A many layered Christmas card

Evening Everyone,

It's been another busy day here at Chez Worthington, though to be honest, I'm really not sure where the time has gone and what has kept me so occupied!

There is this card of course ... unlike the quick and easy one in my previous post, this one seem to take forever to come together and even now I'm not too sure about it.

I find these shaped cards more difficult to design for, though I'm not entirely sure why. I aimed for a collage effect, using up quite a few snippets and stash that has been tucked away for a year or so. The paper used for the first two layers are not intended to be Christmas designs but I thought the stars on the background Kraft paper and the red polka dots on next layer were pretty festive looking.

The vintage horse image in the card, cut out of a snippet of Bo Bunny paper is quite quirky - not exactly what we associate with Christmas nowadays.

The flowers are made up of miniature poinsettias layered on to cherry flowers punched out of the polka dot paper and the pins are ones I made myself. The sentiment label was saved from a Christmas gift received last year.

Materials used:

• Shaped card for base
• Patterned papers: Leftover pieces of the following: Fancy Pants Design, Kraft Kuts, Pattern Star: My Mind's Eye, Love Me do, Blooming Love; Bo Bunny - sorry, I can't remember the name but it is a Christmas paper with a vintage design of postcards on both sides, the source of the third of the layers and the horses image
• Ink pad: Tim Holts, Brushed Corduroy - used to edge all the papers and the horses image
• Embellishments from stash: Red felt bauble, Papermania; Ribbons - Bo Bunny, Holly Berry Wraps (green frill); K&Company, Holiday Adhesive Ribbon; Flowers - Wild Orchid Crafts, miniature poinsettias; pins and Kraft label

I was intending to enter Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge, hence all the layers, but what with one thing and another, I've missed the deadline ... maybe next time :(

However, Wednesday was the 25th, the day Sandra's Rudolph Day challenge, over at Stamping For Pleasure, for this month began, it runs for a week so I'm still in time to submit this card into:

Sandra's Rudolph Day Challenge  - April 2012

And, because this card is, with the exception of the base, made up of snippets, leftovers and ancient or recycled stash, I'm also submitting it to Di's challenge over on Pixie's Crafty Workshop:

Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge – 17

Before I go, I have just got to show you what the postman delivered today:

As many of you will be aware, I've taken up crochet again, and as there are going to be plenty of lengths of yarn leftover I thought it might be a good idea to use them up by making flowers. This little book, which I ordered from Amazon, cost just £3.69 and has instructions for 20 flower designs in it, all look quite simple to make. Some are made with crochet yarn and therefore not much good for my purpose, but others are made with knitting yarn and are perfect for what I want to do.

That's me done for the night. In the same package as the crochet book there was a new novel I've been waiting impatiently for, my bedtime read. It's a first novel entitled A Sweethaven Summer by Courtney Walsh. Some of you may have heard of her, she has also written two books on scrapbooking, including one that I already own and love, The Busy Scrapper. You can find her blog here. Not surprisingly perhaps, a scrapbook features in the novel ... which is what drew me to it.

So, I'll bid you goodnight, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite :)

Marigold Thank You Card for Handy Hippo Thursday - Week 12

Hello Everyone ...

... and a very happy Handy Hippo Thursday to you all. I hope you are all well, and to those of you that are not, I wish you a speedy recovery. And I also hope that for many of you, because of the horrid weather we are experiencing here in the UK, it's a day indoors happily crafting away :)

This week's Handy Hippo offering is a quick and simple card based on ... in true Blue Peter style ... one I made earlier. Some of you may have seen the card, posted last Friday, I made using a photograph I took of lilies in flower last summer ... the post is here. From the comments I received it was clear that many of you would like to make cards featuring photographs but may not have a collection of flower pics to choose from. Well, Handy Hippo have the answer with their fabulous Foto Finesse Topper collections. These are sheets of photos of flowers, trees, shrubs, etc in gorgeous eye-catching colours and each sheet also includes several greetings to cut out and use too. Here's the one used on this week's card.

This is the Gold sheet. Here's another to whet your appetite.

