Rudolph Day

Hi Everyone,

Because I missed Rudolph Day over at Sarn's (Stamping For Pleasure) last month, I was determined to make a couple of cards for this one. Otherwise I'll be desperately making cards right up to the last posting day and that would never do!!

That said, I have two different cards ... it's a character flaw I'm sure, but I really struggle to make two cards exactly the same!  However, what both cards do have in common is that the toppers and patterned paper sheets were printed from a CD, and oldie but a goodie, Magical Christmas Moments from cupcakecrafting.co.uk.

First, a Christmas bauble with a cute snowy scene on it. To the topper and patterned paper from the CD I've added some pale blue cardstock for matting and layering, some blue card candy and a bow made from a snippet of blue seam binding. I used a Tonic punch to create the diamond patterned strip of card that I've used to decorate the panel.

I'm not sure what you call this type of layering, it's not decoupage but the technique is similar, as is the effect.

The inside and back of the card are decorated using a sheet of matching insert paper from the CD plus some strips of paper left over from decorating the front.

The second card has a wee kitten sheltering from the snow - cute or what :) I've added red textured card (Papermania) and a NBUS, white snowflake embossed paper that I've been hoarding for a very long time - so long I've forgotten where it came from - more card candy, red this time, and gingham ribbon. Sparkle has been added using Stickles Xmas Red on the holly (behind the kitten) and the sentiment, and Crystal on the coloured beads hanging on the cord.

The inside was decorated with the insert paper to match the design and a smaller image, and for the back I've used a strip of the plaid pattern with the smallest image from the topper sheet.

As well as submitting this to Sarn's Rudolph Day Challenge - July 2014 I'm submitting it to the following challenges:
CHNC challenge 187: Cute - donkeys, kittens, and a puppy dog - couldn't be cuter.

CHNC challenge extra for July 2014

Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper July challenge

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 135 - that snippet of blue seam binding must surely count.

The little kitten sheltering from the snow looks just as I imagine Bonnie looked when she was tiny ... as she was about 9 years old when we adopted her I'll never know for certain. 

That's me done for this evening. I'll just publish and link this post to the challenges and then I'm off to bed. 

Goodnight dear friends, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite - want to know the origin and meaning of this phrase - check this link out here :)

Edited Note: I forgot to mention that the greetings on both cards are also digital, from Pink Petticoat's Traditional Christmas Greetings printed onto white lightweight card - my printer can't cope with anything heavier.

What's On You Workdesk Wednesday - WOYWW Wk 269

Morning WOYWWers, Followers and Friends,

It's that time of the week again! Time to join our Head Desker, Julia, over at The Stamping Ground, and all my fellow WOYWWers and stash voyeurs - it's buttons over at Julia's today I see - to reveal what's taking up space on our desks this morning. 

Not so messy this week :) I had a wee clear up yesterday - well, it needed it :( 

I've been trying to concentrate on scrapping recently so there's a couple of plastic folders to the left of the photo containing pretty patterned paper - I'm just debating which to use on the next page. Top centre are several packets of photographs ... the reason I'm trying to scrap more. Centre front is a pile of Gelli plate prints ... once lost but now found - I'm planning what to with them next. To the right, my wee guillotine - love it :) - top right, a right pile of rubbish which needs to be sorted out, binned or made use of but definitely not tossed in a pile and forgotten again!!!

All the other bits and bobs on my desk are weekly regulars, the staples I go to time and time again, except I see there is a roll of Washi tape used yesterday - that needs to go back where it belongs - and just of camera top right, that's the pile of over-sized photographs, also waiting to be scrapped.

Well, I've shown you mine, now it's your turn to show me yours so see you over at The Stamping Ground :)

Happy WOYWW to you,

Let The Music Play

Evening Everyone

Here's definitely something I made earlier, and then forgot to make a post about it.

It is a canvas board altered to fulfil the theme for the UKPC June Swap - music. I did write down all the materials used at the time but it's lost ... not surprising considering the amount of stuff there is in this craft room, sigh! 

Anyway, senior moments permitting, I'll do my best to remember.

I began by sponging Gentle Blends in pink, green and yellow on to the board, blending the colours in until I was happy with them.

Next, I dabbed silver Buff-It randomly over the surface and then stamped an Inkylicious music script stamp in black ink. Or was it the other way round? I can't recall! However, I do remember that to get the random effect I didn't put the stamp on a block but just held it in my hand and stamped here and there until I was happy with it.

The tag was made with white card, sponged with the same Gentle Blends and edged with Pebeo silver wax. The phonograph stamp is from the Artemio Office set. The embossed corners are from a set of craft stickers from Craft Works, they've been given the silver wax treatment too. Once finished I layered the tag on to deep pink card before attaching it to the canvas board.

