{Me}

The second challenge of the night was to use 3 different coloured bits of left over ribbon. I decided I'd use the tree rub on so selected ribbon based on the colour of the tree. I have a drawer with all my bits of left over ribbon in and I always check there first before cutting new ribbon. Even the tiniest bits can be useful like the Kiwi Kiss tab on the top right of this card.

This card came together in my head much quicker than it did in real life. I'm still not sure it's what I wanted it to look like but it's growing on me!

What do you think?

Last night was an INKlings team cyberstamp and Kari www.karigail.wordpress.com was hosting. I haven't done much creating since the renovations started so it was a good way to get me started again. Working in about a square foot of desk space and having to get up and down to fetch everything I needed was a challenge to start with!

Kari's first challenge was to use the colours Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White or Very Vanilla and another colour of our choice. As soon as I read the colours I knew that I wanted to use the Urban Garden papers so Not Quite Navy became my third choice.

I needed to make a baby card so I added the baby's name using the Outline Alphabet and the greeting is a rub on added to a Ribbon Originals ribbon. That cute little rattle is from the very versatile Occassionally set.

I'll try to take a photo of the renovations tomorrow. We've now got a fair bit of woodwork up and we're starting to see the shape of the rooms and roof. They're aiming for 12 weeks and this is the end of week 4 so still a way to go yet!

Thought I should quickly update what's happening. We're probably at the most difficult point of the renovation now as we've had to move out of the study and living room whilst they move doorways and brick up openings we no longer want. So we're living in the two boys bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and most importantly hallway - my desk has moved to the hallway! It's cramped living for the next few days. Hopefully once the bricklayer has finished on Friday we'll be able to have our living room back for the weekend!

The two torrential downpours we had over the last two weeks didn't help! We didn't leak but the holes dug for concrete filled and then once the concrete was poured it rained again and washed dirt all over the new concrete!

Concrete after it had been poured.

Concrete the next morning after it had rained!

This is the view from the kitchen towards my study - I've got in and out doors at the moment!

This was the back of the house at the start of this week.

I have still been creating in my small space! Joshua went to an overnight school camp earlier this week so I made this card and post-it note holder to send with some chocolates as a thank you to his teacher. Joshua has a male teacher this year so I'll be challenging myself to make more masculine cards and gifts in 2010!

Excuse the muddy builders footprints in the background!

It's been a very busy couple of weeks in the Mercer household. Back to school for Joshua, starting school for Xander and then on the 3rd day back at school the builders arrived to start our renovations! They'll be here for up to 12 weeks. Whilst it's exciting for the boys I'm just looking forward to the end result - a family room, new deck, laundry, ensuite and bedroom. It's one of those jobs that whilst it's not a huge renovation it's impacting almost all the house in one way or another.

At the moment I still have my study. Here's the view out from the door!

Here's what it used to look like looking back the other way.

I don't tend to check out the view too often but sit with my door shut and old towels across the gap to try and reduce the dust! That's a temporary wall you can see straight ahead allowing us to use our kitchen still. It's been noisy in here! Have to make phone calls during the builders breaks! It will also get worse before it gets better as we're relocating the door in my study so I'll have to move out whilst that happens.

I'm very grateful to lovely friends and their washing machines! 12 weeks with no washing machine is a long time!

Here's a view into what will be the laundry, ensuite and bedroom. It's no where near finished as the walls you can see in there have to come down so the room can be extended.

With all the decisions that have had to be made with regard to colours, fittings, lighting etc I've not been creating as much. I'm also not able to run classes from home but am more than happy to come to you.

Here's a card I made tonight using the Butterfly Prints set from the Summer Mini.

It's actually a gift card for one of my lovely customers to give to a friend of hers. Inside is the actual voucher.

Let me know if you're interested in seeing more pictures of our renovations as they progress. I love looking at other people's renovations but I'm not sure how many others feel the same way!

The last challenge I set for my team cyberstamp was to use the picture below for a sketch insipiration.

It's a brochure front from Reece bathrooms (with renovations starting this morning we've been through way to many bathroom, tile and furniture showrooms in the last few weeks!).

Here's my card. I decided to stick with the colour scheme too.