April's Cards Finished

Had two cards to do to get up to date for April. The first one, I decided to tackle was for my brother-in-law. Had an idea of doing a triangular card for him, but my mojo had decided to go walkabout and although I got a card done I wasn't happy with it. Then my memory kicked in. I had done a card last year for a spare and thought it would be suitable, so when I looked it out I decided to use it instead, particularly he loves music and playing the piano.

Luckily my mojo seemed to come back when I started on an anniversary card for our good friends in Saudi, Annie and Mike. Scroll through some of my downloads came across a sheet that had downloaded from Fred-She-Said - Dancing Daisy. As there are two dancing daisy images on the sheet, I decoupaged one of the flower heads and used Inkssentials Glossy Accents to highlight the petals. Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Rectangles were used to for the bottom two layers of the mats and the Classic Rectangle for the top layer.

Being a thrifty cardmaker, I decided I wouldn't throw out the triangular card I had originally wanted to do for my brother-in-law, I finished it off with a couple of peel-offs and use it for a birthday card that I need for May. So it now means that all the cards I need for now till the end of May are done.

Got Round To Cardmaking

Having spent the last two days, re-organising the area where I do my cardmaking and scrapbooking, spent the morning getting a couple of cards done. It is almost done, just waiting for the carpenters/joiners to come to put up two extra shelves.

The first one is an order for business cards, for a gal pal of mine here who does Reflexology. She provided the image and I just incorporated it into a business card. Thought I would give it to her in a post, which I made up following the instructions on the Scor-pal website. I used a sheet of cardstock from the Bo Bunny's Back to Back range - Sweetie Pie Squeeze [page 55].

The second card of the day is a my dental assistant gal pal who has just moved house in Awali. The papers are from Printable Heaven. To wind her up a wee bit, I thought I would do the card using her least favourite colour, Pink. I am sure she will accept the card in the spirit that it is given. My reply, when she says something is pink, is always 'it is not pink but that is it a light shade of red'. Just have to wrap up her house warming pressies.

Patio Devastation

Thunder and lightening came to Awali last night. The thunder so loud it woke me up and the lightening was so bright that even with the curtains drawn the inside of the house was lit up. Woke up to this mini scene of devastation.

The bbq moved out of the corner.

Speak about being rootbound!!!

Almost 40 Egg Boxes Later!!!

As it is coming up for the Easter break from school, thought I would do a wee gift for the kids in nursery, all 28 of them plus the rest of the nursery teaching staff, and give them out on Thursday when we finish.

Adapted the design slightly from this year's April edition of Crafts Beautiful.

Using plain bright yellow card for the box I trimmed it with cardstock from the Bo-Bunny's Back to Backs range. The striped trim, for the boys, is Ella Stripe and the checked, for the girls, is the back of Ella Dot. Popping in a Cadbury's Creme Egg before adding a small name tag and tying up the box with bright green string.

On Easter Saturday we have been invited to a bbq, so did an extra 6 to give to the kids at the bbq.

Hopefully the start of cardmaking again

Card making has been quite thin on the ground just recently, particularly as Sarah was out visiting us for a fortnight, so I didn't want to disappear too often into the crafting 'black hole'.

While she was here I had to finish off an order for menus for the BTB's Sportman's Charity Dinner. Before I flew home for to surprise Dad on his birthday I got the tickets finished. Billy and I went along to the dinner and were seated with the after dinner speaker, Bob 'The Cat' Bevan, who had everyone in stitches with his speech, especially when he took the mickey out of Billy and Ally - the BTB's President. The night raised over BD5000 in aid of The Bahrain Children's Cancer Trust' to help establish a hospice.

Today, spent the morning, trying to tidy up the crafting 'black hole', but gave it up and got on with a card for Dorothy over at Never Enough Rubber Stamps, who is running a Spread a Smile Campaign.

Happy Mother's Day

Just wanted to wish you all a Happy Mother's Day. Sarah presented me with my Mother's Day present last night, a lovely Yankee Candle in a jar and two fridge magnets. Couldn't help but giggle when I read the magnets. The first one reads - Are my hot flushes causing global warming? and the second one - I'm still hot, it just come in flushes now.

