Last few Photos!

I meant to show you all the photos in one go yesterday but we had both our Mums for tea last night and they arrived half way through my typing so I had to break off.

So, I'll finish them off today and then it'll be crafting from now on, I promise.

The first one is the view from our hotel window. We didn't have a balcony but our windows opened wide and we had a beautiful view, much better than a lot of people who had paid extra for a balcony so we were very lucky.

This lovely animal is a Marmot and they are wild and live high up in the mountains. On our Glossglockner trip Freya counted 19 and if you were quiet they came very close. They look really cuddly.

Of course, I had to find some flowers and this was someone's garden high above the lake. I just wish I could grow a Brugmansia as good at this one. I just get leaves and no flowers. How they manage to keep them through the winter is a complete mystery. It must be taken indoors but I would think it would have to have a room to itself, it was huge!!!!

Half way up Krimml waterfalls, the highest in Europe. Another hard climb but well worth it, the views were stunning and the spray kept you nice and cool on a very hot day.

The mountains appearing out of the clouds. It was amazing being higher than the clouds and standing on the ground.

And last but not least one of our afternoon cakes. The hotel provided afternoon cake everyday and they were always different and always delicious. The interesting thing was that none of them were sweet so you didn't feel they were too naughty!!!!


Thank you for visiting and being patient and for your lovely comments as always .

I hope you are enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend and the weather is better than it is here-Guess what it's raining again. Oh Well, more crafting time.

More Holiday Photos

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments, I've missed you all too. I think I've nearly caught up with all my blog reading now. You've all been so busy during the past two weeks and I've really enjoyed catching up with what you've been making. It has certainly got my creative juices flowing again.

Despite the rain and wind I've nearly done all the washing and ironing and today had a lovely trip to my favourite craft shop coming out armed with lots of lovely new goodies ( I think that New Years resolution about not buying new stash this year has slipped a bit today-oh dear) but as yet I don't have anything new to show you.

So, encouraged by several comments, I thought I'd show you some more holiday photos, but just a few, I don't want to bore you to death.

The first two are of the beautiful flowers and paintings that decorate the houses, they are just stunning.


This is of Zell am See, where we were staying and the lake from half way up a mountain. We had used a cable car!!!!

And the last one is of the Grossglockner pass which goes up to the highest mountain in Austria. Quite an experience seeing the fast cars racing each other, although we had to take it very steady in a coach.


I've got to go and make tea now so will come back tomorrow and show you a few more.

Back From Holidays

Hello out there in Blogland, did you think I'd deserted you.

We got back yesterday from two fantastic weeks in Austria. What a beautiful country with such friendly people and wonderful warm sunny weather. A perfect holiday in every way.

I'm not going to bore you with a holiday diary but if you are ever fed up with a beach holiday then this is the place to go, you certainly won't be bored. We could easily have filled another two weeks, although I think we would have needed two seats each on the plane after all the delicious food and cakes. Warm apple strudel at the top of a mountain in the sunshine,bliss.

We now want to go back and see it again in the snow!!! Time will tell if we make it.

Thank you so much for your lovely comments while I've been away, they are very much appreciated.

Well it's back to the mountain of washing and sorting out so I'll leave you with a photo of another kind of mountain and our beautiful lake.

I've got lots of photos to scrap so will be back very soon.

Thank you again for your patience, I have lots of blog reading to do to catch up with all I've missed.

Thank you for visiting.

Lisax

Summer Days

I have not been a good blogger this week. I've been fighting with Google. For some reason it wouldn't let me access anything on blogland yesterday but thankfully seems ok today so I'm going to get this post done quickly in case it changes it's mind.

I hope you are all enjoying the sunshine. It seems like summer has come back again for the time being, lets hope it lasts.


Because it's been so nice I thought I'd show you a couple of cards I made playing with my favourite Elusive Designs Wildflower stamps that feel really summery. This set of stamps are the ones I reach for the most and are so versatile, I just love them.


