Clean & Simple Characters - Clean & Simply Gorjuss...

Hello there!! :)

Well, I'm finally back after another unintended hiatus from blogging... have still been crafting though, so plenty to share with you!! :) Starting with the first post in my new little personal challenge series inspired by the lovely Jen :) I mentioned here that around the same time as Jen started her fab CAS Mondays with LOTV, I had also been having a craft-space sort out and realised anew just how many character stamps I had and how little use they were getting recently within my recent CAS stamps/inks/dies phase... and so, following Jen's lead, I decided I would set myself a little challenge too... and to keep me motivated, I thought I'd make it a series on my lil' blog...

... I am calling it Clean & Simple Characters and the idea is to still make CAS cards which are relatively quick and easy to put together but which also include all my lovely character images and give my ProMarkers and FlexMarkers a bit of use... until I started this they had barely been out of the box all year!! :S

I have been wanting to give sepia colouring with my PMs/FMs a go for a while since I saw my lovely friend, Elaine, making some fab cards this way and I decided to restrict myself to just the colours I have in my FlexMarkers to keep it all as simple as possible... I started with this lovely Gorjuss Girl stamp I got a little while ago, from the new DoCrafts GG range, and hadn't used yet (as the size of it threw me a tad to be honest- it's huge!!lol) and, until I had the CAS idea, I hadn't been able to work out what I could do with it...

... and I had so much fun that I went on, over the next few days, to colour my other three Gorjusses and a Simply Sassy in the same way, too, (along with a couple of flowers which I'll share soon but don't fit the series)!! :)

 This one was the first GG I got from Sugar Nellie years ago and is still my favourite... I just think she is so pretty with her little flowers :)

I embossed all the images with WOW! semi-dull powder before colouring and added a little Antique Linen Distress Stickles to them at the end :)

The frames on these two were leftovers/waste from some kraft squares I cut ages ago but saved as I thought they'd make great frames... nearly chucked them a few times as they were getting on my nerves on my desk but glad I didn't now!!lol

And for this last one, I pulled out a fab Simply Sassy stamp which I've had for ages and really love but, for some strange reason, hasn't been used that much... like the GGs, she was a dream to colour in this way and I had fun- and possibly got a tad carried away!!lol- playing with some teeny hearts and stars from CBS to make a bokeh-ish background for her :)

{ The List }

Cream card blanks (top- fold A6 and 5" Square) and more cream card from stamping on

Stamps - Simply Gorjuss - New Heights from Do Crafts

Gorjuss Girls - Poppy Fields, Little Goth Girl and Sitting from Sugar Nellie

Simply Sassy - Luv a Latte by Krista Smith from Sugar Nellie

VersaMagic Ink pad in Jumbo Java

Wow! Clear Matte Semi-dull embossing powder and heat tool

FlexMarkers - Rosewood, Auburn, Saddle Brown, Nutmeg, Cappuccino, Sandstone, Light Fawn, Champagne, Linen, Antique White, Sunkissed Pink

Button Twine and Seam Binding - Brown and Rose Petal from The Ribbon Girl

Clearly Besotted Many Thanks stamp set and VersaMagic inks in Wheat and Sahara Sand for hearts and stars background on Luv a Latte card

Sentiments - Poppy Fields card- Woodware Clear Magic Salutations

Sitting card- Papermania Honey and Hugs set

Little Goth Girl and Luv a Latte cards- LOTV Tags stamp sheets

Antique Linen Distress Stickles

Sakura Clear Stardust pen

I'd like to enter all but the first of these into the Sugar Bowl - Anything Goes challenge :) and the rest into: Passion for ProMarkers - Ribbon, Lace or Twine :) ; Addicted to Stamps - Make Your Mark :) ; Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes :)

Well, that's the first post- and the first *five* cards- in my little Clean and Simple Characters series... I love the sepia look and limiting my colour palette definitely helped the process go more quickly and feel much more relaxed... I have a lot more images I think would look great in sepia but I'd also like to try some other restricted palettes... and it was so much fun to play with my images and pens again!! :) Thank you again Jen for the inspiration!! :) My challenge is just for me- no linky or anything like Jen's) and it will be an 'as and when' kind of thing but I hope that it might be fun to read and maybe even inspire a few people to have a go and mix those character with CAS!! :)

Thanks for stopping by today and for reading this v long post (I was going to post all the cards seperately but it seemed daft to spend energy on several different posts when they'd all be so similar!!lol)... hope you enjoyed it anyway!! :) I'm not sure when I'll make it back but I hope it won't be too long :) Hope everyone's okay and had a lovely long weekend... I got to meet Jen who came to visit and we chatted like we'd known each other forever so I had a fab weekend- thanks hon!! :D :D

Autumnal Beauty...

