Tando Creative Mad Hatter

So my scrappy mojo is being slightly squished at the moment with all the shifts I'm working for placement (and the extra ones for pennies!) plus science exam revision and dissertation reading (oh boy!) but I do have some lovely news to share; the Mad Hatter project I made from the Tando Creative kits I received for Christmas has now been featured on the Tando Creative blog, I'd be so grateful if you visited Tando here to visit and leave me some love if you liked it :)

My original post at The Scrappy Tree can be found here with lots more pictures :) this was a particularly special project for me because I sat down with my mum and nan to start this when we all got together at Christmas and decorated a hat each :)

 I realised when I saw Tando had published my project that I never got round to sharing the hats that my Mum and Nan made, and I loved them both so much it seemed a shame :) so here they are....

My Mum is a crafter too but it's something my Nan is newer to so I was excited to see her get into such a big project - it was a real labour of love!

Thanks for visiting today, it might be a little while til I'm able to visit again because life is well and truly in the way at the moment(!) but I will get there :)

Happy weekend

Gayle xx

My 365

I've been using a photo app called Collect since the beginning of January to collect a daily photo, and thankfully because it has a daily reminder option to ask you if you've taken a picture, I've managed to fill in all the little squares!

After having managed to keep it up for three months, I decided it might be time to think about blogging my pic for the month as an ongoing feature :) I won't bore you with January and February but here's March :)

1. Baked pumpkin loaf for the following day's Andy Skinner workshop.  2. Went to Andy Skinner workshop on image transfers - amazing!  3.  Family dinner at home, our dinner guest brought wine :)  4.  First day back at uni, used my new Cath Kidston ticket holder.  5.  Sunny day at Cardiff train station.  6.  Reading on the train.  7.  Sleeping Kitty on the Slanket.  8.  Fat Tony the hamster gets an extension.  9.  Spending time in the Scrappy Room; this is my mum's pen holder pot.  10.  Writing a book review for uni.  11. Sunny but cold; waiting at the busstop.  12.  Evening with friend Leanne playing Monopoly.  13.  Flutter: new game on iPhone, pretty but takes up lots of time.  14.  Fat Tony comes to sit on my hand for the first time.  15.  Red Nose Day and also Fat Tony's first time out in his new ball.  16.  Mickey Mouse toasted sandwich with yum Vegusto cheese.  17.  Doodling on night shift.  18.  Vegan ice cream with walnuts.  19.  Knitted baby booties finished.  20.  Sunny day!  21.  Rainy day :(  22.  Kitty reads the Kindle.  23.  Very funny internet link found on @stephenfry's newsfeed - fo Shizzle!  24.  Working on a tag.  25.  Working on Easter cards.  26.  Grim face on nightshift!  27.  Night shift picnic of houmous, falafels and pita bread.  28.  Dinner out with friend Jum.  29.  It's Easter for the Sims!  Dressed them in bunny outfits :)  30.  Kitty enjoying the sunshine from vantage point on back of sofa.  31.  Very excited hubs with 'eggstremely' large Easter egg.

Thanks for visiting!

Gayle xx

Happy Easter

(singing) We wish you a happy Easter, and a happy N... well, a warmer Spring!  It's blooming freezing!

We celebrated our Easter with a family meal yesterday; you might know that our family quite enjoys a meal at the Olive Garden when we visit the States (we had our wedding meal there for example) and as we don't have them here in the UK we decided to create an Italian style meal in the honour of Olive Garden!

We started with bruschetta...

...and Zuppa Toscana, a spicy sausage soup (hubs made me a veggie version, am reliably informed it was fairly close to the original as I've never tried it to compare!) which was very tasty - maybe slightly less garlic in the bruschetta topping next time, it was very tasty but extremely garlicky!

My main was large penne pasta shapes topped with tomato and herb sauce and roasted veggies (the roasted portabello mushrooms were to die for!)...

...while the meatosauruses had a pasta/steak/cheese combo.

For pudding we lined up ice creams (vanilla Swedish Glace for me) and lots of toppings...

...I was particularly excited by the dairy-free fudge, cinder toffee, millionaire's shortbread and chocolate sauce, omg!!  Gorgeous!!

