Celebrations

I had an amazing trip to Alexandra Palace on Saturday to the Stamp Show and I took some photos as it is a beautiful Victorian Venue. I will come back later this week to show you those and to display my new stash. (Gulp, my Hb had better not read that post ;0)There are a few thing to celebrate her today and first up is the results of my recent jewellery giveaway. Many thanks to those of you who took part either once, twice or three times. It was lovely to see so many of you joining in the fun. My Hb was chief adjudicator and name picker......

First out of the dish...no hats were available so the fruit bowl served the purpose....


drum roll........................it was....

The lovely Susan of Mary Jane's Tearoom

Well done Susan. You can choose the blue or pink necklace.

and the runner up who wins the bee bag charm is .................................................




drum roll again......

my dear blogging friend Helen of Helen Phillips Blogspot.

Congratulations Helen!

I'm so sorry that more of you could not win, I really wish there were prizes for you all. I will have another giveaway soon, they are always such fun.


My other celebration for today is that I finally got out to craft in my studio on Sunday. It was very pleasant in there, 24c with no heating! I even had to open the window at one point as it was getting quite warm.
 I decided that inspired by being out in my garden I would make a few more garden themed bag charms which will be heading to my Etsy Shop. I also needed to make a recent commission for a sewing themed bag charm.

I wired up the beads for the sewing charm and also decided to make another bee charm to put in my shop. I will show you the ladybird bag charm another day.

Here is a close up of the beads I used for the commission and the fun sewing related charms.




And below is the finished piece.

and this is the new little Busy Bee bag charm which has buzzed its way into the bag charms section of my Etsy shop here.

My challenge card for today also has  celebration theme. It is a Silver Wedding card which I made for a friend of my husband's who is celebrating 25 years of marriage very soon.

Yes it features those cute House Mice again. I really love the way this card turned out and I used lots of textures.

I coloured the mice with my Promarkers and highlighted them with my Prismacolor pencils.
 The lattice focal die is a Joy craft die and I finally manged to buy the wonderful Memory Box Precious Hearts die which I "hung" from my Quikcutz numbers dies.
You can also see that I got my embossing folders out again  for the white card.

This card is based on the great sketch by Crafty Catz card challenge this week.



I don't usually follow sketches but I really enjoyed using this one and when you have a card which needs making but not the time to allow the  inspiration to flow they are just ideal.

I would like to enter my card  into the following challenges;

Crafty Catz Sketchie time #178
I love Promarkers embossing #163 my embossing is using my butterfly embossing folder on the white card.
Stamping Sensations special occasions
Penny Black and More Blossoms and bows
Bunny Zoe Fave colour combo
Forever friends fortnight #59 diecuts/punches
Lexi's Creations Challenge #88 add ribbon and/or lace
Cupcake Craft Cute and Cuddly #238
Make It Monday Linky party #136
Natalie and Amy Monochromatic #8


I would also like to give you a heads up that the girls at Ribbon Girl are having a fab pink giveaway here, pop on over and join the fun.

So last of all I think I can safely celebrate that real spring like weather is finally here. Even when it rains it is still mild and I have washed and put away our scarves and gloves for another year. The magnolia in my garden has suddenly sprouted buds and I can almost hear the sap rising out in my little garden. I am hoping to get out to do some gardening later in the week.

Wishing you all a sunny week,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x