Rudolph Day - February 2015

Hi Everyone

It's Rudolph Day again over at Scrappy Mo's and because February is such a short month it occurred to me earlier that if I didn't get a wriggle on I'd miss this month! 

Fortunately, I had this digital Sarndangle stamp already printed and just waiting to be coloured with a ProMarker, Cardinal Red. The greeting stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black is from an old Basic Grey stamp set. I then matted it on to snippets of black and red card before mounting it on to a white base card. As I didn't have red card candy to match I used the red ProMarker to colour some chipboard candy ... worked a treat!

Other challenges I'm submitting this card to are:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 165

CHNC challenge extra for February 2015

This is the first card I've made in months so it would seem my mojo back, albeit on a go-slow :) Hopefully there will be more to follow.

Happy Crafting,

Friday Smile - Week 108

Morning Everyone,

I hope this finds you well and that you have had lots to smile about this week. 

It's time to join in with this week's smiles over at Annie's blog, A Stitch In Time, and this week I have this joke to share :)

Joke Of The Day

A new pastor was visiting the homes of his parishioners.

At one house it seemed obvious that someone was at home, but no answer came to his repeated knocks at the door. Therefore, he took out a card and wrote "Revelation 3:20" on the back of it and stuck it in the door.

When the offering was processed the following Sunday, he found that his card had been returned. Added to it was this cryptic message, Genesis 3:10."

Reaching for his Bible to check out the citation, he broke out in gales of laughter.

Revelation 3:20 begins "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Genesis 3:10 reads, "I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid, for I was naked."

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And finally something that made chuckle this week:

*******

Take care and stay safe,

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 299

Hello Fellow WOYWWers

It's been a long time since I last joined in, but then it's been a long time since there was anything on my desk to reveal.

But today I've been pulling stuff out of stash to put together another scrapbook kit to work on over the next couple of weeks. From the photo at the front you can see the colour choice is based on red, gold/mustard yellow and black.

Here's where I have been spending most of my time in recent weeks - at the coffee table in front of the sofa. I started a little crochet chick a couple of weeks ago and haven't really made much headway and I've been planning where/how/when to sow seeds for cutting this year. Oh, and that's a cup of tomato soup ... I've been practically living on it for the last couple of months!

In yesterday's post I announced that I was going to the hairdresser's today and that there was going to be a big change.

 This is the before photo.

And this is the after shots ... a drastic change and although the EM thinks it's lovely I'm still not sure. However, it will be much easier to look after and that was the intention. 

It's probably going to take me the best part of the week to visit many of you. I'm still recuperating and that means I have to rest a lot, hence the long absence, but I'm getting there and my mojo seems to be making it's way back too :)

For now, it's goodbye from Bonnie who seems to have taken up almost permanent residence on my workdesk. 

Take care and stay safe.

Happy Crafting,

In A Vase this week - Sunshine on a Wet Day

Hi everyone

This is far too late for In A Vase Monday and, as the daffodils were not grown in our garden, strictly speaking I don't think these qualify for Cathy's meme but I thought they were too cheerful to keep to myself :)

They were just a bunch of green buds when the EM brought them home from the market but in no time they were looking like this ... and the perfume is divine!

A couple of weeks ago I posted a photo showing the seed packets received from the Cottage Garden Society seed exchange (post here). This sparked a question or two so I thought I'd tell you more about how the seed exchange works. The seeds are donated by many of the members of the CGS who collect them throughout the year as they ripen They are sent into a wonderful lady, Margaret Mason, who then checks them, makes sure they have the correct Latin name, etc. We, the members, are then sent a seed list, with the winter edition of the CGS magazine. There's approximately 1500 species and varieties of flowers, herbs and vegetables from which we are invited to make our selection. The eagerly awaited packets of seeds are then sent out January/February time. 

All the seed collection is carried out on a purely voluntary basis, there's no obligation, and not donating does not bar members from choosing seeds from the list. For example, this year I did not contribute because much of my seed wasn't ripe enough until after the deadline for sending. However, I do hope this coming year will be different. Participating in the seed exchange really is a lot of fun ... sowing the seeds and waiting to see what comes up is exciting and the results are always a joy even if they do sometimes produce a surprise as the odd stray unknown has sneaked into a packet! 

I hope the above has answered the queries and that those of you who are keen gardeners may even consider becoming members of the CGS so that you too can participate in the seed exchange. I've been a member for the best part of 20 years and not only benefit from the seed exchange but thoroughly enjoy reading, and learning from, the quarterly magazine. The membership fee is modest, as is the charge for all those lovely packets of seeds! 