Needless to say we were full to bursting after all that food!  But it was a nice taster to remind us of our holidays :)

Lastly I have to share this pic of hubs' easter egg; I don't think the picture does it justice because it's enormous!  I 'eggspecially' liked the easter pun iced on the front! :-D

Hope that you enjoyed your Easter, and your extra long weekend :)

Gayle xx

Push-up bra blogging...?

How's that for a title?  I have to admit, it's not mine!  I'm following a blog series called The Push-up Bra Approach to Blogging by Julie at Notes On Paper, which is kind of all about neglected blog syndrome which I am super guilty of.  I blog regularly elsewhere for other people, but then I kind of don't want to repeat myself here all the time; at the same time if I don't blog it here it feels like I haven't got the proof I did anything.

So much of what happens in my real life is kind of confidential; I can't write much about my job because of the confidentiality aspect.  I spend a lot of time making plans for future projects for The Scrappy Tree, which I can't share here because that spoils the surprise really(!).

So maybe I need to rethink what I blog, because a lot of the time I put myself off writing something  about craft projects (which, let's face it, is my main pastime outside of nursing) because I already wrote it somewhere else.

I take a lot of photos on my phone, and in fact I recorded a bunch of stuff for Ali Edwards' Day In The Life in February.  Blog post right there.  Pow.  Ali is running it monthly.  Monthly blog post. Pow. LOL

I suppose the point is that there's plenty of other things going on which I could talk about, if I wanted to.  And that probably needs to happen on a different day to my craft blogging posts.

So step 1 - a bit of reflection on my blogging - achieved!  In theory I should be back again soon with some more blogging.  Right?  Right.

Thanks for listening :)

Gayle xx

Steampunkery and Save The Children

Hello all! Two posts in just over a week, I am doing well ;) I wanted to share my most recent post at The Scrappy Tree...

 ...made for my Mum!  She is into all things steampunkish at the moment and I had a cough sweet tin going begging from the large stash of potentially alterable items in my bookcase, so this is the result.  I think my favourite thing is the little metal heart that says 'made with love' - I did actually pinch this from her stash though!  I've posted all the details of the materials used over at The Scrappy Tree :)

The eBay auction I mentioned in my last post...

...finished yesterday with a grand total of over $800 raised (over £500) which was marvellous, still can't believe that 15 crafty items could raise so much!  Guess the signatures of a certain famous actor (ahem! Kevin McKidd) really helped that along LOL thanks Kevin McKidd Online!
All brilliant stuff for Save The Children :) it's time now for our next Scrappy Tree project to get underway, we've got something cooking... :)

Am very excited that this weekend I'll be paying a visit to lovely Wendy at The Stamp Attic, it's been too long!  Am going along for a fabby class with a very fabby teacher so will have something to share from there very soon :) in the meantime I have posts lined up at The Scrappy Tree that I can't share yet (boo!) so just one more photo for now...

This is Fat Tony! The newest addition to our family, he is a Roborovski hamster we adopted from the Pets At Home Adoption Corner last weekend :) so cute!

Bless him, I have never noticed 'Adoption Corner' before but it seems to be for pets that couldn't be homed for one reason or another (not bought from the shop, returned to the shop because the owner couldn't care for them anymore) so if you live in the UK and you have a spare hamster pen or rabbit hutch in the garage (yes I dug around in the garage and salvaged an old hamster pen so we could offer Tony a home!) please visit your local Pets At Home, or visit Adoption For Pets to see if you can offer a forever home to a dog, cat, rabbit, guinea pig, hamster etc etc ;)

I start back at uni next week for our next block of lectures on dissertations and specialist nursing - can't wait!  Beginning of third year here we come :)

Gayle xx

Love and hearts

Hello all!  Hoping this Monday finds you well :) I am all done with my current placement and now officially finished my second year (hurrah!) so I have some very welcome catch-up time :)

I've posted a congratulations card...

...and a Valentine card...

...at The Scrappy Tree since last posting here, and received a very lovely homemade Valentine myself too :) which gave me big smiles, do love it when hubs goes to the effort of braving the scrappy room to make something himself :)
At this point honorable mention also has to go to Mal, winner of TST's love letter challenge; an absolutely fabulous altered piece which I'm sure is very much treasured by its recipient Jennie - excellent job Mal!