Gorgeous! And terrific value too - each A4 size sheet is only 24p at the time of posting.

Tempted? As usual materials used for this project are available from Handy Hippo and if you would like to make the same project then simply click on the magic button below and it will take you directly to a shopping cart that contains everything you would need to make it. Once there, you can simply and easily remove any of the items that you already have in your craft stash.

It’s easy to add to your basket any other purchase that you might like and if something is temporarily out of stock you can request to be emailed once it is back in stock.

Here's how I made the card:

• Trim an A4 size sheet of white card to measure 10½" by 5¼" and fold in half to make a card base measuring  5¼" square.
• Using one sheet of patterned paper from the Kalahari Dreams paper pack cover the front of the card taking it over to the back as in this photo:

• Trim any excess off.
• Create the topper by cutting out the photograph of the Marigold from the sheet and matting it on to gold mirri card, leaving a narrow frame around the photograph, then do the same with the dark brown card. Adhere the topper centrally, using silicone glue, to the upper front of the card.
• Create a narrow band to fit the width of the card with the gold mirri card and the brown card. Stretch the gold ribbon over the band, adhering the ends to the back of the card. Adhere the band to the lower part of the front of the card.
• Create another topper using the 'Thank You' greeting from the sheet and matting it in the same way as the flower topper. Adhere this to the right on the band with the silicone glue to the ribbon band. Finish this off by adding three green gems to the left on the band.
• Finally, trim two narrow strips, approximately 1" wide, of the patterned paper and adhere them to the inside of the card ... as in this photo:

 And that is the card completed.

Pot Marigolds are one of my favourite annual flowers ... I love the bright and cheerful yellow and orange blooms and they are so easy to grow. A bonus is that the petals are edible too and look great sprinkled on salads.  

I hope you like this card and might just be tempted to make it for yourself.

See you again next week with another Handy Hippo project.

Happy Crafting,

WOYWW 151 ... a bit of a mess and granny square update

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope you are all well and have had a good week so far.

A bit later this week but I couldn't possibly miss WOYWW ... that's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, the day many of us reveal the state of our work area, desk, table, kitchen worktop, floor - whatever - to the world via the hospitality of Julia at the Stamping Ground. If you've not discovered this weekly phenomenon before, do pop along and check out the many links there.

And here's mine ... a bit of a mess indeed! What you can see is the fall out after I'd finished making a card in a hurry ... patterned paper, toppers, brown card, gold mirri, gems and ribbon - the result to be revealed at a later date. The envelope marked 'white' is full of snippets of white card and it's fairly obvious that there are now too many ... I plan to find something better to store them in - or use them up 'toot sweet' and save myself the bother :) There a box (empty of diabetic ice-cream - ice-cream most foul!) of stamps to the right that I've been rootling in, looking for something for the next project planned. You can just see my Martha Stewart punches ... I can't say 'my one and only' any more because I now have two! My latest was 'bought' with the loyalty stamps accrued at my local craft shop ... it always feels as though it's for free when I can exchange a wee card full of stamps for something that would normally be a considered purchase :) Some of you might spot that the tools of the trade are in new storage - I liked the shape and colour of this dish that was going for a song at the car boot sale so, of course, I rescued it and brought it home to work for me on my desk. There's the usual box of adhesives and a fine collection of rulers - couldn't work without them. When I'm done here I'll have to tidy it all up and put stuff away before I can play again.

And for those who are following the progress I'm making with the crochet granny squares here's an update:

Not quite finished the pram cover, just the edging to crochet and it will be done. I've so enjoyed taking up the crochet hook again ... it's been such a pleasure putting the colours together and re-learning an old skill.  The cover was begun on April 13th and will almost certainly be completed by 27th ... a fortnight to make a pram cover doesn't seem too bad to me :) And I am so chuffed with the end result! So what next? Well, as this cover is for the baby great-grandchild expected at the end of the year, I thought it only fair to make a bed cover for his/her big sister, Rhian ... with pink being the predominant colour this time. Being larger, it will take longer but I'll keep you updated at intervals :) 

Not so brief this week, Julia ... I did try, honestly! I'll try to do better next week.