Once again it's time I was in bed. I have an appointment at the hairdressers tomorrow ... I have a big change planned ... photos may follow :)

Take care and stay safe.

Scrapbook Workshop - Return to the Collection - Part 1

Hi Everyone,

Happy Tuesday everyone. I hope this finds you well and enjoying far better weather than what is our lot at the moment ... wind and rain that looks as though it will never stop!

Yet again, I have to admit to having made not a thing, nada, zilch, nothing. Anyhow, to make up for the lack of industry I thought I'd do a series of blog posts covering the layouts I completed with the help of Shimelle's Return to the Collection workshop last year. This workshop was a follow on from her The Perfect Collection class of 2012 ...the idea of which was 'to take a collection pack of patterned papers and use it until it was all gone'.  

Shimelle was working with the same kit she used in the 2012 workshop but, a) I wasn't too smitten on that particular kit and, b) I wanted to make a kit from stash ... as ever it's my aim this year to find a way of using stuff up! So here's the kit I put together. 

Apologies for the glare in the photo but I hope you can see that it was a sizeable kit, made up as follows: 

• 12 patterned papers: from Basic Grey's Fresh Cut collection, My Mind's Eye Lime Twist, Lasting Impressions Cotton Candy, Docraft's Papermania Happy Days, and the Memories sheet which had no maker information on it.
• 3 cardstock: BoBunny Aquamarine Dot, Coredinations Worn Lipstick, black American Crafts. 
• 3 alphabet sets: Basic Grey's Fresh Cut, Echo Park's Splendid Sunshine, Hobbycraft White Felt stickers.
• Embellishments: BoBunny Ambrosia Cut Outs, Basic Grey's Capture Snippets, My Mind's Eye Now & then flairs, Basic Grey bobbles, Mr Huey Estate Green colour mist, a red/white washi tape, a selection of enamel dots from various sources, 
• Stickers: Basic Grey Fresh Cut sheet, My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline labels, Pebbles Masking Tape & Border stickers, Teresa Collins Canvas sheet, Dear Lizzy Accents & Phrases.

With a lot of help from the workshop prompts I managed to create 4 one-page layouts and 2 double-page layouts altogether. Here are the first two layouts created with items from the kit.

This is the first I put together and perhaps you can see that already I had to add two more alphabet sets (Pebbles ABC stickers& Jenni Bowlin Chalkboard Black). The ones originally chosen for the kit did not work with this page. I also pulled out some heart-shaped wood veneers from stash too - they were easily coloured with Promarkers. Otherwise everything else came from the kit. The photos date from a 2010 trip to the Yorkshire coast - we stopped off on the way home just to see Antony Gormley's Angel of the North.

I'd love to say that everything on this page came from the kit but, in truth, I added some stamping and some die-cut flowers (lilac, to match what my late mother was wearing in the photos). The base is a sheet of patterned paper trimmed and layered on to the sheet of black card from the kit. I particularly love this page. The photos were taken in the spring of 1996 during a stroll round the campus of the US college where I was studying at the time. Mum, at the age of 69, had never been in a plane, before, in fact, never been out of the UK before, so this was a truly unforgettable experience for her!

I think that's enough for today ... otherwise this would be a very, very long post and I doubt you'd want that. And, in any case, it's way past my bedtime (it's Monday night at the time of writing). I'll be back with two more layouts soon.

Take care and stay safe.

Happy Crafting,

Two Recycled and Snippety Cards

Evening Folks, 

I've had to have another unscheduled blog break ... yet another chest infection knocked me back some. Happily, I'm on the mend once more and hopefully, now that spring is on its way, that will be that and I will be able to pick up the threads again ... well, that's the plan anyway :)

In the meantime, here's a couple of cards I made earlier. For both I've recycled cards received at Christmas, used leftover snippets of patterned paper, for the backgrounds, and card for matting and layering.

The snowflake was die-cut from a scrap of red textured card and finished with a white card candi in the centre. The tent shaped card base was created from a sheet of black card cut to measure 10" x 5" folded to 5" square.

Another tent shaped card, this time with a ready-made 6" square Kraft base. I've no idea what paper pack(s) the patterned papers came from, they were tucked away in my stash and are probably older than Methuselah!