Hello again everyone!!  :)

Well, I can't quite believe I have made it back three times in one week, but here I am with the card I made over the weekend for my step-mum's birthday, which was inspired by several challenges including the sketch and theme at Sugar Nellie :) I've used one of their gorgeous stamps which I got a couple of months ago with my step-mum's card in mind, as she's very interested in historical things and especially Tudor and Stuart times...  well, I only needed a little excuse as I didn't have any of the lovely Leanne Ellis stamps and they're so gorgeous and stylish... took me ages to decide which one I'd get, though!!  :)

I started out with the sketch and the CAS theme in mind but somewhere along the line the CAS part kind of got away from me a little!!lol And don't ask me what happened with the colours as this was totally not the colour-scheme I had in mind when I started – think regal blues and purples with maybe a dash of teal… hmmm, not quite how it came out then!!  ;)

{{  Please excuse the poor photo... it's virtually impossible to get a decent shot of something so shimmery and this doesn't do the gorgeous colours of the paints justice at all as it did look better irl!! :S  }}

I heat embossed the lovely image with the gold sparkly powder (made myself to by mixing gold powder with fine gold glitter – works a treat and you have total control over the amount of sparkle you want!! :) ) and then coloured her with my Twinkling H2O and Cosmic Shimmer watercolours as I thought the beautiful, rich colours and shimmer would suit the opulence of the image and embossing :) I added some shading with a dark brown H2O, too, which is something I've not tried before with watercolours but I like it :)

I die-cut some flowers, then spritzed them with a Mini Mister filled with the water from the pot I used to rinse my brushes whilst painting the image... I've done this before and have a little mister of pearly sparkles from a Wedding image I painted a month or so ago on my desk, too- there's just so much lovely mica left in the bottom of the pot that it seems wrong to waste it!!lol After that was dry- and I'd nearly burnt a hole in the sheet of paper I had them on with my heat tool as I was being impatient!! Ooops- just glad I didn't set the smoke alarm off!!lol- I overstamped a scroll onto them with Antique Linen and Vintage Photo DIs and inked the edges.  Then I added some Antique Linen Distress Stickles – I LOVE this stuff!! :) – to the edges of the card and flowers, just smeared on with my finger!!  ;D

The greeting is a Cat's Life Press stamp and it is sooo gorgeous- simple but interesting, if you know what I mean?! ;) - and is also embossed :)

Then the CAS bit started unraveling as it just didn't seem to look right with just the couple of pale swirls I'd planned to stamp as foliage coming from behind the flower... too plain for the luxurious image, I think!! So, I went a bit mad with the swirls and then inked the edges, too!! :) Personally, I think it is still CAS as there's no matting and layering and minimal embellishment but I know some of the stricter CAS-loving ladies out there will say the lack of white space means it doesn't pass muster... good job the theme's optional then!!lol

The List:

• 6" Sq. cream card blank
• Gorgeous image 'If Only' by Leanne Ellis from Sugar Nellie
• Versamark ink pad, gold sparkle embossing powder and heat tool
• Twinkling H2O and Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paints
• Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die
• Homemade shimmer mist
• Viva Decor swirl stamps
• Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress Inks
• Antique Linen Distress Stickles
• Gold flat-backed pearls

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges: The Sugar Bowl - sketch by Maria Therese and optional theme of CAS (which I may or may not have followed, depending on your viewpoint!! ;) ) :) ; Sarah Hurley - Misting :) ; OSCC - No DPs :) ; Bows & Berries- Colour Challenge (I have yellow/gold, orange, brown and a touch of green) :) ; Charisma Cardz - Anything Goes :)

So, it kind of took on a life of its own but I really enjoyed getting off my beaten track and making such an unusually coloured and different card :) I'd love to know what you think as I'm often unsure about things when they are so far from my norm!! :) I also made some little earrings to go with it so will try to share those soon-ish... but here's a sneaky peek for you...  :)

Thanks for all the lovely comments on my last cards- I'm still struggling with leaving comments because of energy levels and some pain in my hands again (thank goodness my Speech Recognition software has decided to behave or I'd not have got this done!! :) ) but I am still checking out your posts from my phone (which also makes it harder to comment as a lot of blogs seem to crash the internet on it :S) and am very grateful for all the fab inspiration you share!! :) 

Christmas Raven and a Colour Challenge at My Partner in Crafting Crime...