Now onto the hearts... TST has been working with Kevin McKidd Online to try to raise some money for Save The Children, so there will be an auction running from today to Monday 25th February selling items made by TST and signed by Kevin McKidd himself :) he seems like such a nice guy! If you're a fan please go visit and place a bid, if not we'd be really happy for any shares and retweets you can manage, it's all for a good cause!  You can see the TST post by clicking here, and follow the links from there to the auction.  I am responsible for the grungeboard heart keyrings, please be kind and bid! :-D

Hoping you have a wonderful week ahead, I am in the scrappy room getting stuck in! :)
Gayle xx

Projects and plans

Just sharing a few projects I've posted at The Scrappy Tree recently...

It's been quiet-ish craftwise with my current placement in surgery taking up quite a bit of my time, but we've been making plans at The Scrappy Tree for some exciting projects in the coming months that will hopefully also raise money for some good causes too, so look out for those :) can't wait!

Julie has also been posting some stamping technique videos at TST so if you're looking for some interesting effects go check them out :)

Thanks for visiting!

Gayle xx

Vegan food swap

This month I took part in the vegan food swap again having enjoyed my parcel of goodies so much last time :)

I sent my package of goodies off to Mitsu, who organises the whole swap she-bang, and I received my parcel from Liz, who lives not too far from me as it turns out!

Here's my swap parcel from Lisa minus one item...

...I have to admit, the banana walnut choc chip cookies didn't make it into the picture! Me and my family enjoyed them sooo much, what a sweet touch to add some home baked goodies to the parcel - thanks Liz! :)

Also in the parcel:-

Nakd bars (gingerbread and choc orange)

Sea salt, rosemary and garlic kettle chips

Bombay mix

Chocolate coated mini rice cakes

White chocolate buttons

Vanoffe dark raw chocolate

Gorgeous parcel of snacky treats, thanks Liz!

Gayle xx

Happy New Year!

So we made it through Christmas and here we are on the other side!

This year I have a flexible list of resolutions set up on my phone so I can add and amend as necessary.  No, I'm not going to list them here! Flexible list remember, you might expect me to be doing something I cross off mid-February! lol

But overall I think my resolutions show me that I want to keep making my life pretty so I enjoy it - craft time is important, but being creative in other areas is too, and I'll find new and interesting ways to make that happen :)

I have to say that this year has had some amazing times, I have learnt so much both about nursing, crafting and life in general!  I consider myself so lucky to have some brilliant crafty friends who I would never have met otherwise, and to be still involved with my TST girls, as well as this year joining the wonderful and welcoming Stamp Attic.  At times I still pinch myself and have a little squeal with excitement :-D

After being without my crafting space over Christmas, I've knitted myself into a coma LOL

...but, I am working on some papercrafting again, both a joint project with my Mum and Nan over Christmas (so completely blessed that I get to do this :) ) and my Journal Your Christmas album, which is coming together nicely now I've started putting my photos together ready for printing:-

This is my JYC album!  I used a 4x6 kraft photo album from Paperchase so I'm hoping everything will fit in, loving the ribbons to tie it closed! Very handy :)

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year, I am looking forward to 2013 and all it brings :)

Gayle xx

Merry Christmas

Just a short message from me to you and yours, wishing you a very Merry Christmas :) cheers!

Gayle

Christmas aaaargghhhh

Christmas is coming! Eeek!  I am being thoroughly freaked out by unexpected signs that say 'x more sleeps til Christmas'; it's gone from 'next month' to a mere matter of sleeps.

And I haven't done a thing!

I'm yet to find a Christmas where I haven't got four million other things unrelated to Christmas cards, Christmas shopping etc etc that keep me busy right up until the last few days before Christmas, when it's too late to mail anything out and you have to hope you see the important people in time :-D

This is my 2nd year of Journal Your Christmas; I have been keeping up only by taking a few photos and adding some text, so with all this time off between Christmas and New Year's (too late! could have done with it much earlier!) perhaps I will put together something resembling an album then :) I have plenty of Christmas supplies at least!

