The Queen Comes to Town......

Yep honestly, the Queen came to our little town, in the middle of nowhere to visit Maldon Salt Works and Tiptree Jam Factory..... how awesome..

And we were very close, we were on the barrier until the Queen arrived when we let some little girls go in front of us as they were trying to take photos with their phones and cameras....

I cannot believe how good these photographs came out, especially as it looked like it would rain when she arrived, luckily it held off until afterwards when we were walking back to our car....

When we arrived home we realised that although she flew into town, she would be driving 20 minutes to Tiptree to the Jam Factory and would therefore be going past the end of our road which is a cul de sac and so we have a pull in for cars at the end of our road, so along with some neighbours we took our flags and went and waited for her to drive past.... she was going past at about 35 miles an hour so photos are not very good, but she did wave to the cars that had stopped for her and at us... you can just about make her out in the back of the Bentley.... waving!!

So that was my exciting day, and when I arrived home there were 3 parcels awaiting me, some chain I needed for a cuckoo clock I am altering, my impressions plate from Papertrey Ink and my new ipad cover which matches my handbag, red crocodile skin... and a gorgeous Halloween card from Vannessa..... thank you so much Vannessa, it really means so much to receive cards from people....

Have a great evening everyone... xx

A Halloween Card....

My 2 little boys are going to a Halloween Party on Saturday, we don't celebrate Halloween but I don't feel I can stop them going to the party as the rest of their classes will be there, so I have made a card for the little boy whose party it is... not really sure if I should get a pressie too as it was his birthday a couple of months ago, so the only occasion is Halloween. Any ideas or suggestions?

I don't have any Halloween stamps other than the Papertrey Halloween Tags, no images or anything and I have left it to late to buy online as I am unlikely to get anything because of the threatened postal strikes again this week. So had to use what I had here. I find the Stampin Up Cardstock in Pumpkin Pie and Elegant Eggplant the perfect colours for halloween things and so used these colours, and they matched the Patterned Paper I had beautifully (not sure who the paper is from, I had it left over from last year)... I used a Quickutz die to cut out the pumpkin and bats, and I used the Stampin Up Pastels (chalks to us plebs) to colour the edge of the pumpkin in slightly so it gave it a bit of dimension. Again the inside is decorated to match the front....

Can you see the little googly eyes on the top bat? How cute are they and finish the card off perfectly methinks.

And this is the inside of the card, and even the little ghost has googly eyes.

I have been trying to make myself a watermark today to put on my cards but since I upgraded to elements 6 I cannot get any watermarks to work. I used to have PSP and my watermark worked brilliantly, then I changed to elements when I got my graphics tablet and my watermarks have never worked again. They are transparent until put onto the cards and then they are no longer transparent. Can anyone help me out here please... I would be very grateful.
I have wasted all afternoon on this, and I have used 2 different tutorials and ended up with the same result. Transparent until added to my picture.... grrrrrr!!!

Anyway, need to get dinner started, we are having Chilli Con Carne and Rice tonight, not sure I have any rice, so will check before I start and send one of the children to the shop if I haven't... why do I always forget the most important part (well apart from the mince of course.. lol).

Have a good evening all xx

A Little Something For The Halloween Trick or Treaters....

I thought I had better make a little something for the Halloween trick or treaters, even though we dont really celebrate Halloween ourselves, we have quite a few small children living in our cul de sac so I expect they will be calling. Last year I made the jubbly boxes so this year whilst at the Ally Pally a few weeks ago, I bought this shaker box die specifically for using with the Halloween treats... so here they are..


I made 16 in all, 8 of each design and stuck some cute googly eyes on the cat and the spider. The stamp set is Papetrey Halloween Tags... I love this set, I am not sure why Stampin Up dont make Halloween Sets for the UK as I am sure they would sell well, celebrating Halloween is on the increase in the UK... But I did use Stampin Up Cardstock in Pumpkin Pie and Elegant Eggplant and also the matching Pumpkin Pie and Elegant Eggplant thin Grosgrain Ribbon. I think the Patterned Paper is My Minds Eye.

Off out in a minute to get a girly birthday present for a party my 8 year old is going to today, he says she has long hair, so I am thinking some pretty girly hair stuff which I may just put into a small takeaway box and decorate with ribbon and gems... we shall see how much time we have left once they finish tidying their room.. (ha ha ha).

Have a great weekend guys xx