I will be submitting both cards to the following challenges:

Pixies Snippets Playground - Week 164  - using snippets
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge 216 - love and/or hearts and/or red ... I've chosen red.
CHNC Challenge Extra for February 2015 - anything goes as long as it's Christmas
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper February 2015 Challenge - the challenge that is always about using patterned papers 

That's it for today but, to quote Arnie, I'll be back :)

I wish you all a good evening. Thank you for being patient and for paying me a visit.

Take care and stay safe.

Happy Crafting,

In A Vase On Monday - Jumblies Solo

Good Afternoon Everyone,

It's Monday and time to join Cathy over at Rambling in The Garden with a vase of whatever I can find in the garden. Right now there's precious little to find although there are signs of life to be seen, for example these almost ready to bloom dwarf narcissii.

These buds from a pot of Jumblies were picked and brought in yesterday in the hope that the warmth of the house would coax them to open up.

As you can see, only one has obliged! Tiny but perfectly formed.

Now there might be very little to see in the garden just yet - it's been bitterly cold and frosty recently, but just look what the postman delivered on Saturday.  

All these lovely packets of gorgeousness - so much promise of beauty to come. This is the selection received from the Cottage Garden Society seed exchange. I was lucky, only one substitute, the rest were as chosen. Here's a list of the contents: Agastache ex 'Pink Perfume'; Ammi majus;  Anethum graveolens (Dill); Antirrhinum majus (Snapdragon mixed tall); Astrantia ex 'Roma'; Briza maxima; Bronze Fennel; Bupleurum rotundifolim; Cleome unspecified; Cosmos sulphureus; Cerinthe major ex 'Purpurascens'; Echinace purpurea ex 'White Swan'; Escholzia californica ex pink; Euphorbia wallichii ex 'Lemon and Lime'; Filipendula ulmaria (Meadowsweet); Hesperis matronalis (Sweet Rocket); Panicum elegans ex 'Frosted'; Salvia pratensis (Meadow Clary); Thalictrum mixed; Mixed Annuals. All for the princely sum of £5!

The Agastache was substituted for Daucus carota (Wild Carrot). That's been ordered from Sarah Raven today. The propagator has been dug out of the shed and tested - it's about 20 years old and still working just fine - and the stock of seed sowing compost and vermiculite checked. The cutting patch is ready and waiting too. I can't wait to get started and hopefully I'll have plenty to fill umpteen vases over the coming summer :)

In the meantime I'm filling my time looking through gardening books for sowing and growing instructions and looking for photos so that I have some idea of what they look like, how tall they grow, how far they spread, what kind of conditions they like. Once that is all done I should be able to decide where the best place is in the garden to grow them. All that should keep me occupied for a while :)

Happy Gardening,

Sneak Preview

Happy Sunday Everyone,

Every year I set myself three crafting targets: 1) to create more scrap pages, 2) to use up more, much more, from the stash I've already accumulated, 3) buy no more patterned paper until I've made a serious dent in what is already in the craft room. Every year I fail miserably! Oh, I start out full of enthusiasm but then I struggle with choosing all the items, patterned paper, cardstock, embellishments, etc., that would/should work on the intended layout(s) so my output/inclination quickly declines. Rather more quickly, it has to be said, than my already massive collection of pretty patterned paper. It's pathetic! However, I think I may have discovered a resource that will make the process so much easier ... that's the Use Your Stash site.

The aim of Use Your Stash is to provide ideas and inspiration on how to use supplies already in our stash. It is also the home of the free to join Scrap Stash Kit Club, where we are encouraged to make a kit, simply based on suggested colour theme, from our stash every month and use old items to create great pages. I found the process of going through my stash looking for particular colours much the easiest method I have tried so far ... above you can see the small 'kit' I picked out using the colours suggested for January.

Together with this inspirational sketch found on Laura Whitaker Designs - a blog that has tons of great sketches - I created this page to celebrate how thrilled my grandson,William, and his girlfriend, Heather, were to discover that the baby they are expecting in June is a boy. It's their first child and my third great-grandchild!

Apart from the 12"x12" size blue patterned design, a very old Anna Griffin design spotted going for a song in my local craft shop last summer, all the other patterned paper is from the A4 size Katie Castillo Love pack by Scrapbook Max! which came free in the current issue, 87, of Scrapbook Magazine. (As I subscribe to this magazine I now have a drawer full of these kits which I am determined to either use or toss this year!) The cut out hearts and labels also came from the pack.

The title letters are a mix of white felt alpha stickers (Hobbycraft) and Simply Sweet Blue Jean stickers (Doodlebug Design). As I didn't have enough of any of the letters to make up the title I used a combination of colours and case ... in the end I think it worked out well, fitting nicely around the photos.

