Hey Hey, it's the weekend!

Morning all,

 

Here we are at Saturday again, hubby wants to cut the grass so ... guess what? Looks like rain!!!

 

Not that I care too much about the weather .... Saturday's are usually craft-y challenge days for me and I see no reason why this one should turn out any differently - only negative is that the light isn't great! Still, I'm no quitter!

 

Over at Simply Less Is More their new challenge is: "TO USE MORE THAN ONE STAMP"! Easy peasy challenge? You would think so, wouldn't you?

 

 

Materials used:

• White C6, 300 gsm, scallop edged card and matching sized envelope
• Snippet of card cut to 6cm square
• Stampers Anonymous blueprint parcel stamped using Memento tuxedo black ink
• Sofft sponge dragged across the panel without loading further colour (previous colours on sponge were violet and magenta) buffed with paper towel
• Visible image ink splat image stamped randomly using Memento rosebud ink, trying to avoid stamping over the parcel
• Paper Artsy splatter image stamped using Color Box gold, again, trying to avoid over stamping the parcel
• Matted and layered on to snippets of black and pink card using my perfect layering rulers and a craft knife
• Stamplorations grunge border image stamped centrally on to the base card using Memento rosebud ink
• Stamplorations sentiment (from same set as border) stamped in frame using Versafine onyx black ink

WOW! More than one stamp? I notched up FIVE!!! And here's how I carried the design through to the inside of the card and to the front and rear of the envelope too .....

 

 

Last night saw me out to dinner with two friends I have known since my primary school days - heavens, I've known them a while! We went to a local Italian restaurant and had an extremely pleasant evening and a jolly nice meal - we really SHOULD do it more often as we struggle to get all our chat in between mouthfuls!

 

Have a great Saturday everyone - I may yet be back with more challenge makes!

Welcome to Friday, the last in MAY!

Hi there,

 

I would like to welcome my two new followers Jellybeanerz (sorry, clicking on the follower image doesn't give me a link to a blog) and Rocky so welcome to you both. However, I had thought Rocky had been following me for more than just a couple of day so, if you joined my blog in the last couple of days then make yourself known and I'll give you a shout out, you too jellybeanerz if you have a blog.....

Yesterday saw me nipping over to visit an aunt and uncle - having not seen them since March! My poor aunt is struggling with her knee but I'm hoping not for much longer - feel better soon aunty B! It was nice to catch up with them for a couple of hours over a cuppa too.

Over at CAS Colours and sketches yesterday was the 5th Thursday which meant both a colour and a sketch challenge this week - hmmmmmmm

It kind of shouted CHRISTMAS at me - did it shout the same to you?

So here's my take on those colours - didn't really have anything like baked brown sugar or coastal cabana but a combination of some card I had + copic skin white and some white card + pro markers in cool aqua and mint green seem to work almost as well

Materials used:

• White C6, 300gsm, scallop edged card and matching sized envelope
• Light tan card off cut, coloured around the edges using skin white copic - for an approximation to baked brown sugar
• White card off cut coloured with pro markers in cool aqua and mint green before over stamping with the Inkadinkado flourish in Memento Bahama blue (stamped off once)
• Technique Tuesday banner image stamped using Adirondack red pepper on to white card, cut out and then mounted on to the remains of the light tan off cut to give the slightest of borders
• Inkadinkado sentiment stamped directly on to base card using Versafine onyx black
• Stardust stickles used to highlight the holly flourish and sentiment and a Wink of Stella (gold) used to colour the central star in the sentiment
• Chipboard reindeer and iridescent snowflake applied using Cosmic Shimmer glue

No big plans for the day though I still HOPE to get to Swindon, shoe shopping, sometime soon .... but, tonight, I am out to dinner meeting two girlfriends I've known almost forever - well since primary school anyway. We're going Italian, it was a toss up between Chinese and Italian (the restaurants are virtually opposite one another) but the Chinese is currently closed for refurbishment - decision made! I'm sure we shall have a lovely time providing we don't let our dinners get cold because we're chatting too much!

 

And now for the Friday Funny, this week courtesy of my pal, SandraT, oh dear - I hope none of us are suffering these events any time soon!

A Little Poem, so true it hurts!

