One Litle Word...

I read this post at the start of the year as I was trying to determine my word - Release, Less, Focus and many others vied for attention in my mind, until today (yes it's been a long process!)
Looking through it again and trying to find the one comment that stood out, I realised I had to CHOOSE, because I couldn't move on until I did.
I'm lucky to have a choice, and all this time I've been throwing it away and riding things out until it's too late, never acting on things, letting them pass me by, so:
I CHOOSE my family;
I CHOOSE my health;
I CHOOSE to select the things I love about my life and throw out what I don't - and then I will CHOOSE the new things I want in their places, not just accept things because they turn up;

I tell you what though - the oddest part that I can't get my head around yet is that I didn't really CHOOSE it - but it seems to have chosen me!

Diamonds...

Ta-dah! My tags for the UKS April Tag Swap, which I am chuffed to little mint balls about!

The required elements were bling, a crown, and the theme of 'Diamonds are a girl's best friend'... And with a theme like that it meant only one thing could take centre stage- the lovely Norma Jean!
I went for a look of a poster on a wall, adorned with bling and a graffiti-effect crown, accompanied by a photo-relevant quote from the song itself, and really hope i didn't miss!

I really do hope that my recipients like them... It was touch and go at one stage as it seemed LES (Leaky Elbow Syndrome) had struck- it just wasn't translating from brain to page- but I'm really pleased with my end result :D

Hope you're all getting the same feel-good factor this weekend!
L xxx

Counterfeit Kit Candy...!

This is not only a great idea, but a fab giveaway - check it out! http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com/2011/03/100-follower-giveaway.html Leanne x

Going Loopy...

...for Rico's new Loopy yarn!

A more natural version of Cancan, you still get a scarf from one ball, but with a more natural, daytime feel - love it!

The pattern is in the ballband, but basically it's 'Cast on 7 stitches by picking up every other loop, knit in garter stitch, cast off as normal' - I played a while and decided I prefered 9 stitches wide, and here's how I got on:

And I got lots of attention whilst knitting it whilst the kids were playing at our local junglegym, because it's brand new and looks complicated - but it's not, it's just a lovely result from a yarn that does all the hard work! One thing to note: knit the loose side, not the tight side of the yarn (it does say this in the instructions, but someone at our LYS missed this one and they struggled to get into a rhythm whilst sampling)

Ayway, thanks for looking, anything new for you project-wise this week?

Leanne x

Bon Voyage...

Just a quickie with my contribution to the March Tag Swap on UKS, hosted by the lovely Netty :D

The criteria were: Aquamarine, Travel & a Postage-related item

Thanks for looking,

L x

Today I Am Mostly...

LISTENING: To Grace and Dylan running riot
EATING: A banana
DRINKING: My second coffee
WEARING: Jeans, white tee and cardigan (my go-to outfit!)
FEELING: Fatigued after a nice weekend
WEATHER: Dreary and weary, where did the sunshine go?
WANTING: Quiet, and all of Ysolda Teague's patterns
NEEDING: To load the dishwasher
THINKING: About my tags and CJ
ENJOYING: Knitting my new wool (Rico Loopy - so names because it drives you...)
WONDERING: If we should have another baby (sorry, a bit deep but honest!)

I Want Candy Too...!

Just a note to let you peeps know that the lovely Emma at Devotion To The Dream is hosting a candy giveaway! There's lots of lovey pretty things to win, and the terms are on her blog - go see!
L xx

Today I Am...

I realise I've not posted for a while - been suffering from dreaded lurgy ontop of everything else - as has everyone, I'm sure! I had a wonderful time at the Sarah's Cards March retreat, but still haven't gotten around to posting about that either...
However, I saw this on Claire's blog, and thought that I would give it a go; I'm not promising every day, but would like to look back over it in time and see what I did :)

listening - the empty fishtank
eating - a rich tea biscuit
drinking - my 3rd tea of the day
wearing - leggings, dress and cardigan
feeling - bright with occasional showers and one heck of a gale
wanting - to wash my hair
needing - to empty the washing machine
thinking - nope, head hurts too much!
enjoying - Murder She Wrote
wondering - whether to put makeup on before collecting DJ from nursery

Why not try it yourself - or do you already do something similar? Link in the comments if you do and don't mind sharing :D
Leanne x

Wimp Yourself...

At my son's insistance I did - here!
It reminded me that nobody's perfect, and we all need to poke a little fun at ourselves once in a while :D
Why not wimp yourself and post your link in the comments!
L xx

Paris In The Spring...

No, it's not that word trick you played on each other in school :)

This is just a quick post to show off the tags I've made for the UK Scrappers February Tag Swap - the required elements were amethyst, lace and a love quote:

(I've put the second photo in because the first looks a little flat - I've actually ended up using 3 different thicknesses of foam pads to bring a variation in the levels)

I thought I'd also share my recipe for this one, although I don't normally go into detail over it:

I smooshed a tag with purple ink, and then stamped the wings on the left side. Then I stamped the eiffel tower in black on the right, and sprayed the whole thing with a mini mister filled with a teeny bit of water and a LOT of gold perfect pearls, unscrewing the top and flicking it at the paper for some lovely golden globules. When dry, I overstamped the edges with a flourish using white chalk ink, and added my ribbon - background done.

For embellishment I stamped the hearts onto definition paper, backed it with some card and cut out, mounting the top one on a 1mm foam pad and the bottom one on a 3mm one. I then layered up a torn strip of the definition paper, two sheets of white acid free tissue overstamped with a love quote/definition in silver (bottom layer pleated, top one plain). I topped this with some lilac vellum punched on both sides to create a lacy 'ribbon', added a strip of the same ribbon as I'd used at the top of the tag, and overstamped with with black stitching. Finally I added it to the tag using a glue runner to fix the top part flat, and 2mm foam pads under the bottom part to give the ruffles some extra volume.

It looks like a lot of work reading back through that, but honestly it's not - and I'm chuffed to little mint balls with how it's turned out!

Thanks for looking, and would love to see any links to work you thought looked complicated but turned out straightforward!

Leanne x