I got a lovely surprise at work today. One of the boys in my nursery class came in bearing gifts, one for each of the teaching staff in nursery. I wasn't expecting anything from the kids and needless to say I was speechless. My present was a lovely hanging candle holder. But what made it more special was the words on the card that came along with the present, these were - 'For holding my hand and showing me the way, I just want to say thank you'.

More Candy - Better late than never.

Bev had some candy to offer but you better be quick as she supply runs out tonight. Nip along and have a squizz.

I've got everything crossed and hope I win.

Lazy Friday and Spending Saturday

Not much crafting be done this week, apart from working on the Menu for a forthcoming function for the BTB's, which I managed to get finished last night.

Yesterday, Friday, was a lovely day here in Awali. As it was Billy's first Friday off since the beginning of February and having Sarah out here as well, decided to have a day at home soaking up some of the rays and have the first bbq of the year. We did a roast beef, and I do have to admit it was delicious. Compliments to Chef Billy.

Today it was quite overcast, although still warm. Can't make up my mind if it was caused by a sandstorm or if it is an ominous sign of rain to come. So today we decided to head off to the City Centre Mall. Billy has been speaking about getting a Tux Suit to wear to some of the functions that we go to instead of his kilt. Did he get a Tux Suit, NO, but he came away with a Crombie-style overcoat which had been reduced in a sale by 75%. It is something he has wanted for years, so he can now score it off his wish list. Mind you don't when he will get to wear it out here. It will, more than likely, be going home to Fraserburgh the next time he heads home. I got a couple of 'Posh Frocks' as well as a couple of skirts and a pair of trousers for everyday.

Since we got home, have spent the time on a cut and paste job for the school. A new alphabet homework book, to use from September, instead of having to get sheets photocopied every week. Got the numbers one finished earlier in the week. All that remains to do is get the front cover sheets done, so better sign off for today and get them done.

Jak's Fabulous Candy

Jak over at Crafters Kitchen, an inspiration to many crafters has some wonderful candy on offer. Please pop over and have a look and leave a wee note of what got you into crafting and where you get your inspiration from.

My Secret - Revealed

Apologies, first of all, to all those who have been patiently waiting for my secret to be revealed, but haven't had a minute over the weekend to do the reveal.

Well, last Wednesday, the 11th, was my Dad's 80th birthday. For his present, as what do you give someone who is 80 and has almost all that he needs, Billy and I said we would pay for his birthday lunch. At the lunch were my Mam, my 3 kids, Dad's sister, brother and sister-in-law and 10 close friends. 18 in total.

The Cake

But what Dad or Mam didn't know was that there would to be 19 sitting down for lunch. The extra guest being Moi, me, my very ownself. Well you should have seen their faces when they walked into the restuarant and saw me sitting at the table along with the kids. I had flown into Aberdeen that morning, and arrived back in Bahrain last night. Mam thought she was seeing things, and kept looking at me throughout the meal just to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

Dad, not one to show his emotions in public, had a few tears but said that me being there, had made a happy occasion, just perfect.

The Birthday Boy and Me

Billy, unfortunately, had to miss out on the celebrations due to being in the middle of a shutdown at work. Well someone had to work to pay the bill!!!!!! But he did phone after lunch to wish Dad a happy birthday, which made Dad's day as well.

Blog Candy - Spread a Smile Campaign

Dorothy of 'Never Enough Rubber Stamps' kindly commented on a couple of Palace Notices and in return I thought it would be nice to spread the news of Dorothy's Spread a Smile Campaign. I hope that you have a wander over and have a look for yourself.

Shhh, I got a secret!!!!!!

Shhhhhhhh, I got a secret.

Will be busy over the next couple of days but all will be revealed by the weekend.

Had a 'Bugging' Day!!!!

Don't normally get to spend a Monday cardmarking. But as today is the Prophet's Birthday out here, got a day off school, so thought I would put it to good use and get ahead on my birthday/anniversary card list. Got as far as mid-April.

