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Wednesday 30 June 2010

Final 3 teachers cards

Hi!  I can't believe it's the middle of the week already!

I went to my regular class at Scrapbook Sisters last night... I won't do a spoiler (not until I run out of things to show you anyway :-)  ) but it was a great class and I made a very cheeky little layout... LOL... I think that is enough of a teaser!!  I'm back there on Saturday for their birthday crop (and mine as it happens as it's my birthday on Friday) as they are celebrating their 5th year this weekend (it's my 25th... ROFL!!!)

I've got to make a graduation card tonight for my mum to send out... I'm being nagged for it, so I must get it done - even at, ahem, 25 she still nags me :-)  

So apologies but I'm going to share the last three cards I have done for my son's teachers - only 3 more weeks of school left, I'm just glad I got these out of the way nice and early - last year the glue was still drying as he was trying to write them, oops, bad mummy!
Two of them are using the same papers as I used for the provious two and the third has Bo Bunny Love Bandit Papers.  The "Good Memories" are from a lovely set by Cloud 9 designs that are totally lovely and have been added to the growing pile of things that I must use more often!





Thanks for looking

Sue xx

Tuesday 29 June 2010

I'm Late!!!

Hi!  Hope you're having a great day!

Today's pics are of a card I made last night and I love this one, the image is just sooo cute!

Without futher ado, here it is :-)


Isn't he adorable!  I just love his hang-dog (hang-rabbit???) expression!  I looked at this image and thought he'd be perfect for a belated birthday card - despite having a box full I always seem to be late in posting cards, naughty me :-), so I probably should make a whole host of these.   The only trouble was I don't have a "I'm sorry I'm an idiot and forgot your birthday" stamp, so had to make my own up with a clear alphabet

The papers are all from my hoard (stash is no longer appropriate...) as I'm trying to be good and use some stuff up!  The white strip at the bottom has been run through the Cuttlebug I have had on long tem loan from Debra - on the basis that she was moving and doing a house up and it would be "safer" with me :-).  The clock face and hands were stamped onto white card using brown Stazon and distressed with Distress Inks.


I've used a gold pen on his pocket watch and chain and Glossy Accents on the glass

I'm entering this card for Cupcake Craft Number 97 (sketch),  Allsorts Challenge 58 (embossing), The Crafty Pad Challenge 77 (embossing), Mo's Digital Challenge (anything goes) and the Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge (digi stamps)

Supplies:
White Cardstock, Bitter Chocolate and Dusk Bazzill;
Papers - Yoko by 7 Gypsies, ??? by Creative Imaginations;
Stamps - "Late" digi stamp, Mo Manning coloured with Copics, Gold pen ;  Francoise Alphabet,Woodware; Time Flies, Sandylion;
Flowers from Stash; Glossy Accents
Inks - Timber Brown Stazon; Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress Inks; Chestnut Roan Chalk Eye;
D'vine Swirl embossing folder - Cuttlebug; Large Deckled Rectangles Nesties

That's it from me for today, more tomorrow

Sue xx

Monday 28 June 2010

Another day, another thank you teacher card :-)

Hi, hope you are having a great Monday :-)

Today I'm sharing another one of the cards I made yesterday for my son's teachers - this one is for his headmaster.  The school is quite a small one - only 20 kids in each of the 7 years - and as such they are really close knit and friendly school, and the bigger ones really look out for the little ones - it's a real little community. The head is pretty hands on and knows each one of the children by name and tries to take each class for half a day each week and as such I thought I should send him a thank you card too.

So I'm entering this one for the Charisma Cardz Challenge 25 - For the Boys



The papers are all from the {you]th range by Prima marketing and they are stunning made into a card, great for a boys card (of any age!).  I thought they were appropriate for this card because of the stars, lines and numbers!  A few buttons and there you go!  The image is Yale by Mo Manning

More tomorrow, thanks for stopping by

Sunday 27 June 2010

Why does my son have SOOOO many teachers!