It's very windy and overcast here today but so far no rain. The old pine trees at the bottom of the garden keep squeaking which worries me just a tad, particularly as I've heard that a road just a bit further north was closed this morning due to a tree being blown down. They are tall pines!

Time for a cuppa with the EM and then I'll be back to join in the snoopathon.

Happy WOYWW and keep crafting,

Blossom ... on the way to the PO - a Scrapbook Layout

Evening Everyone

Happy Monday to you all.

I've been playing hooky today as we drove over to visit my sister, Margaret, with a belated birthday present. Belated because the EM has had a nasty virus which prevented us from visiting any earlier. It was lovely to catch up with her. But more of that later, first here is my share for today.

This is my third DT make for the April 'Spring Fling' challenge over at Scrap Our Stash . When I first contemplated the theme absolutely nothing was suggesting itself but, once I got the little grey cells into gear, a couple of ideas surfaced and this layout is the final one.

On a walk to the nearby sub Post Office last spring I was knocked out by the blossom trees that lined the road and luckily I had my trusty camera on hand to record it. The red candles on the Chestnut were gorgeous and the pink cherry blossom very pretty, but it was the froth of white May blossom (the Hawthorn) that was particularly splendiferous! They were definitely have a 'Spring Fling' :)

The pattern paper I've used is from several sources, Fancy Pants (the base) DCWV (for journaling spot) and Ciao Bella (the photo mat and the fussy cut flower panel at the top). The alphas and all the other embellishments are from stash. Most of the Alphas I haven't altered at all but the P and O were of plain wood so I've embossed them with two coats of plain pink powder and one coat of WOW sparkly powder, Magenta Twinkle.

For anyone who'd like to have a go, there is still plenty of time to submit your take on this month's challenge. As I've discovered the possibilities are endless and anything goes! So think  'Spring Fling' and take the challenge. To participate in the April  'Spring Fling' Challenge it couldn't be easier - just email a picture of your project along with a description toScrappinpsycho@live.com  All submissions will be posted to The Scrap Our Stash blog and on April 30th a winner will be chosen, and given the opportunity to be a Guest Design Team Member for the month of June. This challenge ends at midnight central time on April 30th.


Interestingly, the trees in Ayr this year seem to be even better. Coming home from a trip to the beach yesterday I couldn't help but notice that the cherry trees are just smothered in the most gorgeous blossom.

As I said at the outset, I've been to visit my lovely little sister today. Here's what has got to be my favourite photo of her taken just on Easter Sunday with her gorgeous granddaughter, Arihanna.

Margaret is enjoying every minute of being a grandmother and it's clear that Arihanna loves her gran too - you can see it in their expressions. However, she isn't so sure of her great-aunt:

I can only imagine what she was thinking to herself as I snapped this look :))

Right, I've a crochet blanket to get back to so I'll bid you all a good evening and hope you all have a good day tomorrow.

Happy Crafting,

Red Lily Card - Inspired by Jackie

Hello Everyone,

I'm working with the sun blazing through the window, there's a blue, blue sky and all-in-all it's a lovely day here even though there is still a wee nip in the air ... in fact, it's a great day for crafting :)

Anyone who has been following me for some time will know that I like taking photographs, particularly of flowers, as I've posted more than a few over the last year or so. Occasionally I've made a scrapbook layout with a few of them but otherwise, in the main, they are just stored on computer ... not forgotten, just neglected.

So time to right the wrong:

I've long been inspired by Jackie over on Craft Designs who, not only takes the most stunning photographs, but also goes on to make quite the most beautiful cards with them. In particular, click here to see her clever use of the same photograph to make six different cards.

I've not tackled anything quite so ambitious as Jackie has but, finally, I have used one of my favourite pics of our red lilies taken last summer to make a topper for a tent shaped notecard. Using Craft Artist Professional I've tinkered with the photo to give the illusion that it has been printed on canvas before printing it out. It was then matted on to scraps of gold mirri card and a dark red card to form the card topper. Gorgeous patterned paper, a fabulous sentiment (stamped straight on to the base paper), paper strips edged with an MS punch and a green velvet ribbon complete the card.