Hello everyone!! :)

It's Monday and time for another fab challenge over at My Partner in Crafting Crime!! :) This fortnight it’s a Colour Challenge and we have a gorgeous colour palette to inspire you from the rather lovely Design Seeds site...

You need to use at least three of the colours to enter but the more of them you can use the better!! :)


I'd never heard of Design Seeds before this challenge but I think I'll be popping back quite often as there are so many gorgeous colour palettes to help spark off new ideas... I struggle with colour and don't have much confidence in mixing new combos so this sort of thing is great for me!! :)

We are sponsored this time by the fab Bows & Berries Digital Stamps Shop and the lucky winner will be able to choose three digis from the shop!! :)


So, onto my card:

I seriously need to get a move on with my Xmas cards and these colours seemed great for making a slightly different looking one :) I altered a couple of my own digi papers to the right shades- or so I thought... forgot that blues and greens never show true on my comp to the way they'll print so was actually a bit off with the greens :S but I liked it and knew I had PM colours that would work, so I went with it!!lol

I have been trying to improve on my colouring recently and so had been watching some YouTube vids before I set to on this image- the oh so gorgeous Raven from Sugar Nellie which is so lovely to colour! :) - and so I did my best to put what I'd picked up into practise and I'm pretty happy with the results, as another step in the right direction at least... especially as I've never even used these greens or some of the pinks before!! I have a massive collection of pens but, as with our fav clothes, I tend all too often to stick with the same old combos I've had success with before rather than brave trying anything new!!lol

I used the back of a Craftwork Cards Mini Message I didn't think I'd ever use for the greeting and stamped a Lotv greeting on it (just hoping it'd fit as the stamp has it on two lines... and then adding the gem when it was sooo off-centre!!lol). The snowflake charm adds a bit of movement and interest :) I don't know if you can see it very well in the pics but I did distress the edges of the papers just a wee bit before adding a bit of colour with the pink PM from the image and some Stickles :)

I also used one of my lovely new shaped card blanks for the first time, too- I think they make such a difference to a simple card and the shape is perfect with my fav MS Cherish punch!! :)




The List:

• 6” sq. Elegance white card blank from Craftwork Cards
• Sugar Nellie image Raven from the Home Grown range, stamped in Memento and coloured with ProMarkers: Coat and Boots- Fuchsia Pink & Pink Carnation; Hat and Cuffs- Maroon & Magenta with Cool Grey 1 over the top to tone down the brightness; Dress- Green, Mint Green and Pastel Green; Hair- Walnut & Cocoa
• My own design digi papers
• MS Cherish border punch
• Craftwork Cards Mini Message (I used the back)
• LOTV greeting from Xmas stamp sheet
• Organza Ribbon
• Snowflake charm and jumps from my jewellery supplies stash
• Crystal Stickles and Sakura Clear Stardust Pen
• 4mm gems

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges: Crafter's Companion - Pink & Green :) ; Paper Sundaes – Sundae Bar (I have distressing and plenty of sparkle) :) ; My Time To Craft - Dies and/or Punches :) ; The Secret Crafter - Wrap Up Warm (with something knitted) :) ; Crafting When We Can - Christmas Come Early :)


Well, that's about it from me for today!!lol I’m off to finish my step-mum’s birthday card- did most of the creative bits yesterday so just need to assemble it all now... then cross my fingers the posties are nice and quick for me or it’ll be late!! :S Thank you for popping by and thank you for all the lovely comments on my last cards and bracelet!! I particularly appreciate the comments on the bracelet as I know that jewellery isn’t everyone’s cup of tea!!lol I'm thinking though, as people seemed to like seeing it (I hope, anyway!!), that might try to post more jewellery projects when I'm able to make them... I have one or two either finished or in the works so hopefully I can post them soon-ish and there are bound to be more at this time of year!! :) Don't forget to pop over to PCC to see the gorgeous work from the rest of the fab DT- who all managed to use the right shades of green for their cards, too!!lol Hope you’re all well and had a good weekend!! :)