He's only 8, but he has 5 including the teaching assistants!!  and I'm of the opinion that you can't send a gift/card to one of them and not the rest, so with 5 cards to make I decided to get cracking today.  I'll go to the supermarket soon and make use of the 3 for £10 offers get them all a bottle of wine as a gift, lord knows they deserve it after putting up with a class full of 7/8 year olds all year :-)

I'll be sharing these cards over the coming days as each one is different... hope that's OK :-)

It was a beautiful day here, really hot though and at times I had to go indoors to get cool, but took the finished cards into the garden to photograph

First up is one that I am entering for the Stamp Something Challenge - something vintage with flowers, as the papers are old style school registers, report cards and numbers.




I know it's quite simple, but it looks pretty effective

I have used a new digital stamp, Yale by Mo Manning and coloured him in the colours of my sons school uniform.  I have no idea what card is going to which teacher, but I really hope they like them

More tomorrow, thanks for looking

Sue xx

Saturday 26 June 2010

Yum yum yum!

It was my eldest sons school fete today - they picked a good day for it, as it was nice and sunny...probably a bit to hot if I'm honest as some of the kids were melting faster than the ice cream :-)

They had sent a box home and asked the parents to make cakes for the cake stand... well I like a challenge so made two batches, one vanilla


and one lemon


Yum yum yum!!

More tomorrow - I've got to dash as I'm got to get ready as we are going to a wedding reception tonight

Hope you hare having a great weekend

Sue
xx



Friday 25 June 2010

Thank you!

I've been inspired by Julie at Rainbow Days to have a rumage through my stamps at all the stamps that I don't use that often (if ever!!).  Well in these frugal times that just isn't on!!  I'm also trying to build a wide range of cards just in case I get a last minute call to go have a table at the farmers market..

I've now got quite a few birthday cards for women and girls, a few wedding cards, and I've been thinking what else do I need... hmmm... I seem to have quite a lot of options not covered, and I'm going to try to address that over then next few weeks. 

First up, Thank You cards.  Now I don't know about you but I am shocking for sending thank you cards - I normally just ring someone or send them an email.  How bad is that??  I do send Thank You cards (or at least a letter) to some people though - normally older relatives - and I try to make the kids send them - although splitting the atom is probably an easier task!

Anyway, back to the card!!


I like this stamp although before now I'd never used it.  I've used Stickles on the flowers to add a bit of dimension, and I like the purple and green colour combo too

I'm entering the Papertake Weekly Challenge - Sketch 43 with this card, although I've flipped the design by 180 degrees


Supplies: Stamps - Spikey Flower by Little Claire Designs, Sentiment from set, Ladybug Crafts Ink; Green and Purple Bazzill; Papers - "Tropical Blue Stripe" from Paper Adventures, "Fairy Garden" from Indeed Collection by Prima Marketing; Dark Blue Stickles; Gems, Ribbon, Pin Heads and Beads from Stash

Thanks for looking

Thursday 24 June 2010

Tennis anyone?

To celebrate the start of Wimbledon this week's Cupcake Craft Challenges was to make a card on the theme of Strawberries and Cream... I adore strawberries, but you can keep the cream unless its the really thick and lovely sort!

So I started with something similar to yesterdays card, but thought that Cupcake Ruby need a bit more bling than the the whimsical Daydreaming Ruby (and it was a jolly good excuse to use that Prima gem that I have been itching to use!)


As with yesterdays card she's wearing a bold red dress and I've got a bit carried away with the glitter as it's on her wings, edge of dress and the top of her shoes :).


I really wanted to incorporate a doily in this card, but I can't find any for love nor money, at least not that are of a suitable size for cardmaking... I might have to take a trip to the cake shop over the weekend, but that will probably mean I don't just come out with doilies.  If anyone has seen any on their travels, please can you let me know where - thank you :-)  So the lack of doily meant that this card is pretty similar to yesterdays (sorry about that), but I've used more of that stick on white lace ribbon - I think it looks pretty good though :-)

Thanks for looking - promise something completely different tomorrow!

Sue xx

Wednesday 23 June 2010

Gotta get a heart in there somewhere!

I'm still making cards like it's going out of fashion :-)  I'm quite enjoying myself and HB is happy cos I don't moan about him watching programmes on Discovery about deep sea fishing, driving across ice, oil rigs etc etc.

Tonights card is one of a pair, and I'll show you the second one tomorrow (even though that is a bit of a cheat cos they are really similar :-)


Today I have used Daydreaming Ruby - I love her coloured in like this in a really bold red dress - I'm getting there with colouring the log she's sitting on as well and went a bit loopy with the blender pen but I think it looks OK.  I've then Glamour Dusted her wings and added glossy accents to her hair slide and the ladybird.


