Total CASE.......

Well before going to South Africa I was having a total mind block and just could not make anything, but needed to make a couple of Thank You cards for my son and daughter. Son took us to Heathrow and picked us up at 6.30am in the morning when we arrived back, and daughter, well she looked after the 4 children left at home....

We brought them back a bottle of Amarula each, which is a South African drink, but they were special World Cup bottles, so they can keep them even after they have finished drinking.... so I turned to Papertrey Ink for my card inspiration, but still drawing a blank I totally copied 2 cards and here they are....


These were made using all PTI stash except for the lace and the edge punch.... dontcha just love the stuff..... have a great evening, take care all xx

The World Cup.....

I have been a bad blogger but have just lost my mojo over the last few weeks.. plus I actually like football and have been watching the world cup too... and.... DH won us a trip to South Africa to see a quarter final match which was actually Ghana v Uruguay and we stayed in a 5* hotel in Pretoria, had hospitality before the match and after the match which included the most yummiest of foods and any alcohol you like and as much of either. We also got a Sony Ericsson bag before leaving hospitality for the match which included an Official World Cup blanket, Official Programme for the match, a seat cushion and 2 hand warmers as it gets very very chilly at night over there and they wanted us to be comfortable watching the match. I will tell you another time what gift we got when arriving at the hotel as I need to photograph it.

10 of us flew out to South Africa together, 8 of us stuck together a lot of the time we were out there, here is a photograph of us all as we were about to leave the hotel for our flight home, can you notice that we are all soooooooooooo tired... they were all really lovely people and we all came from different parts of the UK and we also won the trip in different ways... DH won by answering a question on Absolute Radio, but another guy on there won by buying a shed online..... how strange is that!! ha ha

We travelled to South Africa overnight and this is the sunrise from the plane window whilst we were flying over Africa.....

This is me in the park opposite our hotel, the hotel is the big building behind me.....

OMG I was so so excited when we had these tickets in hand, can you see the price... $300 USD each... how much Papertrey Ink stash could I have bought with that... ha ha

This was our first glimpse of Soccer City, the football stadium where they had the opening ceremony and the World Cup Final, we were still on the coach at this time, it still seems unreal that we were actually there.

Anyone know who the bald guy is? Well he was in our hospitality tent... it was Sepp Blatter the Head of Fifa, the guy who doesn't want goal line technology which would have stopped our England goal being disallowed against Germany.... we were so busy taking his photo we forgot to tell him we wanted the goal line technology and he disappeared quickly.... must have known of our intentions... lol

So we decided we were going to cheer for Ghana, as did most of the stadium, there were not too many Uruguay fans there.... this photograph is me outside Soccer City.

This photograph is the 2 teams lining up for the National Anthems, we really were that close to the pitch, no fancy camera with me this time, just my little pocket thing with hardly any zoom.

A throw in for Ghana during the match.

This was Ghana taking one of the penalties, which is how the outcome of this match was decided after Suarez decided to handball the ball out of the net when Ghana were about to score a goal.... right at the end of extra time.

Do I look tired? That is because it is 2am and we had just arrived back at the hotel....

A view over Pretoria from the park opposite our hotel... you could really see for miles.

Me with a bird of paradise flower, just growing in the gardens.

And now I have finished boring you with my photographs... I will be back tomorrow with some proper crafting ones as I have quite a few bits to show you now. Take care and have a good evening all xx.

I have been AWOL.....

Not really sure why I have been AWOL, just seemed the longer I left it the harder it was to come back and post... strange eh!! But I have some very exciting news, well exciting for me, not really exciting for you out in cyber space. 2 Fridays ago DH was on Absolute Radio (formerly Virgin Radio) and won a competition for us both to go to South Africa and see a Quarter Final World Cup Football Match, well I for one do like football so this is a brilliant prize and we have 3 nights accommodation too, we fly in overnight and out overnight which means we near enough have 3 full days there too, so there is a theme park, a wildlife park, lots of restaurants and the football match one evening with hospitality included... woohoo... also flights and transfers are included to, so should be awesome. Am a bit worried as it is South Africa, and may yet stay locked in my hotel room but we shall see!!!! Not sure how I can not look like a tourist with an England Football Shirt on... so England Football Team, hear this, you will win all of your matches so that the one we are in South Africa for will be you playing some other team and you must win that one too... would hate to be on the side of losers.



Anyway, back to my post..... have had a few birthdays, giveaways, thank yous, Christenings, Good Lucks lately so will be posting some cards over the next week for all of these. Today's post is about my Daughter in Law's birthday last Thursday. I made a cute little bag to put her present in.


A Kraft Lunch Bag decorated with Real Red Cardstock and Snow White Ink from Papertrey Ink, the butterfly image and die is also from Papertrey Ink as is the Happy Birthday. The Flower is made with Hawaiian Shores Felt and Real Red and Whisper White Cardstock using a die from Papertrey Ink too.... bling from my stash.

I bought this stamp at the Ally Pally, not sure who made it but I coloured it in using Copics... Patterned Paper is Basic Grey, sentiment was from Papertrey Ink....

And I decorated the inside too, using some of my new Raspberry Fizz felt from Papertrey Ink and cutting a really cute flower from it using a die from Papertrey Ink... again paper is Basic Grey and the Punched Edge is an EK Success punch which I also got at Ally Pally.....

Thanks for looking, check back tomorrow for another card. xx