These were simple cards. I just used two stamps and some coordinating chalk inks to create a scene and then matted them onto plain card and added a silver peel off edging. I shall add a greeting later when I know who I'm going to send them too. I shall definitely be making these again in different colours.

Thank you so much for looking.

Experimenting

We've had a lovely sunny couple of days here, after a wet wet Saturday so it's been nice to get back in the garden although I have a real slug problem this year. All my seed grown Cosmos and Dahlias have been eaten to stalks so the colour that should be in the border now is sadly lacking. I will have to have a rethink for next year, but that is gardening for you, nothing stands still and there is always something to do.

We are on countdown for our Holidays now. I am not a clever blogger and don't yet know how to schedule posts to appear when I am not here, note to self to learn this for next time, so when my blog goes quiet, you will know what has happened.


I thought I would should you a card I made last week experimenting with moonglow mica powder. I saw Dawn Bibby do this technique on QVC recently and wanted to give it a go.

Versmark was applied to the whole piece of dark card and the powder randomly applied and then my stamp, Autumn Leaves Fine and Dandy again, was inked with versamark and stamped onto the powder removing it to create a negative.

The background card was stamped with the same image and pigment powder was applied to cuttlebugged embossed card and I used this for the strip at each side. The words were from Elusive Images.

Thank you for visiting.

Time Flies

This week's TIO challenge is Time Flies. It certainly does, I can't believe we are nearly in August, where has the last year gone!!!!

Both Freya and I have entered a tag again this week, but we did them separately so they are very different this week.


Freya stamped her butterflies (from inkadinkadoo) on vellum and painted them with gold glimmer mist to make them curl. Her background was sponged with chalk inks and the clock was taken from the internet and painted with pink glimmer mist. The little butterflies were stamped with pink brilliance ink.


I took a different clock face from the internet and liked the idea of a dandelion clock and the flying seeds. My background was sponged with the brown set of colourbox pigment inks and the dandelion (from Autumn Leaves, it was the Stampology Fine & Dandy set, one of my favourites at the moment) was stamped in black and clear embossed. I did the same for a second image on scrap paper and then just cut the seeds off. The clock face had brown ink applied and I hand drew the hands in.

Thank you so much for looking and the wonderful comments you leave us. I hope you all have a lovely weekend, whatever the weather!

Lots of Thank yous

Hello everyone. Hope you are all managing to find a little bit of sunshine in this damp and dismal summer we seem to be having. You certainly have to grab the nice days with both hands don't you!!

I'm taking a bit of time out to do some much need blogger housekeeping today. I've been overwhelmed lately by the awards I have been given and also the lovely pieces of craft some very kind bloggers have sent me. You really are a lovely lot!!!


I was given the Circle of Friends award by both Judith and Lynne. Both of whom are very supportive blogging friends and have really interesting blogs which are well worth a visit.
I understand I have to pass this on to 5 other bloggers and I have to be honest and say it is really hard to pick just 5 as I count you all as friends so although I have picked 5 if you are reading this then please help yourself.

Michelle for your talent and generosity
Janet another wonderful inspiration and local crafter. Hope it makes you smile!!
Debbie for all those grungepaper creations!
Sally for being my first follower and a wonderful card maker
Karen for inspiring me with the tag challenges!!

I was also given The Beautiful Blogger award from Clare and again need to pass it on to another 5. So here goes:

Lottie for your beautiful artwork
Lesley a fellow Graphicus admirer
Jane for being a fellow scrapbooker
Anne who writes such thought provoking posts
Kate for being another wonderful card maker

I also have to say a huge thank you to Michelle who sent me this absolutely beautiful tag I had admired on her blog. I was blown away by such generosity. I shall treasure it for ever Michelle.


Lastly, (are you still awake!!!!), I wanted to show you the lovely "winged" RAK (Random Act of Kindness for those of you who, like me didn't know what this stood for and had to look it up) Brenda sent me for coming in the Top 5 of the Allsorts challenge several weeks ago. Isn't it beautiful.

Told you I needed to get up to date.