I'm entering her for Paperplay challenge week 24 - Something Old - the lacy ribbon and the heart shaped brads have been sitting in my stash for EVER, none of the papers are new and were all were off cuts from some long ago project, the stamp that I've used round the edge of Ruby was one of the first mini stamp sets I bought for about 99p and the chalkeye is so old I had to squidge it to get it to put enough colour on the stamp!!  So on that basis I think I fulfilled the criteria OK :-)

I am also entering her for Alphabet Challenge - H is for Hearts due to the heart shaped brads and the ribbon has got little hearts all the way through it

Supplies:
Stamp - Daydreaming Ruby by Ladybug Crafts Ink, coloured with Copics, Glamour Dust; Sentiment from Set Ladybug Crafts Ink; Studio G mini stamps;
Punches - EK Success Retro Flower, Mini Flower Punch - Tesco, Deckled Rectangles Nesties;
Brads and Gems from Stash
Cream Linen cardstock; Papers - Marooned Daisies, Sandylion; Fairytale, Fancy Pants; Dotty paper, ??

Thanks for looking

Sue xx

Tuesday 22 June 2010

Blondie!

Hi ya, quick post from me today as I've been waffling on a bit int he last few posts :-)

I was asked the other day by a friend if  I had any cards using the Gorjustt Girls stamps with blond hair - to my horror - NO!  I have no idea why but I've had them for a while and have only ever coloured them with brown or black hair - why would that be???  I do the Ruby and Nikki images with different hair colours , why not these??? How very strange!!

So I said I'd do one for her with blond hair, and she looks really odd to me!!!  Come to think of it even the die cuts I bought of her were all dark haired I think...


Papers are by Doodlebug, flowers are Prima and Woodware, Brad is a felt one from Papermania, sentiment is by Woodware

There you go, told you it would be short :-)

Thanks for looking, Sue xx


Monday 21 June 2010

What is it with me and challenges at the moment??... oh and another mini update!

I dunno, but I'm totally hooked at the moment on challenges!!

If you know me you know my crafty mojo has been going wanderlust on a regular basis for the last 8 months or so.  One thing and another piled up on top of the the day to day grind of work'kids/washing/ignoring the dust (LOL) and got down in the dumps and that affected my crafting and I just couldn't get inspired.

.. I dunno, maybe it's my star sign and the alignment of the moons and the suns have finally sorted themselves out and my mojo is slowly but surely returning and I'm likeing what I'm doing again :-)

... or more likely it's starting blogging on a daily basis and looking at all the fabulously inspiring work out there has given me the kick up the bum I needed!!

I think it's the latter!!!

Anyway... another  challenge

This one is for the Stampin' for the Weekend Challenge 41 - this week to use both the sketch (below) and blue and yellow...


hmmm - a rumage through my craft box provided some lovely yellow check paper, but the blue paper from the same range wouldn't go with any of my images (how has that happened!!!... that'll be me falling in love with papers and having no idea what i'm gonna go with them... again...)

More rumaging produced half a sheet of spotty blue paper, different manufacturer, but similar tones... hmmm

Now normally I like to use products from the same manufacturer, preferably from the same range, as you are pretty much guaranteed someone with better eyes than I have has made sure they will co-ordinate... but I think I've got away with mixing and matching this time...

...told you I was getting my mojo back!  Look at me going all "outside the box" (to quote my boss) and shock horror, mixing manufacturers!  OK, once I'd had a little lie down I got cracking with the card(s)...

Here's card number 1


Cute huh??


I've popped a drop of Glossy accents on her bowl and the spider.  Apologies for the awful main photo - the ones without the flash were too dark and the bling on the card was confusing the flash - grrr!!!

As I've still got my fingerts crossed for the farmers market next month I'm still going on the why make one when you can make 2... or more... so please bear with me if I share the same card but with different images for a while, just til I get it outta my system!!

So here's card 2...



In all honesty I think I prefer the second card... I think it's the sentiment stamp - I've got this acrylic circle set that I used for card 1, but trying to get the think to actually form a perfect circle is totally beyond me, and I just end up getting the massive hump with it!!  I'm much better with something that is supplied in a straight line that I can bend to make something wiggly if I want it like that...  I can see this set of stamps tipping me over the edge one day and ending up as straight stamps regardless of what the designer intended!!