The pattern paper has been folded over on to the back and trimmed with one of the gold edge peel-offs bought ages ago which hasn't been given away to my granddaughter :)

I've deliberately not put any particular greeting on the card ... I'm trying to build up a wee store of the non-specific but really useful cards I seem to use up very quickly.

Materials and tools used:

• Serif Craft Artist Professional and Artistic Edges, Vol 3
• Tesco 6"x4" photo paper
• 5.25" square white card base
• Simple Stories, Generations 6"x6" paper pad
• Martha Stewart edge punch - sorry, name long forgotten
• Snippets gold mirri card, dark red card
• Hero Arts Flowers are Poetry sentiment stamp
• Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad
• Anna Griffin green velvet ribbon

All the materials are from my not inconsiderable mountain of stash so, although I have slipped off the wagon recently, I'm back on track and sticking to the Use-It-Up pledge again.

The use of scraps and leftovers also qualifies it for Di's Crafty Snippet Challenge, so I'll be skipping along to add it to her linky list :)

That's my share for today. I'm off to watch what's left of Pointless with the EM.

I hope you are all well and enjoying some crafting time.

Happy Crafting,

Having a Wonderful Time - Handy Hippo Thursday, Week #11

Good Morning Everyone,

A happy Handy Hippo Thursday to one and all. Here in Scotland the holidays are over and the children are all back in school until the summer. In the meantime, we are all looking forward to lots of Jubilee celebrations nationwide and, unless you are one of the lucky ones that got tickets ... I'm not bitter, not one bit of it ...  lots of TV coverage of the Olympic Games.

So getting into the spirit of things here's the card I want to share with you this week.

The  stamp is of a line drawing of the iconic London Bridge, the detail of which is very clear, and together with the red, white and blue couldn’t be more British. The layout couldn't be easier, the pennants easy to cut out by hand and the embellishments are kept to a minimum.  The fun postcard greeting and sentiment are computer generated. The insert has been stamped with the image too.

As usual materials used for this project are available from Handy Hippo and if you would like to make the same project then simply click on the magic button below and it will take you directly to a shopping cart that contains everything you would need to make it. Once there, you can simply and easily remove any of the items that you already have in your craft stash.

It’s easy to add to your basket any other purchase that you might like and if something is temporarily out of stock you can request to be emailed once it is back in stock.

Here are the instructions on how to make the card:

• Using whatever software you have on your computer, set up and print 'Having a Wonderful Time!' in black on the lower right corner of an A4 sheet of white card. I've used Serif Craft Artist Professional, but similar results could be produced on any word-processing or graphics programme. The font I've used is Forte, size 28 points, but again any similar font would do as well
• Fold the A4 sheet of white card in half to form an A5 card base
• Cut a strip of the red/white striped card 1¾" deep and trim to the width of the front. Wrap a length of navy blue ribbon along the length of the card, making sure it is firmly adhered to the back. Adhere it securely and centrally across the front of the card
• To make the topper, stamp the image in black on to a piece of white card and trim down. Mat the stamped image, first on to the red card leaving a narrow edge, and secondly with navy blue card, again leaving a narrow edge. Adhere the topper to the left centre with dimensional foam. 
• To make the pennants, draw and cut out a template on white card in the shape of an elongated triangle, as in this diagram.

• Using the template cut out 4 navy blue, 3 red and 3 striped pennant shapes. Arrange them across the top of the card front and then glue them in place. Using a white pen, add faux stitching along the top each pennant. 
• Create a bow from the ribbon and glue it in place. Edge the tips of the white flower with a red ink pad, then glue it to the front of the bow. Add a red gem as the finishing touch to the front of the card.
• The insert is an A4 sheet of copy paper onto which is printed the greeting 'Wish You Were Here' in the same font as that on the front. Fold the sheet in half and trim to fit inside the card. Ink up the image with a grey ink pad, stamping on to some spare paper first, then stamp on to the bottom left corner of the insert. Adhere the insert to the inside of the card.