The first card I did was for our friends', Fiona and Stephen's 1st wedding anniversary. As lilac and purple are two of Fiona's favourite colours thought it would be ideal colours for the card. Saw this cuttlebug technique, Cuttlebug Circular Embossing, ages ago but have never got round to doing a card. Want to say thanks to Becca Feeken for sharing it with us. I used the same embossing folder that Becca used. Then cut out two scalloped nestability ovals. For the words, sorry you can't read them, but printed them onto the cream card using word and surrounded them with a very thin oval, before cutting out the oval, using the plain oval nestability.

The second card, was a really quick one. Used the embossing folder from the Welcome Baby set and then again using Word printed out the sentiment. Fixed in some brads and matted it all onto a card with foam pads.

The last one, is for my brother-in-law's sort of stepson's birthday. Using the jigsaw die cut out out the jigsaw in three different colours before sticking them on to card with the 'knobbly bits' of the jigsaw just touching where they should fit into. Used the Olivia dies to spell out the word 'birthday' and stuck each letter onto a separate jigsaw piece before mounting the whole thing onto white card and rounding off the open corners with a corner punch.

Today's crafting.

Am trying to get ahead of the game on the card front and managed to get three cards done today. The first one is a thank you card that I was asked to make for the couple who represented the Callies at the recent Welsh Society's St David's Day Ball. Out came my trusty 'bug' and highlighted the flowers and stems with Sakura glaze pens.

The second one is my Mam's Mother's Day card, as I need to get it posted soon so that it will arrive in time. Again used the 'bug' and Sakura pens.

The last one for today is a birthday card for Gayle, my boss from my days as a Legal Secretary at Stewart & Watson, Fraserburgh. Mounted a sheet from DCWV's 'The Glittered All Dressed Up matstock' onto some plain white cardstock. Used another sheet of the matstock and a piece of black stock and my nestabilities flower for the flower. Finished it off with a sentiment - silver peel-off coloured black.

Adorable Candy

Linda at Pinklilacs, who loves pink and lilac pointed me in the direction of Pink Gem where Janet is giving away some adorable candy.

For a change to win, drop by and leave Janet a comment.

Blog Candy

For anyone who has a bit of a sweet tooth, there is some candy at Julie's Leapblog. Why don't you drop by and have a chance of getting something, but remember to drop by before 8pm GMT on Monday 2nd March

On a roll today

As Billy was working today, the Refinery has a big shutdown ongoing, decided to spend the day cardmaking for the March birthdays. Managed to get four done.

The first card is for Grace at works birthday tomorrow. It will be a day late in being delivered. Used on of the images on the cd that came along with Papercraft Essentials Issue 37 and decoupaged the large butterfly and used Sakura glaze pens to highlight the wings.

The second card is for Marylin, aka Mog, who I used to work with in Stewart & Watson's. Again using an image from the cd and decoupaging one of the fairy queens and using white Sakura glaze pen to highlight the decoupaged wings.

The third card, is for Rita & Doug's wedding anniversary. Took out my 'Bug'. Using the heart die in the Olivia Alphabet set cut out three hearts in differing shades of red and pink. In the same shades of red and pink cut out a plain circle and scalloped circle using my nestability dies. Made a DL card and trimmed an inch off the front, matted on the front of the card a piece of Bo Bunny's Ella Strip. Mounted the hearts and circles so that they overhung the cut edge. The sentiment I printed off using Word.

The final card of the day, is my Dad's birthday card. He is 80 this year. At first I thought about doing something with the numbers 8 and 0, but couldn't get it to work. So decided to rummage through my Wendy Stenton templates and came across the wine bottle template and it seemed to speak to me. Cut it out as though I was going to use it as a card, but mounted it onto a C5 card trimming off the extra at the top. Using Word did the label '80 years old, What A Vintage'. Using the Sizzix Shadow Box to cut out 'Dad' in two shades of green. Once I had all these fixed onto the card, I felt it was still missing something. Ended up getting a photo taken of my Dad on his birthday a couple of years and mounted it on the same cardstock that I used for the bottle.