The title was typed on to white card on my vintage typewriter, then cut out and edged with black ink.

I used shrink plastic and the phonograph stamp to create this little embellishment. All the lace, ribbon, spider web trim, twine and the button were found and liberated from my stash.

I'm amazed! I don't think I've done too badly remembering after all ... there's hope for me yet :)

Hope you've had as good a day as I've had and I wish you a good day tomorrow.

Thanks for taking the time to look.

Happy Crafting,

In A Vase on Monday - Dreamy Spires

Afternoon Everyone

The sun's out again! After a morning of potting and pottering in the garden I have come in to cool down. It's amazing! A day or so of warm summer rain the plants have perked up and the flowers are looking fabulous.

I spotted the EM's gladioli beginning to break into bloom last week and made a mental note to keep checking them out. Today they were ready for cutting - with his permission, of course. The flowers are white with a very pretty pink edge ... sorry, as usual the EM threw away the label so no name. Then I spotted the Russell Lupin, also pink and white, so that had to be included. At the base there's a mix of roses, Simply the Best, L'Aimant and the mystery one we inherited with the house.

The stems of Baby's Breath (Gypsophila) are from a plant bought at the weekend which was still in it's pot until this morning. The EM has since planted it into the round bed created by the recent removal of the massive Pampas plant ... very 1970s and disliked immensely by himself. Removal left a round hole in the lawn which has now been made into the flower bed. There's also one sprig of fennel ... the same fennel that can be seen in yesterday's post.

The jug featured in last week's post and that's another one of the crocheted doilies that I made more than 45 years ago. In the background you can see some family photos, one of which, the black and white one, shows me at the age of 4, almost 62 years ago, sitting on my daddy's knee.

Hope you enjoyed my vase today. If you would like to see more do visit Rambling in the Garden where Cathy hosts this weekly meme where, for sure, you can enjoy far more professional looking arrangements than mine by following the links.

Wishing you all a lovely evening.

Bugs, Bees and Butterflies

Evening Folks

Posting again so soon after the last - something of a record, I think :)

I intended doing a Saturday Saunter round the garden post yesterday but, and apologies for repeating myself, time has just run away from me, so here's just a few photos of the tiny visitors I've had recently.

First up is this little hoverfly on the fennel (Foeniculum vulgare). It loved the flowers so much it stayed long enough for me to nip in and grab my camera.

Another plant that is proving to be a magnet for insects, particularly bees, is this viper's bugloss, or blueweed (Echium vulgare).

More bees, this time going wild for the spendiferous buddleia (Buddleia davidii) we inherited with this garden.

And finally, a white butterfly posing perfectly on the end of one of the buddleia panicles.

Earlier this year I scattered a packet of annual seeds, a bee attracting collection bought from the local supermarket, in the rose bed thinking that it would give a bit of fairly instant colour while other slower growing plants become established. The fennel and viper's bugloss are among the flowers that grew from it making the seed mix well worth the £3 ($5) expenditure. Needless to say, I'll be saving seed to scatter again next year.

Hope you enjoyed these photos as much as I am enjoying seeing all the insects visiting the garden.

Thanks for visiting.

Sunday Snippets - Week 135

Hi Everyone,

I planned to post this earlier but the day has just run away from me somehow!

I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend.

It's just a little card, 4" square, that uses up all sorts of bits, bobs and snippets for Pixie's Snippets Playground. The topper is the leftover piece, the 'waste', after I'd die-cut the fern from Tattered Lace Lavish Blooms Leaves set, from grey card, backed on to white card and then layered on to dark blue Core'dinations. I distressed the edges of the Core'dinations with an emery board to reveal the Kraft core. The base has been embossed with a border from Cuttlebug Just My Type set. The embellishments, a scrap of tartan ribbon and a bright red enamel dot, are from stash.

I almost threw the 'waste' piece away until it occurred to me that it could look quite good with a backing of white card.

The card came together very quickly once I decided on the layout and pulled out the materials from the snippet drawer. In fact, choosing what colour of enamel dot to use took the most time ... there's a lot of colours in the tartan ribbon to choose from :)

The weather has finally broken here. We've had rain all day ... great for the garden, makes sleeping easier, but bad for The Boss. She hates the rain, won't go out in it at all, so she's had cabin fever all day!

I hope you've had a wonderful weekend and I wish you a good week ahead.

Happy Crafting,

Friday's Smile - Week 79

Afternoon Everyone

I have had lots to smile about this week. Too much to share everything with you and Annie at A Stitch In Time, but here's what made me happiest.