Once again I hope I've made these instruction clear, however if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me as I'll be only too happy to clarify where necessary.

I hope you like this card enough to make it yourself - it was fun creating it, particularly the pennants, and the Penny Black stamp is great to work with - obtaining a great impression every time.

It's the wee small hours of the morning and I should get to bed. I hope you all have a lovely day and that you'll look out for next week's Handy Hippo project.

Happy Crafting,

WOYWW 150 - What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

Good Morning Everyone,

At the risk of stating the obvious and much repeated, don't these Wednesdays come round quickly? The days are going too fast ... and much as I enjoy taking part in WOYWW I'd like time to stand still long enough for me to get my breath :)

Anyway, here's the reveal:

I'm working on a mini album as a birthday gift for someone special. I've already covered all the chipboard pieces with white gesso, so now it's the fun part, covering and embellishing them. There's still a lot of work to do yet but I have until the end of the week ... should be able to finish it by then ... well, that's my hope :)

If you've read Jo's blog, Jozart, or my earlier post, you'll know that, inspired by her gorgeous Afghan throw, I've hunted out my old crochet hook and after a break of some 20 years I'm making granny squares again ... aiming small, I'm planning a baby blanket and since Friday evening I've managed to complete 14 squares ... here's a photo ...

... not bad for a rusty crocheter, I'm right chuffed with progress so far. I've just got to work out how many squares I need so if anyone can tell me the size of the average baby blanket I'd really appreciate it.

Keeping it brief again this week ... our wonderful Keeper of the Workdesk Register, Julia, has suggested we do now that there are so many of us signing up each week. Don't know what this is all about, missing all the vicarious pleasure of the biggest snoop in blogdom, then hurry over to the Stamping Ground, where you can find out how to join in the fun.

I hope you all have a lovely WOYWW and I look forward to visiting as many of you as humanly possible :)

Happy Crafting,

Paris in Springtime ...

Morning All,

After a night of stormy winds and rain the morning is much fresher, blue sky and fluffy white clouds and the sun is struggling through too - so all-in-all not a bad morning here in my corner of the country.  The EM, in his hunter/gatherer role, is down at the supermarket and The Boss is out, snoozing in the cold frame which she has claimed as her own. The neighbour's cat, Mia, another tortoiseshell is in her favoured perch too. I think it's going to be a good day :)

And here's my share for today.

This is the second of my designs for Scrap Our Stash this month, inspired by the theme Spring Fling, I've gone for a card layout this time. Like many of you I'm sure, I often listen to music whilst beavering away in the craft space and a current favourite is Paris in Springtime by Paper Moon - I've put in the link because I still haven't worked out how to import the video into the blog. It's a tuneful wee number that cheers me up just hearing it and obviously had an influence on this card.

Most of the card is made from snippets but the image, letters and butterflies are from a gorgeous sheet of Penny Black Stickeroos. When I discovered the turquoise coloured sheet of vellum in the pad of K&Company paper, I must admit I didn't see a use for it, but then I thought of tearing it and creating a panel for this card. I've backed it with a piece of white card, again torn, attached with tiny brads and I think it works quite well - and as a bonus, the backing made it easier to adhere it to the front of the card.  As I wanted to give the butterflies dimension rather than stick them down flat, I backed them onto some of the vellum, then cut them out, before giving them some shape and adhering them to the card.

The materials used were:

• White A5 card base
• Daisy Bucket Designs, In The Meadow, Celeste - a piece left from the Spring Lambs scrap layout made a few days ago
• K&Company, BW Flora Fauna 12"x12" paper pad - for the vellum - I'm getting a lot of mileage from this beautiful paper
• Penny Black Stickeroos, the sheet is rather appropriately called Paris Je Táime
• Snippets of card in white and blue for matting
• Seam binding in shades of green and blue

I'm going to submit this card to the following challenges:

Artful Times – Challenge #2 - theme - A Sea of Greens - this is a new challenge site well worth visiting - I'm hoping there is enough green on this card for it to qualify