The Sweetest Snowpeople and time to be inspired at My Partner in Crafting Crime :)

Hello there!! :)

Well, it’s the start of another week- and what a wet, windy and miserable start it’s been!!- and time for our next challenge at My Partner inCrafting Crime!! :) This time we have a fab Inspiration Photo to get your creative juices flowing:

Photo from Pinterest

There are so many ways you could go from this picture- just go and have a look at the variety created by the rest of the fab DT on the PCC blog to see what I mean!! :) You could take the house, colours, the distressed look, wood/bricks, trees,  the autumnal feeling... or so many other possibilities and I can’t wait to see all the different interpretations you come up with!! :) I kind of proved my own point with all the ideas I had for this card- I wanted to go ‘Haunted House-y’ for Hallowe’en but the image I had was a digi and I’m having an ongoing argument with my printer at the mo’ (ink keeps smearing when I try to colour :( ) so that couldn’t happen, then I thought I’d try a new home card, but it just wasn’t working out... so I wasn’t sure where to go next- until I happened across some gorgeous MME papers buried on my desk which had all the colours in the pic and a fab sketch from the Sugar Bowl... and idea number three took hold!! :) We are sponsored by the fab Bows & Berries again this time and the winner will get to chose three of their gorgeous images!! :)

Now, I must say, it didn’t really come out the way I’d imagined and I’m not altogether sure if I like it- I think that may be because the colour combo is so far out of my usual comfort-zone (I only tend to use red with black and white for a start!!lol) but that’s the fun of challenges, isn’t it- to push yourself a bit?!! :)

I just had to have this fab image from Sugar Nellie’s recent Christmas release- it makes me smile every time I see it... think it’s the snowman’s twiggy hair that does it but the whole image is just so sweet!! :) I coloured with Promarkers and Flexmarkers- the Flexs made it so much easier to get a paler shade on the snowmen, too :) I find it tricky to use so many colours in an image as I find it hard to get a balance of colour but I tried to think before I coloured a lot more this time and, while I don’t love it and it took a lot longer, I do think it’s worth trying it this way again!! :) I of course added plenty of Stickles and Clear Stardust to it to get a real snowy sparkle!!  Have ordered some Glamour Dust, too, as I keep seeing it used and, if it can look so good in people’s pics, it should be amazing in real life!! Hope so- and hope the postie gets a wriggle on so I can use it on my next snowy card!!lol

All the papers came from the same MME Snowed in pad- free with a mag last month and it’s utterly gorgeous!! :) - and this greeting is also cut from one of the sheets with a teeny gem and some glitter to add interest :) The snowflake were cut on my Cricut and spritzed with shimmer mist :)

This pic is just to show the Stardust pen better on the snowmen's bodies- I drew on a line of pen then quickly smudged it out with my finger for a more subtle effect :)

The List:

• 6” Sq. cream card blank
• Christmas Garland image from Sugar Nellie’s Home Grown range, stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa
• ProMarkers and Flexmarkers: (there were a lot of them and I don’t remember which colours were for which areas in some cases but I’ll list the combos I do remember!!lol) Snowmen- Soft Aqua (FM), Tea Green and Powder Blue and a Copic Blender then Antique White FM all over to tone down the white a bit; Leaves- Pear Green, Moss Forest Green and Gold (in different orders/amounts for the holly and the mistletoe); Decorations and hat- Berry Red, Cardinal Red, Burgundy and Honeycomb, Tulip Yellow, Gold and Honeycomb, Cinnamon and Cocoa. I have a few others in my box but don’t know what I used them for!! :S
• Distress Inks: Weathered Wood, Tumbled Glass and Antique Linen around the image and more AL on all the paper edges, snowflakes and ribbon
• My Mind’s Eye Snowed In paper pad
• Lables One Nesties
• Scissors to distress the papers
• Cream Seam Binding
• Snowflakes cut on my Cricut from the ‘When It’s Cold Outside’ cartridge
• Perfect Pearls Pearl shimmer mist
• Stardust and Frosted Lace Stickles, Clear Stardust and Clear Glaze Sakura pens
• Pearls and gems