I have been posting away at The Scrappy Tree and The Stamp Attic, and do have a few projects to share :)

I love seeing it all together like this, makes me feel very productive LOL

Hoping your festive season is flourishing, and that you're not too far behind ;)

Gayle xx

Friday catch-up

So today it's time for a crafting catch-up because as usual I've posted everywhere but here :-D

This is last week's and this week's posts at The Stamp Attic, here:-

...and here:-

...and also last week's post at The Scrappy Tree here:-

I've posted more details about making them at the respective blogs so won't bore you with that again here :) If you like them I would love some comments :) I've got another post to share at The Scrappy Tree this weekend but wanted to let the current very lovely Thanksgiving post stay up a little longer :)

So this week I have been writing a book review, collating information for a presentation, finishing up some craft projects, freezing my butt off and getting rained on!  Oh wait, I also catheterised a plastic dummy!  That was a first! I think the 'best' bit was getting video'ed and having to watch the playback to see everything we did wrong!  Happy days, don't you just love technology :-D

Well that's my week, hope you had a good one :) hoping to meet with my bestie tomorrow after her trip to Oz, and maybe accompanying my Mum to the craft shops for a browse while she spends her vouchers :-D

Plus another book review, more crafting, more research blah blah etc etc etc
See you next weekend!

Gayle xx

Vegan food swap

So earlier this month I took part in the UK Vegan Food Swap for the first time; the idea is to package up a parcel of about £10 worth of vegan foods, add little notes saying why you like them, serving suggestions etc, and send off to your partner, who will be sending to someone else, who sends to someone else, etc etc etc, who sends to you!

Having not taken part before I'm not sure if I got everything right (I got the mailing date wrong for example, and may have leant heavily on naughty snack foods!) but I will know for next time ;)
The person I sent to is called Justine, and the person I received from is called Claire; here is a pic of Claire's lovely parcel!  Loved the coloured tags attached to each item.

It contained hazelnut waffles, a hemp Spacebar, curried kale crisps from Saf, gingko green tea, a raw chocolate Bliss bar, and a Clif chocolate protein bar.

Let me talk first about the hazelnut waffles - absolutely gorgeous with a cup of coffee! Excellent sat on top of the mug for a bit to warm them up too :)
Kale crisps I have tried before and liked; these curried ones from Saf (a vegan restaurant) were also yum :)
The hemp Spacebar I have never seen before but it had a smoked flavour that was right up my street, I do love my savoury stuff!  Never seen them around here but may look online.
I have more things yet to try, looking forward to tasting :)

Will definitely take part in this again, it was lovely to try some new vegan goodies - animal-free doesn't have to mean it's not tasty, you just sometimes have to work a little harder to seek out your treats!  Definitely worth the effort :)

Gayle xx

Ten things on the 10th - November

November is the month of thanksgiving so my ten things this month will be ten things I'm thankful for :) I've seen a lot of gratitude posts this month so it's time I joined in!

I am thankful for...

1. Warm socks and a Slanket.
2. My husband. Sometimes he really surprises me!
3. My family - the family that I'm close to are some of my favourite people in the world.
4. My friends - these make up the rest of my favourite people.  Some I've never met in person but have 'chatted' with online for years!  Others I met at school when we were kids a looooong time ago ;) Some are nursie friends who understand nursie things and giggles. lol
5. My darling Kitty - she is my baby, loves to converse in miaow and loves cuddles, sometimes in bed. Aaaah.
6. Having enough money.  Not for everything, but for the important things like food.
7. Having a job that I love and I want to do well at.
8. Being able to study and keep learning all the time.
9. Wine, ink and paint.  Not all for drinking.  
10. The internet.  Possibly google especially, for answering the forty plus questions that pop into my head everyday.

You can find ten things on the 10th with lots of links to other such list-y posts on Shimelle's blog here.  Thanks for visiting!

Gayle xx

Ooh, I did craft this week, I posted yesterday at The Stamp Attic:-

 ...and The Scrappy Tree...

This is my crafting proof for this week LOL! Posted more details over on the blogs themselves so won't share those here.  Have a good weekend! I am at work today but planning on crafty time when I get home :) happy days!

