooooooooo"

"Say Cheeeeesseee"

After the Trim Trail, we decided to follow a path that we'd not gone down before. We turned left under a railway bridge that I'd seen before to show Matthew how close to home we were. We then came back to the bridge and followed a path across a small field, under the A14, across another small field, through 2 gates on the way, and it brought us out to the back of the hospital where I work!
We came back to the Trim Trail for another 20 minutes or so, where Matthew was happy to see two friends (my camera battery had died by then, so no more pics), and it was really sunny! It stayed sunny for the rest of the day.
Back home and Justin cut the grass, and I fiddled around in the greenhouse and planted some more bulbs.
In the evening we played Buzz on the Playstation 3, and then Mario Kart on the Wii... I think we all had a great day.

P.S
I was wondering why the photo's were distorting when I clicked on them... then I remembered that I'd altered the quality of the file saves for uploading Scrapbook pages to UKS, lol... oh well.

On a roll with these pages!

I've made this for this weeks challenge over at UKScrappers. I got 20 points!! I had to scrap something that made me giggle and it had to have sparkle.
I really must scrap in other colours other than blues... but I LIKE blues... but I will run out soon, lol. Trouble with only have boys/men to scrap. I used the Cricut again, what would I do without this machine????? I of course cut the text, the hearts, the journalling mat, and the butterfly which isn't showing up very well.

Any idea?

So this is my page for today. I did a bit of stitching on this one! I don't know if I'll do it again, it's hard to get it even... even though I like the look of it, it was fiddly to do.
I used Papermania cream card, and the scalloped blue background and the black card is from the Papermania scalloped edge range. I used the Cricut to cut the letters and the shapes, Prima flowers, Kanban jewels, and I also inked the swirls on the blue and the black card. I can normally make a page in under an hour, but this took me around 2 hours. I'm quite happy with the outcome.

Strictly H20

This is part of a performance Matthew sang in at school last night. All the kids sang really well. Sorry for the poor video quality... it was taken on Darryl's digital still camera, a lot better than nothing though!!
Matthew is the one in the blue long sleeved top in the middle!!

Oh so colourful - Part two!

Here is the right hand side of the double page spread of The Milky Way. This side showing some of the animals in the petting area of the theme park. Matthew loved being able to get in and stroke the animals.

I used Papermania black cardstock, K&Co Kazoo papers and the letters spelling "Animals". I used the Cricut to cut the Kazoo paper background shape and the letters, both using the Storybook cartridge - most definitely my most favourite cartridge. Justin said that yesterday's page is his favourite out of all my scrapbook pages!

Oh so colourful.

My latest creation towards the Devon holiday collection is this one. I love it! It's SO colourful. I used K&Co Kazoo papers, chipboard rocket and stickers. I also used my wonderful Cricut to cut the pointy arrow, the text (Storybook, and Plantin Schoolbook cartridges) and the journal mats. The photos were taken at The Milky Way in Clovelly - <<< click that text Dad!! It was a rainy day this day, so this place was good as there's lots to do inside. I shall make the second page to this day out later.

Other news.
Darryl and Abby have gone to the hospital to have their dating scan today, so watch this space for a layout featuring Darryl/Abby junior in the making, lol.

Instow scrap page.

This is a page reflecting our first evening staying in Fremington, North Devon. This is the beach at Instow. Click here to visit the Instow website.
Across the estuary on the other side is a town called Appledore - The Jackson's were staying there when we were here. I don't think Joan (Matthew's nan, bottom picture) will thank me for this photo, but she looks like she was saying "Ooohh, it's a bit breezy!" So I couldn't resist adding it.
I had fun with the Cricut doing this page... getting it to cut out the hearts, the wavey pointer and the text. I added an inked swirly stamp, and some Prima flowers and Kanban jewels in the centres.

Reblowing my own trumpet.

I realised today that I hadn't uploaded this to my blog before, so thought I'd blow my own trumpet again about it. The above page is of my mum and dad and I'd got it published in Scrapbook Inspirations magazine way back in......... 2005! I do have the magazine but it's in a tub somewhere covered in other crafty items. I'm sure it was around the October issue of that year because I remember it had been delivered and it was waiting for me when I got back from taking Matthew on his first day of school, so it was a nice surprise. Well, more a bit of a shock if I'm honest! LOL!
Below is the page it appeared on. I've never had anything published since.