I’d like to enter this card in the following challenges: The SugarBowl - great sketch by Gayle :) ; Stamptacular Sunday – So Distressing! :) ; AGem of a Challenge – With Love at Christmas (with a heart) :) ; CES – Seeing Red (I hope there’s enough red here- it’s a lot for me!!lol- but if not then please delete me!! :) ) :) ; Little Claire’s – Christmas :) ; OSCC – Anything Goes :) ; Secret Crafter – Anything Goes as long as it Sparkles!! :) ; Winter Wonderland – Autumn Colours :)

Thanks for popping by today and for all the lovely comments on my last cards!! :) Hope the rotten weather didn’t spoil anybody’s weekends too badly!! :S Certainly ‘Monday’ kind of weather today, isn’t it!?!lol Let’s hope the sun comes back soon!! :) Will hopefully be back again soon with another couple of the cards I’ve been wanting to post but this week’s shaping up to be as hectic as last so we’ll see!! :S Please do pop over to PCC to check out all the inspirational ideas from that one photo!! :)

Gorjuss in Purples :)

Hello!! :)

Well, I didn’t get back here as quickly as I’d planned again as I just didn’t have the spare energy last week as I was busy trying to get an ordered Wedding card ready for today- took a bit longer than expected on way and another but worth it in the end, I think, and I’ll share it sometime soonish!! :) I did have another couple of cards I in line to share next but this one has sneaked its way in early as I thought it was a perfect contribution to Chrissie and Mandi’s  attempt to get 1000 entries to one challenge over at Less Is More this week!! :) I’ve not been able to enter over there for a long time- which has made me sad as I was so enjoying it and proud of entering every week in the beginning, but my health has a mind of its own on that one at the mo’... Anyway, I couldn’t but respond to Lady and Diva LIM’s appeal for entries, especially with an Anything Goes theme to make it nice and easy!! :)

I coloured this Gorjuss image last week as my first entry into a MiC challenge- I’ve never been brave enough to enter before as the standard is so high but last week’s was Colour with Purple, which- aside from being an easier first go than merging images or colouring a sunset!! ;) – is my fav colour and one I’ve had major problems with my PMs despite now having every purple PM there is!! :S Seemed to go a bit better this time, though- possibly as I used a different type of card, will have to experiment with that more, I think!! :) And I made it into a really simple card with some inked edges, seam binding and teeny gems- not sure if it’ll be a Christmas or winter birthday card yet so I’ll add a sentiment when I know!!lol Need to keep my options open as my stash of spare cards, so helped by all my LIM inspired entries earlier in the year, has been very depleted by having to raid it so often when not well enough to make these last few months!! :S Just glad they were there when I needed them, though!! :)

And a close up of the image- my camera hates purple and this was the shot I could get closest to the true colour with (warmer and pinker than it looks), so apologies for the incredibly uninventive framing!!lol I really like these deep purples so, if I can get them to work and blend again next time, I’ll definitely be using them more!! :) I used Blue Greys on the hair and fox as I thought this would tone better with the Purples... but the fox looked weird so I added some pale purple... and it still looked weird... so I gave up!!lol

The List...

·     DL white card blank

·         Gorjuss Girl ‘Foxy’ image from Sugar Nellie stamped in Memento

·         Coloured with: Clothes- PMs- Mulberry and Plum, Fuchsia Pink and Mulberry; Skin- PMs- Almond, Satin, Blush and Pale Pink; Hair- Spectrum Noirs- Black, Blue Grey 1 & 5; Fox- Spectrum Noirs- BG1 & 5 and PMs- Lavender, Lilac and CG1

·         Sakura Clear Stardust

·         Dusty Concorde DI (edges)

·         Anita’s 2mm Gems

·         Seam Binding

Thanks for looking and for any comment and also for all the comments on my last cards!! :) Hope to be back before too long with another card- have a good week in the meantime!! :)

A trip to the beach with My Partner in Crafting Crime :)

Hello folks!! :)

Well, what a couple of days it’s been with this sudden heat... perfect timing really as we have a new challenge for you over at My Partner in CraftingCrime and this time we’d like to see you create something with a ‘Beach Theme’ :) :) We're sponsored by the fab Bows & Berries Digital Stamps Shop who have some gorgoeus new releases out this week as well as the lovely sun digi I've used on my card!! :) And here’s what I came up with:

I’ve had this Gorjuss image coloured and just waiting to be used since it arrived on my doormat from a lovely friend a couple of months or so ago and this seemed the perfect opportunity!! :) I’ve seen lots of people using sandpaper to great effect to create beachy scenes and thought I’d have a play myself- originally the scene was going to be the full size of the card but when this idea of a Polaroid style scene popped into my head at the last minute I just had to run with it- the smaller scale meaning less energy needed was actually just a bonus this time!!lol 

