A Good Day

Well, I have been finding it difficult to get into blog land this week, but I am finally here and I will be back tomorrow too, with the October Stamping Sensations challenge. So what has brought me here today? I have had a wonderful day so far. This morning I made a ginger cake for my lovely friend Megan, who I went to Rwanda with. Here it is:

After a fairly hectic week at home and at school I needed some baking therapy, lol! Whilst it was in the oven, I discovered who has been raiding our peanut bird feeder all week!

He was quite small, so I think he is a young one. After that I went down to the New Writers UK book fayre where I met up with my friend, Megan and daughter Megan who was volunteering there. We listened to talks by Mark Gwynne Jones, a performance poet from Matlock Bath, and Steve Dunne, a crime fiction author and English teacher from Derby. They were both very approachable and we had a good chat with them. After that came the award ceremony for the children and young peoples writing competition, where Meg was a finalist. We were thrilled to find she had won the silver medal in the 14-16 age group.

Her short story will be published in a collection with the rest of the finalists in February. As you can see I enjoyed my proud Mum moment, and came home with a pile of books to read too! Hope you are having a good weekend. I will be back in the morning with my cards. Thanks for looking!

Meg's Story and another wedding card

Today Megan was invited (with two guests) to a presentation and tea at County Hall. She received a copy of the book in which her short story has been published. You can read more about the competition here and find out more about the book here. Here she is with her copy. I'm a very proud Mum!

Now you know I still wasn't sure about the other wedding cards I did? Well I've made a third, and I think this is the one I will give them!

I used Rubber Stamp Tapestry stamps for the heart,adding a few punched flowers and some gold tulip paint. The base card is stamped with Art Impressions T2773 in aged mahogany. I used my MS doily lace border punch and a white organza ribbon. I hand wrote their names in the heart, because no matter how hard I tried with the alphabet stamps I own, I couldn't get them straight! I am in the process of making something else for them, which I will post soon. Thanks for looking!

So Proud!

I am such a proud Mum today! Back in July Megan entered a short story writing competition with New Writers UK and the Nottinghamshire Library service. About a fortnight ago she received a letter telling her she was a finalist. The award ceremony was today at County Hall . It was rather tense and the moment when Meg realised she wasn't a runner-up was a picture I didn't manage to capture. She was awarded the silver medal by Des Coleman and was able to attend a writer's workshop with an Author. The stories written by all the children are to be published in a book in the new year by a company called Author House with any profits going to the Danielle Beccan memorial fund. As soon as I know more I will post the details.
It was a great event with lots of authors promoting their books and chatting about how they write. Des Coleman was great with the youngsters and very generous with his time, and so many people were eager to sign the books we bought. I will be on the lookout for the next event that New Writers UK organise.