First, and of course there's no way I couldn't have mentioned it, the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony. My sister, Jacqui - 57 today, happy birthday Sis - phoned me from London and we watched it together because it made her so homesick. Here are a few of what I consider the highlights;

Lovely to see all the young folk dressing up as Tunnock's Tea Cakes - that's Scottish humour for you :)

Nessy, the Loch Ness Monster - made from Dunlop Tyres - just brilliant! :)

And the Scottie dogs - without a doubt they stole the show :)

And the last one from the ceremony:

I make no secret of my admiration for the Red Arrows! But what really made my day was that after performing their fabulous aerobatic display (photo shows them as they flew over Glasgow) to welcome the Queen to the games, I enjoyed a personal fly past as they swooped over, still in formation, our house on the way back to their base - how special and absolutely marvellous!

It's been a time of amazing sites. Thursday last week, to celebrate our anniversary, our friends took us a wee road trip around part of the Solway Coast - a beautiful coastline - passing Dundrennan, near Kirkcudbright, we spotted this gigantic structure:

The Wickerman! You can see from the photo that he is huge - 30 foot tall - built by local craftsmen.  The Wickerman Festival starts today - Scotland's mini Glastonbury, the climax of which is the burning of the Wickerman at midnight Saturday.

As I said, just a little of what made me happy this week. Hope you've had as much to smile about too - if so, please share your smiles with us by linking them over at Annie's so we can smile with you.

Keep Calm and Craft On

Hi Everyone,

This is going to have to be a super quick post because it is too darned hot to tap the keys - my fingers are sticking to them :)

Anyway, here's yet another heart card with a message that could be my mantra - if it wasn't for the heatwave ...

... Keep Calm and Craft On :) It's also a card that used up a ton of snippets - well, okay I exaggerate but it did use a goodly number - so I'll be taking a trip over to Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 134 and submitting it for Di's inspection.

So, as mentioned, I'm still using up the hearts from the mammoth die-cutting session. This time I've put two hearts cut from Core'dinations card, one red and the other grey, together. I gave the edges a rub with an emery board before layering the red one on top of the grey just leaving a margin of the grey one showing underneath.

The yellow piece is a snippet of a Gelli plate print from a tulip stencil. It's been layered on to yet another scrap of Core'dinations, dark orange (russet?), which also got the emery board treatment.

The printed ribbon is one that I brought back from the last Hobbycraft show at the SECC in Glasgow.

And talking of Glasgow, I watched the entire opening ceremony and on the whole enjoyed it thoroughly. Considering it was all done on a budget, I think the organisers did incredibly well, and they clearly had a ball sending up Scottish stereotypes. Oh, and the volunteers too; they not only brought along their own dining chairs when it was clear there was not going to be enough to seat all the competitors, but they kept on dancing all the way through ... I was exhausted just watching them. And possibly best of all, the wee Scottie dogs - weren't they brilliant :)

Materials used: a piece of smooth cream card to create a 4" square card base; scraps of Core'dinations card; the Gellie print snippet; grey printed ribbon (RibbonBox) and amber coloured gems to embellish.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 268

Afternoon Fellow WOYWWers, Followers and Friends,

Yes, it's afternoon and this is me just getting to the computer now! No good/sinister reason, it's just been an exceptionally busy morning full of necessary distractions ... I find that some days are just like that, and then with others my plans work like a dream. Anyway, I'm here to share my desk with all you WOYWWing Deskers, courtesy of our Head Desker, Julia, over at The Stamping Ground, and here it is.

Organised chaos! Well, maybe not so much organised as definitely chaos :) As you can see I'm in the middle of putting together a scrap layout for the lovely photo of my beautiful great-grandchildren. Much of what you see lying around the page are materials that may, or may not, be used in the making. The open jar contains wood veneer pieces - I've been looking through them thinking a few would be nice embellishments for the layout. The pile right back is my collection of 12x12 cardstock ... I've been sorting through papers and cardstock - as you do when you are searching for the elusive 'just the right sheet' - and ended up pulling it all out and totally re-organising it - again, as you do, or at least as I do!!! I was shocked to find out just how much there was of the 12x12 card too - expect to see quite a few 6x6 cards emerging from this pile in the next few weeks :)

That's it this week - not much really ... it's too hot and it's also hotting up for the Commonwealth Games up here in Glasgow. I can't wait to see the opening ceremony tonight. In the meantime, I'm off over to Julia's to find out what she and the other Deskers have on their desks this week. Do join in if you don't already - I'm sure you will be made most welcome.

Happy WOYWW to you all,

A Family Wedding Scrap Page plus a card made with the leftovers

Morning Everyone,

It's another bright and sunny day here in my little corner of the world and I hope your getting it as good wherever you are.

Today I have the scrap page that appeared briefly on my desk a couple of weeks ago - WOYWW 266. I finally finished thinking about it and got down to putting it altogether.

