"Wow Wow Wow Wow..."

 

What can I say about Bonnie then! What an unmitigated disaster she turned out to be. Her performance was okay and I still say the song was alright (not brilliant, but then would she have been able to pull of anything other than a power ballad?) but how could she ever have hoped to make every country in Europe like us in just three minutes!! Years of hate against us have now turned the contest into a farce, I really don't know why we keep contributing towards it.

I think the only way the contest could ever be judged 'fairly' again would be to have all the songs sung in English and each country should have a pool of voters who only hear the song, they never get to see the performance or hear commentaries and to keep the secrecy up; the song should only be performed live for the first time on the night of the contest. Other than that, I can't see how we could ever hope to make the contest fair again.

 

Jo and I went to a Sincerely Yours craft fayre at the Lincolnshire Showground yesterday. I managed to charge my way through my usual amount of money and for the first time I can remember, Jo spent a small fortune too. She rarely spends a lot of money on herself so it was really nice to watch her spoiling herself, she really deserves it as far as I'm concerned: she spends day after day at home, rarely venturing outside and all because of how much pain going out causes her. She has to look after me every day (which would try the patience of a saint!!) and she is in constant, agonising pain all the time, she could really do with a break from it all but unless the Doctor manages to find some funding for her to go Private then I don't see a change on the horizon!

On to a lighter note now and I hope you like my latest creation. I gave myself a personal challenge and had a go at a White on White (WoW) card. Materials used are: an Embossing folder, some Spellbinders dies, a large 8x8 card with scallops, a white dazzler, white ribbon, half pearls and a sentiment stamp. I think this is probably the first time I have ever made a card without an image on it, so I hope you can appreciate just how much of a challenge this really was!! The white band behind the circular sentiment was the bit left over after cutting the sides out. I really liked the shape and thought it would be such a waste to just throw it in the bin.

So that's me then! Hope you like the card and I will definitely be back a lot sooner next time -

Pinky Promise.

Take Care,

Hugs 'n Stuff

Andy

xxx
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http://creativeinspirationspaint.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/inspired-by-anything-goes.htmlChallenge - Anything Goes

"Holding Out For A Hero..."

Hi again, sorry I've been away so long, I have been utterly engrossed with Farmville and have been spending far too many hours on a daily basis basically wasting my life away!

So today I have very quickly harvested all my crops and planted some stuff that will give me a few days respite from the very strenuous toils of trying to get around harsh EU restrictions and praying my crops can survive our increasingly insane weather.

As you may have guessed from my post title, I want to talk about one of my guilty pleasures -The Eurovision Song Contest.

This Saturday will be my first chance to watch the show in four years as I usually work on Saturday evenings - but not this year! I will get to indulge my passion for over the top costuming, out of tune singing, insane lyrics, bizarre set dressing and an over-whelming outpouring of hate for the UK from an entire continent.

This year we have the Welsh rare-bit that is Bonnie Tyler, a woman with a stunningly good voice and a really high profile in Europe. To make things even more yummy is the song she will be singing this year DOES NOT SUCK! It's a very Euro-friendly tune and I am sure she will get on that stage and blow the competition away. All she has to do then is convince all the other countries that they can vote for us without looking like they are traitors! So cross your fingers and if you only do one thing on Saturday, then please - BACK BONNIE!

This week's card was a real favourite of mine. I really love this pair from Kenny K, you can almost imagine them sitting on you shoulder and whispering into your ear! I have kept the background very simple by just using my Grand fancy square dies from Spellbinders and plain coloured cardstock. The image was coloured with my ProMarkers this time.

I have been quite busy of late and you can expect some more cards in the very near future, so until then, please take care and have a great weekend.

Hugs and Stuff,

Andy

xx
Entered into: I love ProMarkers Challenge #168 - Simply Does It

"Ballerina, You Must Have Seen Her, Dancing In The Sand..."

 

How cute is this little lady? I've had her forever and now I am no longer tied to any Design Teams I have a bit more freedom to catch up on all those wonderful stamps I can't stop myself from buying!

I have spent the last week working on another box. It is a lot larger than the teabag box I made a couple of weeks ago and it has ended up as a box for my stamps. I will of course be taking some pictures of it so show you real soon.

I don't have a massive amount to tell you about my week as it has been very, very quiet. I went to visit my sweetheart of a mother whose face lights up whenever Jo and I go to visit her. We didn't have the greatest relationship when I was growing up (see my last blog entry!) but I love the bones of her now. Time has tempered my opinion of her and although I can never forget what I went through as a child, I have managed to forgive and going forward, I know that my life will be poorer without her in it.

On a brighter note, I did receive a really wonderful surprise in the post this week. One of my aunts died just over a year ago; she left the UK to live in the USA some 40 odd years ago and I received a letter from her daughter (my cousin) Theresa. She sent me a copy of the Order of Service for my aunt and a lovely letter letting me know what has been happening with her family since my aunt's death. The best thing though was a couple of really magical photographs. One of the snaps is of me and my paternal Grandparents, all sat together and smiling; the other one is a picture of me and my birth father with my aunt, in it I am sat on my father's knee and he is holding on to me and I'm not ashamed to tell you, when I saw it I had a bit of a breakdown! Both photos are really special to me as I don't have any pictures of me with both of my Grandparents and 2. I have never been close to my real dad, I have kind of grown up thinking he never gave a damn about me, so to see this picture really showed me that he must have cared about me, even if it was only while that picture was being taken - he cared. I will treasure both of these pictures for the rest of my life and I will definitely be sending a Thank You card to my cousin, she has no idea how special those pictures are to me.

So, I hope you have had a great week and that you have a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend,

hope you like the card, I'm not going to give you a long list of things on it as I'm sure you can tell what's on it. It was coloured using my Copic's though, just in case you wanted to know!

Take Care,

Hugs 'n Stuff,

Andy

xx

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