Roses For Romance

For all you cake lovers out there, I think I'm safe to post the photos of the two cakes I decorated last week.


The first one was a wedding cake for my friend's hairdresser. She wanted it to be kept simple with just a spray of pink roses on the top to match her hand tied rose bouquet. The cakes were all fruit which my lovely Mum in law makes. Her cakes are delicious and always lovely and boozy. No one in the family can match her, as hard as we try.


The second cake was for the first Wedding Anniversary of my hairdresser, who is a regular cake buyer. She likes a plain sponge with jam and buttercream which I can make successfully. Luckily she was happy to have the same roses. I just added some rose leaves to make the spray a bit different.

We had plenty of buttercream and icing left over so Freya made fairy cakes on Sunday and had a lovely time decorating them so we got a bit of cake too!!!

Crafty Sunday

Yet again I sit here typing listening to the rain. Still mustn't grumble, we had a wonderful day out in The Lake District again yesterday and the sun shone all day. We had planned to visit Sizergh Castle near Kendal, trying to avoid the really popular areas as the traffic was very heavy and we didn't want to sit in the car all day when the weather was so nice.

Unfortunately, the castle was closed on a Saturday!!!! How daft is that. Well let's try Levens Hall I suggested, that's only 5 minutes away. Guess what, that is closed on a Saturday too!!!! Not to be put off we headed for Lakeside and the Aquarium and had a really lovely day. We had lunch overlooking the lake, saw a steam train, enjoyed the Aquarium and then went to look round the other side of the bay where we could see lots of people and discovered Fell Foot. This is National Trust parkland with lovely access to the lake, the children were all paddling quite safely while parents picniced on the grass. There are lots of boats moored and beautiful views, well worth a visit if you are ever in the area. We had a very welcome pot of tea and yummy cakes sat outside on a terrace right on the lake enjoying the last of the afternoon sunshine. Pure Bliss. I had to be dragged away for the drive home!!

We were so glad we made the most of the weather yesterday because it's been wet, windy and cool all day here. Perfect crafting weather and for once I had a really productive afternoon.


For weeks now I've been trying to find time to enter the Tuesday Taggers challenge, but just somehow always ran out of time so this week when I saw it was Swirls and Curls I was adamant I would have a go and so here is yet another tag!!! I promise something different next time.

I used part of a tattered angels mask to get a swirl on the edge and over sprayed with sapphire glimmer mist and the stamped round with a swirly inchy in faded jeans distress ink and then again with my favourite Heidi Grace swirl in black. The wording was from elusive images and the chipboard swirl was inked with brilliance pearlescent orchid and a dark pink chalk ink.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend and lets hope the sun is back tomorrow.

Dots and Swirls

This weeks Dragonsdream TIO challenge is Pink swirls and dots to celebrate the anniversary of the moon landing and the eclipse earlier in the week.

Because it's been such a wet start to the summer holidays here we haven't been out much so decided to do some crafting yesterday afternoon and Freya asked if she could make a tag too, so we have two entries this week.

Both were cuttlebugged with the swirls folder and then sprayed with pink shades of glimmer mist, Freya had three and mine had two. I think hers probably came out best to show up the embossing. (Freya's is the one below)


She then stamped a creative expressions swirl down the centre and finished off with some star and dot brads.

(Mine is the one below) I stamped round the edge with a different creative expression swirl using pink and crimson brilliance inks. Different sized holes were punched with my crop o dile and glitter paper stuck behind with the holes outlined to make them stand out a bit and I then added different sized brads for two different types of dots.
I'd lost the embossing by this time so I tried to highlight it a bit with brushed out felt tip.


I have to be honest and say I'm not sure about the end result but the moon's surface is a mishmash so it probably works ok for what it is supposed to represent.

Freya thoroughly enjoyed joining in the challenge and I'm sure it probably won't be the last time during the summer. It made for a nice afternoon of crafting together.

By the way, those of you waiting for cake pics. I will post them after the weekend when the recipients have had time to see and eat them!!!!