Supplies:

White Cardstock; Blue Cardstock - "Sparkle", Bazzill Bling; Papers - Bo Bunny "Kitchen Spice, Nutmeg" and Paper Adventures "Old Macdonald's Fdarm Yellow Plaid": Pins and Beads - Dunelm Mill; Flowers - Prima; Brads - Papermania, Blue Gems, from Stash; Digi Stamps - "Little Miss Muffet" and "Jill is Two", both Mo Manning; Sentiments - "Jane's Script" and "Circular Creetings" both Woodware



Mini update - for those that are interested - engine in and it turns over fine (horray!!! - Dad relieved!!), rest of bits and bobs being rebolted and reconnected to engine this week.   Official key turning event planned for next weekend.  Oh god, I have this horrible feeling I'm gonna be expected to actually drive it!!!  I've been driving various german built things for the last few years!!!  And it's soooooooooooooo small!!!

Thanks for stopping by

Sue xx

Sunday 20 June 2010

Happy Fathers Day!

Hi!  Hope you are having a good day!

It's fathers day in the UK today - my eldest son had made his dad a card at school, but I wanted to do one from them both for my HB too...

This is what I came up with


I love how this turned out!! (and HB and the kids liked it too, which was a bonus :-) )

The images are from the Jungle Pals set by Woodware and I have stamped another pair of the monkeys paws and 3D'd them.  I've added glossy accents to some areas on the leaves, monkey's nose and on the bananas.  I kicked myself after this was all done and sealed in the envelope as I wrote "from" and "your" to complete the sentiment I wanted and for not thinking to use my white rub on alphabet!  Duh!! 

I've attached the bananas to the back of the green card only, and the leaves to the front so they wobble about a bit!  The green card and the brown triangles are on foam pads, and the main image is on yet more foam pads to give a bit of lift.  I think this is a perfect image for Fathers Day from my boys as they are both being a bit of a handful, although for different reasons, at the moment

I am entering this card into several challenges:







Supplies: White and Green Cardstock; Brown Buttons from Stash: Stamps - Woodware Jungle Pals (the "Cheeky Monkey!" is from this set too), "Love to you" from Janes Script sentiment set also by Woodware; Papers -  Little Boy Blue"That's My Boy" Daring Dots and "Little Man" Zig Zag and Growing Up all from My Minds Eye, Quite Contrary range;  Inks - Tuxedo Black Momento and Timber Brown Stazon; Copics; White pen

That one was actually card number 6 yesterday - I think I must have got warmed up by then as it really flowed, no sketch (not even by me), no nothing, just went for it!!  I quite surprised myself LOL!

So cards 4 and 5??  Well Fathers Day cards for my Dad and FIL.  As ever with these things they are both pretty similar and both use Bo Bunny's Anna Sophia "Worn Dots" and "Shabby Plaid" papers and stamps from the Bubbly set of Stamps by Penny Black.  I kept them quite plain - I think I'd lost the will to live at this point and my little one was driving me insane... mojo returned just in time for HB's card!

First up, my Dad who likes cats:


I'm gonna be honest and say that I found this image tricky to colour, maybe because I was trying to get it to look too much like my parents cat! I used the blender pen quite a bit and it came together eventually!  A touch of white pen on the ballons followed then I cut round part of the ballons laid them over the top of the Nestability die while I cut the rest of the image out.  I've been wanting to try this for a while - I haven't explained it very well, but this tutorial out of the frame tutorial by Rach is really helpful :-), I then used Faded Jeans distress ink to make it look like he was up high.

Next, FIL - he prefers dogs to cats


All in all quite a successful weekends work - just umpteen birthday and anniversary cards to make now!

Thanks for stopping by

Sue xx

Saturday 19 June 2010

One sketch, three cards... and a mini update


All the same basic design though!

It's been a busy day here! 

HB has been working on the mini most of the day, I went to the farmers market (more on that in a bit), my Dad finished the engine so that has been collected and I've made 6 cards in between being driven insane by my youngest who was clearly missing his brother who is on his second day at Cub Scout camp.

Where to start?