School Sports Day

This week has seen the school practising for Sports Day. So yesterday, off we went on the buses to Batelco's Sports Centre. The class was divided in four teams, Red, Green, Yellow and Blue. With me in charge of the green team, Neomi with the blues, Amy with the yellows and Grace with the reds.

The kids, Grace, Amy and Neomi ready and waiting for the bus.

The green team with Claudette.

Last Friday's efforts

Apologies to those who follow my blog, despite saying I would try and update the Palace noticeboard a bit more regularly, I haven't been able to do so. At least last weekend I managed to get some cards done for upcoming birthdays. Two for male friends based in Saudi whose birthdays are in the second week of March. Got them posted on Sunday, and have my fingers crossed that the cards arrive on time. The post to Saudi is a bit slow just now, something that isn't unusual.

Used the same tie template, from Papercraft Essentials Issue 37, for both cards just used different colours, which give each card a totally different look. For Bill's card used stripes of backing paper from Printable Heaven's Dots, Spots and Polka Dots selection. Again went to Printable Heaven for Mike's card and their Stripes selection.

Bill Mike

Got a bit confused when my friend, Annie's birthday is, and got her card done. At least I am ahead there. Confusion arose as Annie's birthday is a couple of days after her and Mike's anniversary, but for some reason I had got it into my head that it was just after Mike's birthday. For Annie's card I used an iris folding template from Cardmaking & Papercraft Issue 61 and followed the instructions for the card and used papers from K & Company's Brenda Walton's 6x6 Scrapbook Designer Papers.

Sorted - well almost

I am slowly getting the class resources into some kind of order that I can work. We had a week off last week and unlike the rest of the Nursery staff I didn't get a break from the school work. Spent most of the week sorting out and thinning out the stuff that was in the class. Still have a few bits still to do but I am beginning to see a wee chink of light at the end of the tunnel. At least now I can see my dining room table and the floor surrounding it!!!!!!!!!!

So glad as I need to use my dining room table on Thursday night. Doing a mini Burns Supper for the neighbours, Rod, John and Barbara, Jim and Ellen [Billy's boss and his wife] and Hughie [who Billy took over from when he retired and is out to do a wee job].

Hopefully now that Burns Night is passed and the majority of the class stuff is done, I will be able to get to making some cards and regularly updating the Palace Noticeboard which I have been seriously neglecting recently.

Burns Night

Burns Night is passed, and yes I managed to get all the placecards, menus, songbooks and thank you cards done.

The Menu and Songbook

The Thank You Card

For the card, I used my Auld Lang Syne and Robbie Burns stamps and followed a blue theme, with various shades of blue card for the matting. The cards were sent to our guest speakers, George Jack, who gave the Immortal Memory address, Alan Sword, who did the Toast to the Lassies and Carol Melrose doing the Reply fae the Lassies. There was also a card to the Hotel and the band for the night.

There was the usual photo call for the committee and guests.

The Committee

Billy and me

We had a great night, with 180 sitting down to the meal, being served by waiters and waitresses dressed in black kilts complete with a mock sporran, black jacket and tartan ties. We kicked off the meal with a bowl of Cock-a-leekie soup. Next course was haggis [flown in from Bonnie Scotland], neeps and tatties. This was followed by beef tenderloin with a mushroom sauce and seasonal veggies. The meal was rounded off with a yummy lemon tart with caramel ice-cream.

I only one more job to do for Burns Night. Have to sort out the photos to put on the Callies Website [in the works].

After a fairly easy first week back at work, it was really in at the deep end. This week there were no days off and a full compliment of kids. Am still trying to sort through the stuff that the last teacher had, into a system that I can work.

On top of all that have been up to the eyes with the preparations for the Cally Society's Burns Night on next Friday. This week has included a committee meeting and a tasting of the menu and wines, as well as getting the placecards, menus and new Cally Songbook done. This part of the preparations are well under way, with the menus all printed and just have to be put together and the songbook is in the process of being printed off. The some of the placecards are printed, but can't them finished until all the names are in, so can see it ending up being a last minute job.