Crafty Ribbons – Challenge 17 - Things With Wings - that will be the butterflies

Deep Ocean Challenge Blog - Challenge # 23: "Song Inspiration" - Paris in Springtime by Paper Moon

http://scrapourstash.blogspot.co.uk/ - Spring Fling – April Challenge

Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge - Number 16 - I've used up lots of scraps from the blue and white snippets

While I've been putting this post together I've been distracted by a congregation , my term, more correctly it is apparently a clowder, meaning clutter, of cats at the end of the back garden. The Boss and Mia were joined by a young and gorgeous silver tabby and an older and more ferocious black and white. Fascinating to watch them psych each other out. In the end they all went their separate ways and, thank goodness, with no fur flying. The black and white one I think of as Macavity - he comes from across a very busy road at the back, and somehow survives the traffic. I spotted him recently carrying a dead pigeon in his mouth ... can just imagine the horror his owners had when he presented him with that!

Okay, that's me almost done for now - just have to link up to the challenges and then I can go downstairs and join the EM, now returned from foraging, for lunch. 

I hope you are all having a good day and getting in some crafting time.

Happy crafting,

Granny Squares - crocheting instead of cardmaking ...

Afternoon All,

No cardmaking or scrapping to show you today - I've been busy and there is a work in progress but it will be a wee while before it's finished so I thought I'd reveal something else I've been working on instead.

Over the last five or so weeks I've been following Jo of Jozart's crocheting progress - and prowess - check out here to admire her handiwork. Reading somewhere that if you crocheted just one square a day, then over a year there would be enough to join together to make an Afghan throw was what got Jo started on her project. However, by just crocheting whenever she got a moment, she has exceeded that prediction. Jo's squares have mounted up so fast that in super fast time she has made a beautiful Afghan throw - really impressive.

I used to knit and crochet a lot ... I was taught to knit at the age of four and my aunt taught me to crochet when I was nine. In fact, dotted around the house, under various plant pots, are crocheted doilies - with very intricate patterns - I made a long time ago.

However, I gave it all up when I developed arthritis and 'writer's cramp' - it would be more apt to call it 'knitter's cramp' I think :) But, after reading Jo's blog and seeing her work I thought I'd take up the crochet hook again ... the crochet hook in question is one I've had for possibly 25 years!

Because it is such a long time I needed a refresher course and I got that from YouTube ... there's a lot of demos there for the rusty :) I then went searching on the Internet for a pattern ... I'd given away every pattern I ever had. I found several good patterns but opted to use Wendy Poole's - click here for the link - because it is clearly illustrated and the instructions are easy to follow.

I bought a magazine that had a giveaway of six small balls of yarn with it, thinking that these would be more than enough to get me started. 

I crocheted my first square on Friday evening and have since made another five - six in three days, not bad and so far no problems with my hands :))

As you can see from the photograph, I've been out today and bought some more yarn, a couple of huge balls this time. Although the squares are multi-coloured, I've decided that I want the dominant colour to be white.

I'm not aiming to make as many as Jo in six weeks - 144 - I think that would be a tad ambitious for me. No, I have another great-grandchild due some time at the end of the year, date yet to be confirmed, so I'm hoping to produce enough for a baby blanket ... I'll report on my progress as the weeks go by.

Now, clearly Jo, as you are to blame for having me unearth my all but forgotten crochet hook and brush up on ancient skills after all those years, with no pomp and even less pageantry, I take great pleasure in awarding you the following:

I'm thoroughly enjoying rediscovering the pleasure of crochet and making good and productive use of time that would otherwise be idled away. 

Before I pop off to do a bit of hopping round blogdom, I'd like to welcome Cindy and Mel, my two new followers - I really appreciate your interest and hope you'll continue to enjoy reading this here blog :)

I hope you all enjoy what is left of the weekend,

Happy crafting, 

Spring Fling - Scrap Our Stash April Challenge

Evening All,

I hope this finds you all well and enjoying the better weather now that spring really has sprung.

This month's challenge theme for Scrap Our Stash is Spring Fling. For some reason I found this a difficult topic ... I played around with several ideas but in the end settled for scrapping these little lambs.