Hmmm... Farmers market??  Well I went along and it was pretty busy and they had no tables left but I had a good look round and got a good feel for it.  I spoke to the lady that organises and she had a look at my work and has said she will call me about having a table at the next one in four weeks time.  There has been someone selling cards there before, but they weren't there today and she didn't know if they wanted a table next time or not - if she does then I won't be able to do it :-( - although aparently she does Pheonix cards and also sells handmade ones made by someone else.  I'm keeping everything crossed :-).  While I was there I bought some lovely cakes, carrots, pies, and some scrummy cheese so it wasn't a wasted journey in the slightest :-)

So a bit inspired I came home and got cracking.  First up, some more wedding cards


I know they are really similar to the ones I did the other day, but I really like the white on white look.  One one of them I used plain crystals, but on the other two I used the same colour as I've coloued her flowers in with.
The basic design is from this weeks Friday Sketchers Challenge

The red flowers really work with this image - should have used red gems on this one, just to see what it looked like :-)



And in orange and lilac



I then made 3 fathers day cards which I'll post tomorrow

During all this HB was out in the garage tinkering with the mini he has been working on, getting all frustrated with it, cos it's nearly there - with the exception of the engine...

...my dad used to race motorbikes before I was born and was actually pretty good - but back in those days they used to build all their own bikes and engines, partly because of money and partly because if something went wrong they could only blame themselves :-)... a different world to how top motorsport is now!  Anyway, the engine needed a rebuild and he was roped into doing it, plus he knew what he was doing with an engine more than we did and the the budget just didn't allow for a professional rebuild - plus he is much more fussy than all but the very best engine builders and was free!! 

Now at this stage I'm going to tell you that he was 80 a few weeks back, but he has really enjoyed doing it - and he is pretty happy with how it's gone back together - the last few bits went in today, and HB and my BIL went and collected it (if we'd have let him he'd have lifted it into the car himself and brought it up here, but as I said he's 80 and although it's only for a mini it's really rather heavy!).

I managed to find a pic of it as it was lurking in the corner of the garage right at the start of the rebuild...



So they've painted the outside a lovely bright red, and everything inside of it has been taken out, re-engineered and put back togther.  I know you can't see much of a difference in these pictures apart from the colour, but I am so proud of my dad for doing it!  How many 80 year olds would even try to do something like this - I guess the final proof will be when we turn the key for the first time!! :-) 


Tomorrow it's going into the car!! Wish 'em luck (and that they emerge from the garage with the same number of digits they went in with, LOL!!)

Sorry for the long post, but like I said, it's been a busy day!!

Hope you're having a great weekend, thanks for stopping by

Sue  xx

Friday 18 June 2010

Alphabets


Hi, hope you've had a good week

I'm really glad it's the weekend now though!  I dropped my eldest to his cub scout camp tonight I just hope he'll be OK :-)  They are sleeping under canvas so I hope it doesn't get too cold.  And when I say under canvas, I mean under canvas - those green safari style tents - the sort that that I remember from when I was in the Girl Guides (girls weren't allowed in the scouts then) 30 years ago .  Honestly I'm impressed that they haven't been eaten by moths by now, LOL!  It's starting to spit here so I'm praying they are actually still waterproof too :-)

Anyway, cos I miss him here's a LO of him

I love this photo - it show's his quirky side :-)

This was done earlier in the year in one of the Scrapbook Sisters fortnightly classes.  The background is stamped all over with laods of letters from one of the Woodware sets that were randomly(ish) stuck onto an acrylic block.  I love this idea as it sets the theme of the page perfectly, and uses the alphabet stamps that we all have in a totally different way

I also love the use of the embroidery thread as it sets off the pic nicely, but is really subtle :-)

We used another couple of alphabet stamps for the title, but I have no idea what ones they are, but i'd love to know if anyone has any clues!


Trying to think of adjectives for my son was pretty easy for most of the letters, but some of the less used letters were a bit of a struggle, but it was fun to do and I think it's one of those pages that capture my thoughts of him at the time - I wonder what words I'd pick if I did this page again in a couple of years?