Saturday catch-up

Thank you to the recent commenters on my blog! So nice to see you here :)
I tend to repeat myself a little with the projects I post here and at The Scrappy Tree and Stamp Attic because I just don't produce enough to do something different for all three (plus it's nice for me to keep a record on my own blog too!) so thank you to those of you who managed to visit me at any of those three places, much appreciated :)

For today's post I'm sharing my Scrappy Tree piece:-

and my Stamp Attic piece:-

...from Halloween to Christmas in one short leap!  haha :-D
I've posted more details about what I used at the respective blogs, so I won't repeat here.  Have to admit I did rather miss Halloween as I had an assignment due this week followed by an exam, but I have been getting excited for Christmas already with my Christmas projects for The Stamp Attic, of course I have been listening to Christmas music to get me in the mood!  I found a rock version of Walking in the Air by a band called Nightwish - actually quite love it!

It's a bit of a slow Saturday for me today, I am beagle sitting this weekend (for four beagle babies), doing some chores and finding the answers for a workbook on catheterisation(!) before going to work for a long shift tomorrow.  Wahoo!  Now the deadlines are all passed I must get myself back to the gym, feeling weak from weeks of exercising only my mental muscle :-D

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend :) have a good one!

Gayle xx

Signpost Friday

Just a quickie message today for signposting purposes!  I blogged my book cover from last week's Andy Skinner class over on The Scrappy Tree blog -

...and I've also posted my DT project at The Stamp Attic - here comes Christmas!

It's been a busy crafting week but a busy study week too - pleasure and pain!  I have an assignment due Monday and an exam Thursday so they're keeping us busy :) I'm looking forward to getting the assignment done so I can play some more with the goodies I had last weekend at The Stamp Attic! Plus I really want a bunch more stuff with that gesso carving technique on it ;) lol!

It's getting chilly here now ready for the traditional autumn celebrations at the end of the month :) it's not Halloween or Bonfire Night if you don't need to wear a scarf and gloves to go out, and you should be able to see your breath in the air!

I made pumpkin walnut loaf and a carrot cake in the past week, so there have definitely been autumn smells and flavours in our house :)

It's been very windy though, so the trees are already starting to look more like winter than autumn already!

I am going to crack on with this assignment so I can get my life back sooner rather than later ;)

Happy Friday! Have a good weekend

Gayle xx

Monday catch-up

What a busy week! I'm not sure how many photos I can share but I'm feeling like waffling anyways so here I am :)

This week was my last at my current placement, and I worked an extra shift to compensate for some sick time on my previous placement - 4 long days? Ouch!  By the end of the week I didn't know if I was coming or going.

On Monday last week my stepdad's mother passed away, and Tuesday was his birthday so it's been a week of ups and downs for him especially.  I made him a birthday card steampunk style which I shared last Friday at The Scrappy Tree.  For his birthday gift we clubbed together and bought him a telescope; I have never in nearly 20 years of knowing him seen him so excited and happy about a gift!  I guess he really wanted one for a looooong time.  It was nice that he was able to enjoy something about his day during such a sad time.

On Saturday I went to The Stamp Attic for Andy Skinner's gesso carving class - SO enjoyed, but am blogging about it Friday at The Scrappy Tree so won't share that here now, except to say that I've found another technique that I adore and want to put on everything :)  thank you Wendy for a lovely day, hope to see you again soon!  This pic was at the start of our day before things got messy :)

The sky on our drive home was so beautiful, this picture really doesn't do it justice.

I already have my eye on my next Stamp Attic class at the beginning of December; if I could wangle going again so soon I would be there again next weekend for Hels' classes too!

I've been doing some knitting this week with some wool my mum was intending to turn into a scarf - I am getting there slowly!  It's very fluffy indeed and reminds me of the mome raths from Alice in Wonderland :)

I have worked on a few things this week that I can't share, most recently a DT project last night, but just to prove that I have been busy, here is a snap of my inky Smurf fingers :)

Have a great week :) 

Gayle xx

Ten things on the 10th

So a lot of my time at the moment is being taken up by placement, so my ten things this month will be ten special moments :)