Some of you will recognise this as the layout lying on my desk yesterday. All around us is sheep rearing country and so every spring I look out for the first newborn lambs of the season. Snowdrops might be the harbinger of spring but when the first lamb is spotted you know it's here at last.  I love to see them gamboling and frolicking in the fields nearby, makes me smile, but they are the very devil to photograph ... their mum's are very protective and one sight of me and my camera and they usually head for the hills, as you can see in the pic on the left :)

The papers are all from Daisy Bucket Designs, three sheets from the appropriately named In The Meadow collection, and one from Perfect Harmony, another aptly named paper. I've been hoarding them since 2010 so time they got an airing.  The curvy strips were created using Kiwi Lane Designs templates, as was the journaling bracket and the butterflies. The titles are computer generated and then fussy cut, as was the 'sun flower' and several of the other flowers - the others were punched, scrunched, hot glued together and finished off with card candy. The stamped sentiment, my winter mantra, is from Sheena Douglas.

No list of materials used ... I'm being lazy tonight, but if there is any information you want, you just have to ask :)  However, I can say that everything used came from my stash mountain so this project definitely qualifies for the Use-It-Up logo.

And finally, Ochiltree is a little country village not very far from Ayr, where I live, surrounded by farms and sheep. One of the the houses in the village Main Street is called the 'House with the Green Shutters', after the novel by George Douglas Brown, who was born there. The book, published 1901, is set in a fictitious village called Barbie, but it is believed by some that the story was clearly based on Ochiltree.

For most of you this will have been a short week after the long Easter break, and some of you will have the kids at home on holiday ... I only know this because the school playground on the other side of the road from my house has been oh so quiet, the car park is empty, and the chuck-wagon has been noticeable only by its absence, as have the scary seagulls that swoop around hoping for some fall-out of the fries and ice-cream variety. Whatever, I hope you have had a great time of it and that you've found lots of opportunity for crafting.

Before I go, a quick welcome to my newest follower, Cindy, your company is appreciated.

Happy Crafting,

WOYWW - Week 149 - Therapy in Scrapping a Layout

Good Morning WOYWWers, Followers and All,

Yes, it's the day we are invited by Julia, over at the Stamping Ground, to join her in revealing what is on our workdesk and what it is that you are working on, or not working on, whatever the case may be - to join in the fun just click the WOYWW icon on the sidebar to the left - so here's what's on mine today.

As you can see I'm putting together a scrapbook layout with some lovely papers I have had forever! I bought them in a sale the year before last and have been hoarding them, along with too many more, ever since :) They looked good with the photos of the lambs, as seen on last Wednesday's WOYWW post, so time to get the templates and the scissors out. The TH ink pads are there to ink the edges with - haven't decided which of the two colours to use yet. There's a bunch of flower shapes and a couple of cut out butterflies that I'm going to do something with before placing them on the page. You can also see a couple of rulers mixed up with the information strips trimmed from the patterned paper, more templates, my coaster without a cuppa on it, the timer I rarely use and my much treasured WOYWW badge :) And barely visible are the two containers of crafting arsenal - adhesives, scissors, etc.

I had a truly eventful holiday weekend one way or another - mentioned in a previous post so I won't repeat myself - so I had absolutely no crafting time at all until yesterday when I decided that what was needed was some scrapping therapy.

I hope you all had a happy holiday weekend and that Tuesday didn't come as too much of a shock to you. Welcome to my newest followers, Heather, Julie, Huzurla,  Jacki, and Brenda, it's lovely to have you join me :)

Mindful of Julia asking us to keep it brief, I'll close now ... it's after midnight so I should get off to bed anyway ... I want to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to get around to see as many of you as possible in the morning.

Have a great day and happy WOYWW to you all, 

Sunday Snippet Card

Good Afternoon Everyone

We've had a lovely Easter Sunday visiting family, taking photos and catching up with the news.