The little wooden babygro, wooden hearts, blue dew drops (Papermania), and small white doily used to finish the layout were found in various drawers, jars, tins and packets in the craft room - I'm such a hoarder! The babygro was coloured with Memento Danube Blue ink. The date label is from a pack of Miss Caroline stickers. I used two circle dies to create the 'halo' from a snippet of white cardstock.

There's quite a bit of the 'kit' left so I may make a card from some of the leftover scraps ... the theme of the patterned paper is perfect for a Valentine's Day card. Whatever is left after that will be returned to my crafty stash then it will be on to picking out the next 'kit' based on the February colour theme. A bigger one this time so that I can make more than one scrap page and at the same time use up even more stash :)

Not a lot of snippets used ... well, just the one for the 'halo' ... but that's enough to give me reason, as is my usual on Sunday, to pop over to Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 163.

We woke up to a frost covered garden today but it was also bright and sunny with the bluest of skies - our kind of perfect winter's day - hope yours was as good.

Thank you for popping in again today. I wish you a very good week ahead.

Take care, stay safe and stay warm.

Happy Crafting,

 

Friday Smile

Evening Everyone,

I trust you've had a good day. Mine hasn't been too bad at all. After I'd been to the Asthma Clinic ... where I got a wee knuckle-wrap for not coming sooner and some very good advice on how to deal with my current problems ... we visited my sister, niece and great-niece - who, at three years old, is such a bundle of fun - not forgetting my big nephew (he's 6'2") who was visiting ... quite a family get-together :)

Now on to a wee joke I have for Annie's Friday Smile.

An 84 year old man went to the doctor for a physical. A few days later the doctor saw him walking down the street with a gorgeous young woman on his arm.

The next time the doctor saw him he asked how he was doing. 'Great,' said the old guy. "I did just what you told me. 'Get a hot momma and be cheerful.'

'I didn't say that,' said the doctor. 'I said, 'You've got a heart murmur. Be careful.'

That's it for today folks. Thanks for dropping by. 

Have a wonderful weekend and I hope you find lots to make you smile.

Hugs,

Best Friend

Greetings Folks

I hope you are all well and looking forward to an enjoyable weekend :)

Just a quick post today before I disappear of to the Asthma Clinic this morning. This fun card was made quite some time ago, last year in fact, but somehow it slipped through the blog posting net!

The topper and sentiment are from an old Kanban kit. That's one of my Gelli plate prints in the background - made using acrylic paints and a trellis stencil.

The red matting and layering was made with a combination of snippets leftover from a sheet of American Crafts cardstock.

Here's a close up of the fun sentiment ... friends like that just have to be treasured :)

I will, of course, be submitting this card to Di's Snippet Playground - second visit this week.

Sorry to be so brief but I hope to be back later with my Friday Smiles post.

Take care, stay safe and keep warm.

Happy Crafting

Thinking of You

Evening Everyone,

I hope you are all well and that you've had a good day. And a very warm welcome to my newest followers, Lynn and Traby1 ... neither of you appear to have a blog - yet! Perhaps that will change soon and we'll get to know you both better.

Posting here has been somewhat erratic this last few weeks but hopefully that's just a temporary glitch and normal service will be resumed as my energy level returns to normal. In the meantime, I've a little Thinking of You card to share with you.

The topper, part of a collection of ready stamped images that were a gift from a crafty friend a couple of years ago, was coloured during my recent watercolouring session making this card a quick and easy make.

How I made it:

- first, I embossed the front of a white card base (A6 size) using Erwin Snellen's Autumn Leaves background folder from Nellie's Choice. I know it's well past autumn but I wanted a nature themed background for this folder and the leaves could pass for poppy leaves - well, in my world anyway :)

- next, I matted the topper on to a snippet of moss green core'dinations card then wrapped some narrow satin ribbon, also moss green, round the topper and finished off with a bow. 

- finally, I matted the Thinking of You greeting (I think it's from Craftwork Cards but I've had them so long I can't be sure) on to an oval mat punched from what was left of the moss green card. 

I said it was quick and easy!

I will be submitting this card to the following challenges:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 162 - where anything goes as long as it includes snippets - the green card and the satin ribbon

Clear it Out Challenge Blog - this week's theme is anything goes as long as something from stash is used - that's everything!

Top Tip Tuesday Challenge - Favourite Colour Combo - mine is always red and green and it's not just for Christmas :)

That's me done for today so I wish you all a very pleasant evening.

Happy Crafting,