As for the rest of the weekend, I'm hoping to do some crafting, maybe potter in the garden - hope you have a great one whatever you get up to

Thanks for looking

Sue xx

Thursday 17 June 2010

Memories Start in the Heart and Live in it Forever


... you know when you have one of those days???  Well today was one of those days

it started with my youngest getting a bump from my eldest (it was an accident) falling over and putting his tooth through his lip - cuddles later later they both got dressed and we got to school/nursery/work on time... not too bad

...then I had a bit of a tough day, nothing in particular, everything in general and to be honest it all got a bit too much and I just wanted to go and hide and have a good cry... but I DO NOT cry at work (unless it's really bad, or I'm hormonal, or both, LOL).  I dunno everyone was irritating me and maybe I felt bad cos I had to hurry my hurt little one along instead of looking after him like I should have :-(

...then we've kind of figured that really lovely card, my absolutely favoritist EVER card, that I did for my dutch colleague has gone missing somewhere between my offices and hers.  I'm kicking myself... I should have insisted it was DHL'd, or international signed for, but I didn't and we just sent it regular, and now it's gone missing and I am totally and absolutely gutted that she won't get her card and the messages of love and good wishes from her colleagues in the UK before her wedding...

...so got home and chilled for a bit, then went and picked up my eldest from cubs and Arkela wanted a word, and in front of my son told me off cos I hadn't sewn on his badges that he got at his induction last week.  I'm a grown woman and she honestly had the nerve to tell me off without any knowledge of my personal circumstances for not having sewn badges on, AND told me that they had to be sewn on before he could go to camp tomorrow night.  If he didn't like cubs so much she might have been met with a much sterner answer than the shamefully meek one she got, but maybe not as I was a bit stunned at being ticked off like that... grrr... why is it that when you walk away you always think of all the things you SHOULD have said, but didn't!!!

Anyway, rant over!!!

Here's tonight's picture


Sorry the photo's not great, but it was too dark and I had to use the flash...

This is one from my wedding album of my Nan (mum's mum) and my Great Aunt Win (Dad's Side).  It's a really simple LO as I love the preprinted text at the bottom which is the title of this post

"Memories Start in the Heart and Live in it Forever"  How true is that :-)

Some chipboard letters and a Maya Road Chipboard Swirl alongside some lilac organza ribbon and rosebuds finish this page off - there is jornalling hidden under the picture, but it's slipped right in and I need to grab it out with some long tweezers!

I love the pic of my Nan and Win as it's one of the few we had of them together.  Nan passed away the day before I found out I was pregnant with my eldest son and it has always saddened me I was never able to tell her she was to be a great Nan too, but I remember her being really happy for me on my Wedding Day.

Anyway, I've rambled on for far too long, sorry!

Sue xx

Wednesday 16 June 2010

School Sports Day Mini Book


I don't know about you but I do like to take loads of pictures at my kids events at nursery and school - I do feel like a paperazzi at times, but my kids either ignore the camera completely or pose like mad for it!

The pictures I have used for this project were taken at my son's school sports day a couple of years ago - where has the time gone?!?!?! - and I decided to put them all in a mini book as I'd done a layout for the previous years photo's. 

I think the blank book was by Woodware and came with 5 of each of the acetate pages and 5 chipboard ones.  I seem to remember that it was really good value for money too, and I wish i'd got more at the time as they'd make really lovely gifts for people.

The papers are lovely - quite grungy but still usable for someone who doesn't really get the whole grunge thing (like me) - and I think suitable for a little boy who is past the cutesy stage right up to teenagers.  I've just found a loads left in my paper box, so just need to find the right thing to go on them to make up some fab teenage boy cards (not that most of the teenage boys I've met would notice a handmade card, LOL)

So here's my little book, I hope you like it :-)


Just noticed that I've got a reflection of me in the acetate - bother!  I tried to make the title on the front look like a rosette then realised they're for horses but it was too late to remove the ribbon by then. Oops!



The circles were cut on the Cricut and stuck to the acetate pages - I tried to get them to circle my son in every picture - I didn't always manage, but it's close!




To be honest I'd probably try stamping on the acetate now - even though I'm still scared of it! - but I think the circles work well anyway

Supplies:  Blank Acetate/Chipboard Book - Woodware; Papers - Youth range, Prima; Cardstock - Tomato Bazzill; Stamps - Kelly Panacci Clear Stamps "360 Degrees", "Memo" by Sandylion , Journal Block Stamps by Basic Grey; Black Pen; Ribbons

Thanks for looking

Sue xx