Little Arihanna is an absolute joy, very alert and gazed intently at me all the time - she also has the most beautiful smile, guaranteed to light up her great-auntie's day :)

Today's share is a card made entirely from the snippets leftover from the Easter cards I've been making ... scroll down to see them in the previous post and find a list of the materials used. The base is what was left of the pink textured card used for matting, just folded in half. The waste from the patterned paper was trimmed into strips and cut top and bottom on the diagonal, varying the direction of the cuts. They were then laid out and moved around several times, until I was satisfied with how they looked, before being adhered to the card. The rabbit topper is a trimming from one of the Beatrix Potter illustrations matted onto silver mirri card. The butterflies were punched out of both silver mirri and patterned paper, then layered together - the wings of the top layer are shaped to give a bit of dimension. Even the greeting is a leftover from the cards made earlier.

Not a bad use for a bunch of stuff that would have otherwise been tossed in the bin and, of course, I've made it for Pixie's Crafty Snippet Challenge - Number 15  - where else :)

From here, I can look out of the window down on to the garden and can see lots of green shoots with the promise of flowers to come ... in no particular order there's clematis, columbines, foxgloves, London Pride, lavender, thyme, Pasque flower, honeysuckle, hardy geranium and lilies all starting to peep through. In flower already are some lungwort, wallflowers, viburnum and osmanthus - the perfume from these is simply divine.

And how can I forget our late bloomers - our delightful dinky daffodils.

All of this gives me hope that, despite evidence to the contrary, spring will be back ... and I'm so looking forward to it's return.

Hope you are all enjoying the holidays and even finding time to craft. We are off to visit friends tomorrow so I won't be doing much crafting at all. Instead I'm taking loads of photographs which may even end up in a few scrap layouts, you just never know :)

Happy Crafting,

Happy Easter Again ... Two Easter Cards

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all having a lovely holiday weekend and over-indulging in chocolate goodies. So far my weekend has been eventful but not as anticipated - more later.

I thought I was only going to make the one Easter card this year, but then decided to make one for each of the two babies in the family. Both cards feature a lovely illustration from Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Benjamin Bunny.

This is the first card and here's the second one.

They are both made using the same scalloped card base and patterned paper from the My Mind's Eye.  There's lots of butterflies and polka dots ... you can never have too many of these, in my opinion :) The greetings were generated on my computer.

The insert, like the topper, are from a Crafter's Companion CD.

To make these cards I used:

• Kanban white scalloped-edged base cards
• My Mind's Eye, Quite Contrary Summer papers pack - free with Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine  some time last year. 
• Crafter's Companion, The Tales of Beatrix Potter Vol 3, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny
• Papermania textured card, pink; Inspire Me Card, pastel green; Silver mirri card
• Martha Stewart Butterfly edge punch; small butterfly punch, small square punch (for greeting)
• Ribbons, felt flowers and leaves, all from my stash

I decided not to embellish the cards with glitter, gems or pearls as they are intended for babies, and I'm so glad I did because the first thing 15 month old Rhian did was to put her card in her mouth :)

So what has made my weekend so different from expected so far ... well, traumatic actually. My son-in-law, Graeme, was rushed into hospital yesterday evening complaining of chest pains and he was kept him in overnight for assessment and observation. Today he has undergone some more tests and has been diagnosed with angina - he's only 47 so this has been quite a shock for all of us. He's home now with a GTN spray to use when and if he feels the symptoms again and will be returning to the hospital for more tests soon. 

I sometimes think that it never rains but it pours for my family.  Several days ago baby Arihanna was involved in a car accident ... she's only 3 months old! The car she was a passenger in was stationery when another car ran into the back of it. At first it was thought that, although the baby seat had a little bit of damage to it, Arihanna hadn't been injured but later she was found to have suffered some pulled muscles in the jolt and she was in a lot of pain. She's out of hospital and recovering now but we've all been a bit traumatised by the experience. 

On a brighter note, we've seen the youngest grandchildren today, and, of course, our great-granddaughter, Rhian. Tomorrow we are going to wee Arihanna. And on Monday we are visiting friends in Dumfries and Galloway for the day. It's going to be a really busy weekend and hopefully a fun one from now on ... no more shocks, please :)

It's late and I've had a tiring day so I'm off to bed. 

Here's to a good day for you all tomorrow.

Happy Easter,