 

Another year has passed

and we're all a little older,

Last summer felt hotter

and winter seems much colder

 

There was a time not long ago

when life was quite a blast

now I fully understand

about 'Living in the Past'

 

We used to go to weddings,

football games and lunches..

now we go to funeral homes

and after-funeral brunches

 

We used to have hangovers,

from parties that were gay

now we suffer body aches

and wile the night away

 

We used to go out dining,

and couldn't get our fill

now we ask for doggie bags,

come home and take a pill

 

We used to often travel

to places near and far

now we get sore asses

from riding in the car

 

We used to go to nightclubs

and drink a little booze

now we stay home at night

and watch the evening news

 

That, my friend is how life is,

and now my tale is told 

so, enjoy each day and live it up...

before you're too damned old!

 

 

 

Have a splendid Friday folks

Good morning and welcome to What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday ....

Morning all,

And a blooming soggy WOYWDW it is too - not that I wasn't expecting it since the forecast was spot on! Still trying to get to Swindon to do some shoe (and possibly craft/chocolate shopping!) but seems little point in driving in a downpour when I don't have to!

 

LOVELY lunch with friends yesterday. We went Italian and (after a bumpy start - too noisy but we moved tables and it was fine) had a lovely catch up over a very tasty lunch. Where DID those two hours go? After a great big pizza that was (to quote the waiter) GERT LUSH! neither of us wanted much to eat last evening so two cans of soup were deployed!! Hubby got a night off from cooking! YAY!

 

He spent much of the evening looking at the mini R/C helicopter of the elder surrogate grandson which  "didn't work". After charging it up hubby flew it a bit, tinkered, flew it a bit, tinkered some more - charged it, flew it and tinkered still more but now it's flying about as well as it ever will. It's not a really expensive or complicated helicopter but it's a great beginners model and we hope that surrogate grandson will continue to get pleasure from it for a while yet. IF he remains interested then he may find Santa will bring him a more intricate model ...... but boys of that age are notoriously fickle and I don't blame Santa for wanting to see how long his interest lasts! do you?

 

I received some ATC materials from my trading car buddy on the Isle of Skye when I returned from holiday recently and decided it was high time I got round to using them .... what do you mean you can't recall what they were? Well, I guess you HAVE all slept since then (at least, I HOPE you have) so here's a reminder ...

 

And now, I can almost hear you wondering, how does it look? Well, I set to work colouring in the images whilst my head was filling with ideas ....

And the finished ATC? Well this is how it turned out, see beneath for the materials used to achieve this.

Materials used:

• ATC blank (actually it was some name badge cards (very flimsy) left over from when we used to work - we crafters waste nothing and they WERE the perfect size!
• White card snippet trimmed to ATC size
• Distress Inks: shabby shutters, peeled paint, iced spruce and bundled sage simply pressed on to the white card to colour the background
• Kaisercraft "grid" image stamped using Distress Ink in crushed olive (which I also repeated on the rather too bright green die cut)
• I fussy cut out the flowers and chopped off a piece of one of the larger ones - decoupaging it with dimensional foam.
• Using Cosmic Shimmer dries clear glue I adhered the images and "stem" die cut
• Taking a cocktail stick and some IndigoBlu flitterglu I added a few dabs here and there and then plunged the ATC in to a container of multi coloured gilding flakes, brushing off the excess and then used the "scoochie" sponge to buff away the residue and give it a good old sheen! MAGIC!
• Imagine That sentiment stamped using Versafine onyx black ink ... Finished? I didn't think it was .... quite, so ....
• I "scraped" my Versamark ink pad all around the outer edge of the ATC and then liberally sprinkled gilded gold embossing powder and heat embossed.

Whaddya think? As the current challenge over at Stamplorations is "FLOWERS" I'm going to enter it there - wish me luck!

Readers who stopped by my blog recently will have read about the Idea-ology assemblage clock case I was given for my birthday. Whilst trawling t'internet just look what I found a glorious project using the Tim Holtz Idea-ology clock - see it here. It's given me some ideas for my own and I can hardly wait to get started but ... I'm going to try to plan this project rather than set off at 90mph and wish I'd used this or that once it's finished - wish me luck with that as it will be a totally alien experience to me!