Sigh ... it wasn't the easiest page to photograph. It's difficult to take a shot of those over-sized photos without producing glare. Anyway, I hope you can see it well enough. The patterned paper kit is from Hot of The Press (Botanical Etchings). The kit came free with Scrapbooking Magazine so it is A4 (8.27" x 11.69"/21.0 x 29.7cm) and  I wanted to create a 12"x12" page so I chose a sheet of American Craft smooth cardstock as the base.

Once I decided what the layout was going to be, I stamped the area of base card that was still going to be on show with a word stamp - from another freebie, this time a Special Occasion stamp set from Cardmaking and Papercraft - with VersaMark to create a watermark effect. The labels were computer generated, printed on to white card, and punched out with a Stampin' Up label punch which I think is called It's Only Words. To make the flowers I punched out circles in two sizes, scrunched them up and then inked with Rangers Tim Holtz Old Paper distress ink. Probably the easiest flowers to make, ever!

The butterflies and other labels used to embellish the page all came from the HOTP paper kit.

I did have difficulty dating the photograph but my aunt Betty and Uncle Bryson being in the centre gave me a clue and after a bit of detective work I was able to establish that the year was 1975 ... they were attending the marriage of their son, my cousin, Graham, to Bernadette ... for some forgotten reason I could not attend. Shame really ... my family always threw such fabulous wedding parties :)

Now it's not a hard and fast rule I've imposed on myself but I am trying to use up any bits left after making a page ... if only to keep the snippet mountain manageable!

So here's the card I made with some of the leftovers and snippets for Pixie's Snippets Playground - Di will like it I'm sure ... it's pink :)

I used pink cardstock to make a tent shaped base and then just cut the paper into suitable sized chunks, edged with faux stitching in black, to create the layered look. The topper and greeting label are both from the kit too - there was a couple of sheets of these included. All the embellishments - ivory spider web, satin ribbon in two shades of pink, gem swirls - were all found in the stash mountain!

Almost a card for nothing!

Time for lunch here so I'm off to make a sandwich and have a much needed cuppa.

Thanks for visiting and leaving your comments - otherwise I might believe I'm just talking to myself ... something I find myself doing more and more as I get older anyway :)

Happy Crafting,

Materials used: 
Scrap Page - American Crafts smooth cardstock, turquoise; Crafters Companion Printable Light Card - whit for labels; Hot Of The Press Botanical Etchings patterned paper kit; Ranger's Tim Holtz Old Paper distress ink; VersaMark; Special Occasions stamp as mentioned; Alphabets - American Crafts Amy Tangerine Thickers white foam letters and Jillibean Soup Whipped White Alphabeans; Punches - Stampin' Up's It's Only Word label punch and 1¼" and 1" circle punches; Woodware tiny daisy and small leaf; adhesive pearls from stash.
Card - Pink cardstock from Papermill Direct; leftover paper, topper and greetings from the HOTP kit used on scrap page; fine black pen for faux stitching; ivory spider web trim, satin ribbon in two shades of pink; K& Company Swirl Adhesives from stash.

In a Vase on Monday ... Wedding Memories

Evening Everyone

Once again it's time for a peak at what flowers I've cut and brought indoors.

And today it's a posy of the sweet peas. They've been grown by my husband which means I have no idea what the variety is. He just popped down to the garden centre, picked up several pots of seedlings, mixed colours, planted them and then threw away the label!

What I can tell you is that the perfume is heavenly.  I've added three stems of salvia x sylvestris 'Rose Queen' to the vase, actually a jug with a pretty pink floral decoration which seemed to suit the pastel shades of the flowers.

I have them in the hall so that the scent can waft all the way up the stairs. The crocheted lace mat is one I made some 46 years ago, the calender is a perpetual one, and the piece of rose quartz was picked up on a beach only last Thursday. And the wedding memories associated with the sweet peas? They were the flowers, grown by her father, that my mother carried on the day she married my father in 1946.

More wedding memories. I'm slipping in this vase of roses picked yesterday to celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary. The roses are, rather appropriately for the occasion, 'L'Aimant' (pinky coral), 'Faithful' (cherry red), and grown by my English husband, 'Pride of England' (red) and one I planted for my husband, 'Simply The Best' (described as mandarin orange in colour but really much more peachy to my eye) and finally the white ones, 'Elina' (creamy lemon), 'Patricia Kent' (creamy white). Hubby found and bought the jug for a song from a charity shop and, of course, that's our wedding photo in the frame.

With two vases, not one, I may have broken the rules of the In a Vase on Monday challenge over at Rambling in the Garden but I hope Cathy will forgive me as yesterday was such a special day here at Casa Worthington. We married late so we consider every anniversary a special one - after all, the likelihood is that we will never reach our Diamond Anniversary :)

If you would like to join in, post your vases then do leave a comment on Cathy's post with a link back to yours so we can see what you have in your vase this week.

And many thanks for taking the time to read my post.