1. Talking rubbish to my mentor on the drive home from night shift, and finding out later she got home and was wondering what I'd been talking about and what I was laughing at! (yes I really don't need anyone else to have a fun conversation LOL)
2. I got to see the inside of a lung and a colon on the same day (via those very clever cameras on long bendy sticks, thank you nameless patients for letting the student come in too.).  Absolutely fascinating.
3. I've learned what to do in some emergencies (believe me, this is a source of great comfort for us student nurses who worry that they will miss something important and not know what to do!)
4. Seeing one of the staff shake a large bottle of milk of magnesium with the top not on properly (this has actually happened on quite a few of my placements, but still funny).
5. Seeing a chest drain inserted, and watching what happens next (genuinely, it is AMAZING the things that can be done when someone is unwell).
6. All the smiles and good wishes from wonderful patients who are really unwell, but are still cheering you on because you're a student and they want you to do well.  Very special people.
7. The honour of looking after patients in their final days - this is such a privilege, and a humbling part of being in this profession.
8. Being able to wave off the patients who got better and left us to go home :) such a sad feeling to say goodbye, but so very happy to see them get better :)
9. Being told that my manner of being a bit hyper and full of beans when I'm working cheered someone up :)
10. Last but by no means least - being slightly taken aback when an older chap told his neighbour 'I wouldn't kick her out of bed'.  Nice. But very very funny.

Can you tell I love my job :) happy days!

Ten things on the 10th is courtesy of Shimelle, who will be running a post today :) check it out at her blog here.

Gayle xx

They go up tiddly up up...!!

So I've actually managed to do quite a few tags lately (I have a pile of about 10 from the past week!) but I can't share most of them because they're either Christmas themed (I refuse to start posting Christmas just yet) or they're for someone that hasn't received them yet!  I did make this tag to share at The Scrappy Tree - really love this balloon stamp :) must think up a project to have on my wall somewhere!

I'm working on a project for Halloween so I'm hoping to get it finished soon. I want to decorate our front room for Halloween and it would make a nice addition I think :) watch this space!  I'm looking forward to us having a 'grown-up' Halloween party again this year; last year it was all us adults carving pumpkins and playing games - lots of fun!  No children in our family so we just indulged ourselves instead with spooky sweets and cupcakes :-D

My weekend ahead is to be devoted to critiquing a research study, quite interesting really but it's always hard to keep yourself out of the craft room isn't it ;)  Am counting the days til my next Stamp Attic visit for the Andy Skinner workshop!  15 days to go :)  Woot!  Such amazing techniques, I can't wait to learn a new one.

Just wanted to mention that tomorrow is World Cardmaking Day - I'm not much of a card maker but The Scrappy Tree is inviting people to share their cards over at the TST Facebook group, so if you've got one to share or are looking for some card inspiration, call in there tomorrow :)

Have a great weekend!

Gayle xx

A few things...

Time for me to check in I think!  I have been AWOL for some time now what with holidays, study and placements, but I have been spending a little bit of time in the craft room so have a few things to share :) This is my most recent tag at The Scrappy Tree:-

 ...and these are my last two projects at the Stamp Attic, here...

 ...and here...

My mojo has been lacking a bit lately (those 12 hr shifts are killing me off!) but following a friend's advice I went into the scrappy room Friday night and just had a play, which was lovely fun :) At some point I should share some holiday photos, we did spend three weeks away!

I have been back and forth trying to write a blog post for some weeks now based on a prompt from a class, but for some reason it just wasn't flowing and it's stopped me posting(!) so I've abandoned that particular post for now, and thought I'd move forward with something else so at least I had something more recent up on my blog LOL

Halloween is fast approaching with the first day of October tomorrow, and although autumn isn't something we really celebrate in the UK, I love the US take on fall - pumpkins and cinnamon galore!  I brought some canned pumpkin back with me from our trip, so I'm looking forward to baking something pumpkin-flavoured very soon, perhaps for my next visit to The Stamp Attic for an Andy Skinner workshop in a couple of weeks :) happy days!  Really looking forward to that class, he has some amazing techniques.

On the subject of pumpkins, one of my favourite things about visiting the US around autumn is the very lovely Pumpkin Spice soya latte!  I was able to buy some of the Via sachets to bring back with me so I could enjoy it for a little longer at home, because up until now Starbucks didn't do Pumpkin Spice in the UK - until now!  They are starting it from Monday so you can bet I will be making a visit there very soon; am even more excited about this than I usually am about the red cups coming at Christmas LOL

And that's me for the moment!  I am on placement right now and learning so much, but no good for anything when I get home from a shift, but I need to fit in that scrappy time somewhere, so bear with me ;)

Happy scrapping

Gayle xxx