"...you gotta ask yourself, do I feel lucky?"

Well do ya?

I was doing a bit of research before adding the wording to this weeks tag & came across lots of inspirational words about luck. I'd thought of the Dirty Harry quote first but soon discovered it's so not how I remembered it!

I also smiled privately when I read, "I'm not lucky, I deserved it." said by Margaret Thatcher. I can just imagine those words coming out of the Iron Lady's lips!

I settled on Samuel Goldwyn however, short, to the point & so so true!!

I've used my Octopode Factory Lion again, this time sporting the St Patricks day freebie kindly provided here.

I'd like to enter this tag for the following challenges

TOFF - Boys will be Boyz
Crazy 4 Challenges - Green

Everything but the kitchen sink...

Oh my, I really went to town on this one!! You know how it is, there's something new you want to try & boy did I want to get my money's worth!!

Hmmm...having used 3 cliches in less than three lines of prose I think I'd better just reveal what's been floating my boat keeping me busy (is that one?) lately...

My set of dylusions stencils finally arrived so I've been getting inky & painty & quirky & generally having a whale of a time!! (oh God, make it stop...)

A selection of some of the products I used are included in the pic & the adorable lion image is a rubber stamp from the Octopode Factory...

Thanks for looking!!

Belated Valentine Project

*sigh* I had such good intentions for this little creation, stitched in a jiffy at the end of last week. I really did mean to post on Valentine's day, hoping to spread the love and all that...

Somehow half term got in the way though & several playdates & 'fun centres' later here I am, with a little bit of time on my hands, jus' bloggin' ma owl...

The pattern & tutorial are from Moonstitches & can be found here. I just increased the pattern image by 150% before printing to get an owl approx 10cm in size & I handstitched rather than machine sewed. And please do trust me, if I can follow the instuctions then so can you!!!

As usual I introduced the parents to the latest of my crafty endeavours & was somewhat indignant at my Pop's response... "It looks like 'My first sewing project!'" he grinned... Well, he was completely correct in that it is my first sewing project I suppose (apart from the bottle-top pincusion ofcourse, but we have agreed never to speak of that....)

Anyhoo, I have Quirky Kits Lite to thank for the materials to make this owl, both the heart fabric & white felt are from the kits with other bits from stash.

As always, thanks for looking, I hope to be back with another paper pretty soon!

{hugs}
Nikki xxx

Never in a month of Sunrays....

.... Did I think I'd pick up this blog again!

I think it's about time it got a bit of an overhaul, leave it with me... I'll get round to it eventually!

So lots of things have been inspiring me online, not least Julie Kirk's fab blog which is always such pleasure to visit & I felt the least I could do was join in with her Month of Sunrays & when the latest Quirky Kit Lite dropped through my letter box, it was clearly destiny!! (It's almost as if they know each other..!!) hee hee! ; )

So here it is... my lemon libation...my canary contribution...OK, OK I'll put down the thesaurus!!

There are loads of Scrappers out there using MME paper hearts at the moment and I fell in love with the LOs on Sarah Mullanix's blog so much that I well... shamelessly lifted the sketch & style... much to my annoyance I'm still failing miserably to find one of my own!!

So if you're still with me, thanks for reading, I'm sure I'll pop back at some point in 20 years when some of my children may have left home!

Magnolia Masking challenge

I suddenly realised I'd have to make a handmade card for Mum's 60th tommorrow (bit of a special occasion & all that...) so I really got my head down & managed to create a little something to celebrate her day

I really wanted to enter the latest TOMIC challenge but I have to admit to sighing inwardly when I saw it was masking... lol!! Masking is hard work!

But the image came together pretty well once I'd had my lightbulb moment of using the piano (my Mom loves to play)& I am pleased with how the image looks.



I used MME Quite Contrary PPs, Promarkers & glossy accents on the shoes & champagne. Some freebie Molly Bloom's accessory stamps too. Apologies for the picture quality, I know it's awful!

Right then, I'm off to stuff this into an enevelope...

TFL!

This card is entered for the following challenges...

TOMIC - Masking

Edit - GUTTED!!! too late to enter!!! Hey Ho :(

Homemade Smashbook

You know when you see a really good crafty idea & think, "I could do that for a fraction of the price..."?

I was wrong on so many levels!! However if you wanna take a look at my very homemade-looking actually rather expensive smashbook then be my guest!! :D

It was fun to make though & it was good to blow off the dust on my BIA & the many happy hours browsing the web looking for just the right products for my boy themed book were hours well spent (IMO!!)

So here it is, I'd love to know what you think!!



I used Crate Paper Toybox PPs, stickers & borders
other stickers from MME, OA & Thickers
Stamps are also OA Schoolhouse
BIA & accessories
a 7gypsies book band
Kraft & Cream card
& various stash bits & bobs...

thank you so much for looking, I'll try & post something again real soon!

{Hugs}

Nikki x

Punky Scraps Challenge

I've been itching to make another LO & after a bit of mooching on UKS I came across a fab blog by Natalie who also runs a challenge blog called Punky Scraps so I thought I'd have me a go!!

The challenge is to create an LO taking inspiration from the picture below...



Well when I saw it I was immediately drawn to the cassette on the middle right (love those colours together!) and straight away thought of a sheet of Scenic Route PP I had in my stash... the circles remind me of speakers and the colours? well, maybe not exactly what I had in mind but close enough for me!!

So this is what I came up with...



I love these pics of 'Number 2'... they totally capture his personality & the way his hair has gone all static from the trampoline is too cute!!

So many thanks to Natalie for giving me the confidence & inspiration to try out some new painty, doodley techniques, hope you like it!

{hugs}

Nikki x