Despite all this I have managed to get a few cards done this week, 4 birthdays and a civil partnership. Three of the four birthday cards were using backing papers and toppers from CraftyJak's Backgrounds & more cd. The 4th one used DCWV's The All Dressed Up Matstack for the background, a piece of black cardstock cut to fit through 'Bosskut's' Journaling Ribbon Slide with a silver peel-off coloured black.

The Civil Partnership card, the first one I have ever had to make, I used peel offs which were stuck onto clear acetate and coloured with Sakura glaze pens and then cut our before being stuck onto card stock and finished off with a peel-off.

New Year and January News

Our Social Calendar has been fairly busy since getting back from Christmas in Fraserburgh. It kicked off with bringing in the New Year at the British Club bash.

Us just after the Bells

New Year Balloons

Despite getting home in the wee small hours, had to be up again and raring to go for 11.00am on New Year's Day. It is the annual Scotland -v- England football match in Awali. This year's match was tinged with a bit of sadness. We were missing the Scotland's team long time manager, who passed away in October last year. The match was started off with a minute's silence in John Kerr's memory. It was a good match, evenly balanced but the final score was Scotland nil, England one.

Minute Silence

The Scotland Team

Presentation to the winning team

The next couple of days was getting up to date with all the Cally Society stuff, especially for our forthcoming event - Burns Night on the 23rd of January. As well as getting ready for starting my new job as a nursery teacher.

I like this working lark, this week worked Sunday and Monday, off Tuesday and Wednesday for religious holidays and back to work on Thursday then off for the weekend. Only wish every week is going to be like this!!!!!!!!

Only crafting that has been done since the New Year is the Order of Service for John's Memorial Service on Friday.

Now those are done, I need to get down to getting some cards done for the January birthdays.

December's Goings On

The Palace Noticeboard has been very bare for the last month. Not because nothing has been happening, but I just didn't seem to get a minute to myself. Know that things have quietened down a bit thought I better let you all know that I am still in the land of the living.

Thought a quick update of what has been happening at the Palace was in order. Where to start? Well just before I left Bahrain to head to a chilly north east corner of Scotland we handed over a cheque for BD500 to ThinkPinkBahrain.

Billy and Me with the cheque

Me with Doreen from Think Pink Bahrain

Left Bahrain on the 9th of December and headed home to Scotland from Christmas, needless to say I was frozen but it was great to breathe the fresh air at home. The first week at home was running about like a headless chicken getting all the christmas shopping done, before Billy arrived home a week later than me. He hates christmas shopping so much that if I left it up to him he would be doing it at 5pm on Christmas Eve.

Billy was no sooner home when we had to took a quick trip down to Edinburgh to visit, the family down there. We let the train take the strain and had a great couple of days in Old Reekie. Dropped by the German Christmas Market and sampled some Gluehwein, which certainly heating us up on a cold and windy day. On the Thursday morning that we left for Edinburgh the washing machine and dishwasher packed in. However by the 23rd we had the new dishwasher and washing machine installed. Breathed a sigh of relief as I didn't want to spend Christmas and Boxing Day in the sink washing up.

Between coming home from Edinburgh and Christmas managed to squeeze in a few visits to catch up with friends.

Christmas Eve on then upon us and it was into Hell's Kitchen for me, getting everything ready for lunch on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. All the hard work on Christmas Eve proved well worth it as everyone enjoy their lunch on both days. Had the 3 kids, my mam and dad, Billy's dad and my dad's sister - my favourite aunt - Moira.

The day after Boxing Day was tidying up and packing day as Billy and I were leaving to head back to Bahrain on the Sunday. What a trip back that was!!!!! Our flight was delayed in Aberdeen which meant that we missed our connecting flight to Bahrain. As a result had an overnight stay in Amsterdam of KLM. Continued our journey back to Bahrain on the Monday and arriving back in the house just after 1.00am on Tuesday morning.

New Year and January news to follow!!!!