 

Isn't it FABULOUS?

Have a great Wednesday and, since it IS Wednesday, I shall leave you all with a piccie of my very own chaos that is my work desk! I really think I shall HAVE to clear this up before I can go much further - don't you?
 

Happy May Bank Holiday / Memorial Day!

Morning all,

Hope you had a lovely weekend and are enjoying the sunshine and the extra day off work (for many of you ... sorry to those having to labour today).

 

Yesterday the super Silver Streak (my crafting buddy also known as Wynneth) and her hubby stopped by on their way through from their son's to home. They stopped long enough to catch up on some much needed chat over a bacon butty and a cuppa - well we simply had to give them refreshments at this break in their five hour journey, didn't we? Rude not to ... especially since they brought me a birthday giftie of a purple starbucks mug, purple mini wheelie bin (craft storage - I'm thinking scissors) and the delicious Tim Holtz Ideaology assemblage clock ..... hmm, it's almost like she's some kind of psychic as there's an article in a recent Craft Stamper covering just such a project - now, where ARE those alcohol inks? In case I wasn't effusive enough in my thanks yesterday ..

THANKS GUYS, great gift!

Anyway, after W&T left on the next leg of their homeward journey (the collection of the delightful and much missed by them Miss Tilly - also known as TTWD) I set about another project from the same issue of the Craft Stamper .... it was the May issue and it landed on our mat whilst we were away so I'm still playing catch up ....
 

 

Materials used:

• C6 white, 300 gsm, scallop edged card and matching sized envelope
• Off cuts of white, black and aubergine card
• On the white image panel I used Permanent red tint/Magenta and Violet pan pastels - applied using a Sofft sponge, buffed using paper towel.
• JOFY image stamped using Memento tuxedo black ink
• Alcohol inks to colour image
• I erased the colour from the small circles, to allow me to take the following step without muddying the  colour (pan pastels are BRILLIANT that way)
• Uniball white gel pen to colour small white circles
• IndigoBlu flitter glue made in to an "ink pad" using cut and dry and a spatula
• Artistic Stamper circles stamped using the flitter glue and purple pearl-ex applied quickly, before washing the image in cold water
• Close to my Heart flourish stamped using flitter glue and then multi coloured gilding flakes and violet pan pastel used to colour flourish
• Crystal glamour dust applied liberally to panel - to cover any gaps
• Stardust stickles used to highlight white circles
• Violet pan pastel applied to white card before adding the Stampers Anonymous frame stamped using flitter glue and then pewter metallic pan pastel, cut out and then adhered to my project using dimensional foam tape
• Stampers Anonymous sentiment stamped using Versafine onyx black ink

 

This was a technique I saw and felt I just HAD to try. Hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoyed making it. Since I used Pan Pastels AND their current challenge is "FLORAL" I shall be entering on their blog here

It's my sister-in-law birthday today so - have a great birthday, Ann

 

 

Have a great Monday, hope you have good weather on this public holiday

Welcome to slightly less than Summery Sunday!

Raining cats and dogs much of yesterday here - hope you were luckier where you are!

 

Well, here we are, Rudolph Day again .....time to crack on with those Christmas cards and yet .... I found myself making something decidedly UN-Christmas-y yesterday! Go figure, me, who LOVES making Christmas card AND has the perfect excuse to be making the darn things too - ah well, there's just no accounting for ones mojo is there?

 

Anyhoo, here is what I came up with instead -

 

 

 

 

Materials used:

• 15cm square white, 300 gsm, scallop edged card and matching sized envelope
• 14cm square panel of white card edged with Distress Ink in wild honey and stamped with my Kaisercraft "grid" image in Distress Ink in seedless preserves. I used the same technique on the smaller matting layer
• White card edged with Distress Ink in seedless preserves and black card, for matting
• I "smooshed" some birthday stash (Distress PAINTS in seedless preserve and wild honey) on to a craft mat and sprayed with water before laying my image panel on top and pressing down. I then dried this with my heat gun.
• Taking a broad brush I loaded up some of the leftover paint and flicked over my image panel and set aside to dry
• Paper Artsy "splatter" image stamped several times using ColorBox gold ink
• Sunshine Designs "wheat ear" stamped twice using Versafine onyx black ink
• And, for my texture I used Imagination Crafts sparkle medium through a TCW stencil using a plastic spatula which, along with the metallic sheen of the gold ink gives it a more feminine feel .... I had originally planned to use the Tim Holtz "man with umbrella" image but - you know how we crafters like to change tack half way!