I began by getting a rough idea of the size I wanted my ‘Polaroid’ to be and printing out the gorgeous ‘Sun Love’ digi from Bows and Berries, which is just such a happy image :) I then masked the digi, placed clouds cut from my Cricut onto the sky (all attached with 2-way glue) and then inked in a similar way to Bev’s Tutorial with a cheap shaving brush form Wilkos and Tumbled Glass DI- think I went a bit heavier with my ink than you would for the softer look Bev gets but I wanted a real bright summer sky so I’m happy :) Then I crumpled and sanded some Core’dinations Whitewash for the sea and stuck that and the sandpaper onto the inked piece, which I mounted onto another layer of white for the frame :)

 

The sun has a second layer on foam pads and some glitter and glaze to add dimension :)

All the little Sea Life embellishments are cut from white card on my Cricut- they’ve been sitting on my desk since I coloured the image, too!!lol- and coloured with Promarkers. Before I coloured the shells I used several sizes of embossing tool to score and shape the card- a small thing but I’m glad I thought of it on the last minute as I think (in reality at least- not sure it shows too well in my pics) that it makes a big difference. I shaped the starfish and seahorse slightly, too, and they all have Clear Stardust and Clear Glaze for extra pretty-ness!! :)

A little bit of sandpaper and a white doodled border to frame the whole arrangement and I was done :) I know I took too amny photos but I kind of like this one!! ;D

The List:

·    

• 6x6” Aqua card blank from stash
• Images: Gorjuss Girl stamp from Sugar Nellie and ‘Sun Love’ Digi from Bows & BerriesDigital Stamp Shop
• Promarkers to colour images and embellies – no idea of colours, I’m afraid :(
• White card, Blue Core’dinations Whitewash card and sandpaper
• Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and shaving brush for sky
• Antique Linen DI for 'photo' edges
• Cricut to cut Sea Life embellies and embossing styluses to shape them
• Sakura Clear Stardust and Clear Glaze pens
• Inksentials White pen
• Brown and Green fineliners for the sentiment and detail on the seahorse
• Stickles in Frosted Lace, Stardust and Diamond

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Pollycraft – Make a Splash! :) ; Papertake Weekly – Here Comes the Sun :) ; Fab ‘n’ Funky – Summer Loving :) ; I ♥ Promarkers – Anything Goes :) ; Sparkles Forum – At the Beach :) ; The Secret Crafter – Embossing (my shells) :) ; Sweet Stampin’ – Something Old, Something New (my new is my digi and sandpaper, my old is the card blank discovered when rooting through a box I thought was all junk!!lol) :)

So, I hope you enjoyed my little trip to the beach as much as I did- I have no idea what I’ll ever be able to do with this card but I so enjoyed making it that I really don’t care!!lol :) I rarely let myself make cards that I don’t think I’ll have any way to use as it just doesn’t seem a justifiable use of my energy but every so often I let myself play and it’s so much fun!! :) Please do pop over to the PCC blog and check out the fab creations from the rest of the DT- we’re all going on a summer holiday of sorts as we’re taking a little DT break after this challenge... but we’ll be back in September with more fun challenges to get stuck into!! :)

Sorry I’m a bit late in the day with this one, by the way, but I spent all the energy I had yesterday on getting my new drawers in situ opposite my desk, and swapping things around between the old set, the new set and my desk drawers etc. in an attempt to make it easier to get hold of what I want while I’m working... I think the new drawers (six shallower ones in the place of three I had to dig through to find things) will help a lot but there’s still more to do as I never have the energy to just keep going ‘til things are all sorted so I’m still not sure quite what’s been left where atm... :S Good job I don’t have anything I need to make in a huge hurry right now, then!!lol Anyway, I didn’t get round to getting my post ready the day before, as I try to do with DT posts in case my brain won’t work on the day... and sure enough, my brain hasn’t wanted to play nice at all today so apologies if this has been even more rambly and incoherent than usual!!lol

I hope you’re all well and had a great weekend enjoying the sun- or found a nice cool place to avoid it if that’s what you prefer!!- it’s cooled off a bit here in the last few hours thankfully as it was pretty unbearable earlier!! :S