 

Not too sure whether the texture of the sparkle medium shows up so, here's another view - hope it shows a little better - does it?

 

 

 

I'll be entering this over at the Addicted to CAS challenge which is

 

 

And also for the colour challenge at TIME OUT which has a sumptuous photo inspiration which I hope you will see inspired the above card's rich plum and orange colour scheme. I THOUGHT about adding a teal element but thought that made simply have made it a little too "busy", don't know what you think?

 

 

Now, back to those Christmas cards for me, especially since I have new stamps to play with! This card uses snippets/off cuts so I'll be entering this in to Di's snippets challenge here

 

 

 

Materials used:

• C6 white, 300gsm, scallop edged card and matching sized envelope
• Off cuts of white, red, plaid and plain green card
• Inkadinkado Santa image stamped on to my white card panel using Versafine smokey grey ink
• Alcohol markers used to lightly colour the Santa before Inking my Fiskars sentiment with Versafine onyx black ink and stamping over the top
• Stardust stickles to highlight

And a second one ...

Materials used:

• C6 white, 300gsm, scallop edged card and matching sized envelope
• Red and green paper from the Winter Stack by DCWV
• Offcut of plaid card edged with a Martha Stewart punch
• White panel stamped with my Fiskars sentiment in Versafine onyx black ink before matting on to red card
• Faux crystal gemstones and Stardust stickles to highlight

Two fairly simple and quick Christmas cards to add to my collection, so, guess what? I'm going to be entering the card above for the photo inspiration over at Festive Friday, need a reminder of the photo?, then see below. Also, since I made two Christmas cards I shall be entering both of the above cards over at Stamping for Pleasure where Sarn will be launching her new Rudolph Day challenge today - result!!!

Have a great Sunday ... the sun is shining and hubby's off to his beloved (and recently missed) flying field and we're having friends stop by later so should be a nice day ....

Welcome to Saturday

Morning all,

I'm finally shaking off this darn cold (unwanted birthday present!!) and managed to make it out to dinner with friends last night. We went to a restaurant we've been to before and, since we get e-mail updates, I even had a voucher for a free cocktail!! Woo Hoo .... my first choice (from a list of only about 6) was a Rhubarb Cosmopolitan .... no rhubarb  - 2nd choice was the carrot cake which promised a carrot-y aftertaste .... nope, still waiting! but it wasn't bad. I had the fish and chips and they were very nice indeed. A pleasant evening catching up with friends - what's not to enjoy?

I've woken up this morning feeling considerably more human than I have all week so am assuming the dreaded cold lurgy is now well on it's way - who knows? I might even get to my table of craftiness I thought and, optimistically, checked some of my fave challenges ...... and how did that work out for me? Well, see for yourself!

The new challenge over at Simply Less Is More is to use a die cut!? Hmmmmmmmmmm - well I didn't really NEED a new baby card but ..... I DID happen to have a pretty little die cut pram, so -

Materials used:

• 12½cm square white, 250 gsm, card blank and matching sized envelope
• 12cm square panel offcut of orange patterned card
• 11½cm square panel of white card for the main image panel
• Distress Ink in wild honey simply pressed on to the white card panel
• Imagine That sentiment stamped using Versafine vintage sepia ink
• Cream glitter card die cut "pram" attached using dimensional foam
• Faux crystal gemstones added, to embellish

And here's a close up of the die cut section

 

 

Wow! Now here's a challenge that would seem to be right up my proverbial street - over at the TIME OUT blog it's a photo inspiration but just look at these gorgeous rich colours

 

 

Addicted to CAS has the new challenge of:

 

And over at Festive Friday where they are determined to help us keep on top of our Christmas card makes, there is a photo inspiration challenge - see what you make of this

 

 

 

Some splendid challenges out there, wonder how many I'll get round to! Not forgetting that Rudolph Day rolls around again tomorrow over at Stamping for Pleasure (where two cards are obligatory for each month in 2014)!

Have a great weekend

TGIF people

Morning readers,

 

Well the mild cold which I received as a birthday gift decided to get serious as the week wore on and I've been knocked sideways a little. I've not had the energy (or inspiration) to hit my table of craftiness despite having un-inked rubber from my vacation/Birds in the Barn shopping/Birthday to play with.

 

Normally I even schedule the Friday Funny on Thursday .... in case I sleep in! but I've not even done that this week so, here I am, on Friday morning with no crafting to share, a snotty nose and looking through my e-mails for a suitable Friday Funny - here's hoping normal service will resume as soon as possible!!

 

The Friday Funny has been brought to you by, Liz, she's in the draw!! Hope you will find yourself smiling at one or more of the items below - ENJOY

 

Why I Like Retirement ! Question: How many days in a week?  Answer: 6 Saturdays, 1 Sunday    Question:When is a retiree's bedtime?  Answer: Two hours after he falls asleep on the couch.    Question:How many retirees to change a light bulb?  Answer: Only one, but it might take all day.        Question:What's the biggest gripe of retirees?  Answer: There is not enough time to get everything done.    Question:Why don't retirees mind being called Seniors?  Answer: The term comes with a 10% discount.        Question:Among retirees, what is considered formal attire?  Answer: Tied shoes.    Question:Why do retirees count pennies?  Answer: They are the only ones who have the time.        Question: What is the common term for someone who enjoys work and refuses to retire?  Answer: NUTS!    Question:Why are retirees so slow to clean out the basement, attic or garage?  Ans wer: They know that as soon as they do, one of their adult kids will want to store stuff there.   Question:What do retirees call a long lunch?  Answer: Normal.  Question: What is the best way to describe retirement?  Answer: The never ending Coffee Break.    Question:What's the biggest advantage of going back to school as a retiree? Answer: If you cut classes, no one calls your parents.        Question:Why does a retiree often say he doesn't miss work, but misses the people he used to work with? Answer: He is too polite to tell the whole truth.        And, my very favorite.... QUESTION: What do you do all week?  Answer: Monday through Friday, NOTHING..... Saturday & Sunday, I rest.    SERENITY Just before the funeral services, the undertaker came up to the very elderly widow and asked, 'How old was your husband?' '98,' she replied.... 'Two years older than me' 'So you're 96,' the undertaker commented.. She responded, 'Hardly worth going home, is it?   Reporters interviewing a 104-year-old woman: 'And what do you think is the best thing about being 104?' the reporter asked... She simply replied, 'No peer pressure.'   The nice thing about being senile is you can hide your own Easter eggs and have fun finding them.   I've sure gotten old! I've had two bypass surgeries, a hip replacement, new knees, fought prostate cancer and diabetes. I'm half blind, can't hear anything quieter than a jet engine, take 40 different medications that make me dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts. Have bouts with dementia. Have poor circulation; hardly feel my hands and feet anymore. Can't remember if I'm 85 or 92. Have lost all my friends. But, thank God, I still have my driver's license.   I feel like my body has gotten totally out of shape, so I got my doctor's permission to join a fitness club and start exercising. I decided to take an aerobics class for seniors. I bent, twisted, gyrated, jumped up and down, and perspired for an hour. But, by the time I got my leotards on, the class was over.   An elderly woman decided to prepare her will and told her preacher she had two final requests. First, she wanted to be cremated, and second, she wanted her ashes scattered over Wal-Mart 'Wal-Mart?' the preacher exclaimed. 'Why Wal-Mart?' 'Then I'll be sure my daughters visit me twice a week'   My memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.   Know how to prevent sagging? Just eat till the wrinkles fill out.   It's scary when you start making the same noises as your coffee maker. These days about half the stuff in my shopping cart says, 'For fast relief.'   THE SENILITY PRAYER :  Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.   Now, I think you're supposed to share this with 5 or 6, maybe 10 others. Oh heck, give it to a bunch of your friends if you can remember who they are! Always Remember This:  You don't stop laughing because you grow old,  You grow old because you stop laughing!

 

And, if you are in the mood for another giggle then Hettiecraft has a rather cheeky F.F., check out this link!!!

Have a good Friday and a fab weekend