Rudolph Day Cards for June

Morning Folks

Was up early this morning ... it was so hot inside even though it was raining outside ... and that means I got going earlier too! I'm hoping to catch up some on my week of doing very little blogging, and even less crafting, today. But first I'll share the two cards I made for Scrappy Mo's June Rudolph Day challenge both using toppers recycled from cards we received last Christmas.

I also got to use up lots of scraps and leftover card. The red/gold spotted card was bits left from a kit that came free with a magazine and the gold mirror card, there always seems to be lots of snippets of that in the drawer so it was good to use up quite a few pieces making this easel card. The Poinsettia embellishments were made using an old but loved set of Spellbinder dies. The greeting was trimmed from the top of the topper and matted and layered to form a stop on the base of the card.

This is just a tent shaped card topped with a snow scene, matted on to mirror card - not obvious in the photo but it's blue. I used a glue pen to mark up various areas on the scene and sprinkled it with iridescent glitter to give it a more festive look.  The bells were die cut from silver cardstock and the greeting is from a page of Pink Petticoat Sentiment Ribbons from 2011, punched out and matted on to more blue mirror card.

I am entering this card into the following challenge:

Pixies Crafty Workshop - anything goes but must use snippets 

Thankfully, the box of Christmas cards is starting to fill up so I may not have to hit the panic button come the first day of December after all. Thank goodness for Mo's Rudolph Day challenge keeping me on track :)

You, too, can join in the fun ... why not make a Christmas card ... it's never too early and you'll have less stress come December!

Happy Crafting,

Callum's Cot Cover

Morning Everyone,

And a happy Saturday to you all too. The sun is shining and the world looks a better place for it after all the rain we've had this last week.

I have a quick sewing project to share with you today before I take myself out into the garden for an hour or so ... need a vitamin top-up :)

It's simply a cotton print top lined with some pale blue fleece - really easy to make.

It's big ... measuring 31" x 42" ... and this is what it looks like in our all too rare sunshine :)

You would think I would be able to remember where I found the print fabric but I don't. However it's lovely quality and should see little Callum through until he goes into a big bed.

The fleece was an inexpensive to buy cover, originally finished in red blanket stitch, which I just cut down to size.

Right! I'm off to play in my sunny garden for a while but plan to return later with my Rudolph Day card for this month.

Have a great day everyone.

Friday Smiles

Evening Everyone,

It's Friday, the day we join in with Annie, over at A Stitch In Time, to share whatever has made us smile this week. Clearly, I'm late again this week ... what am I saying, I didn't even participate last week but with good reason. I had toothache, actually really excruciating toothache that started on Friday last week, lasted all weekend and drove me to the dentist Monday morning. Only to discover that I've been grinding my teeth in my sleep and only managed to damage the one with the root filling, causing a hairline crack. A bit of emergency filing down of the tooth followed. It got worse before it got better but it's on the mend and since then there has been lots to smile about.

Firstly there's my newest baby great-grandson.

Callum John, born on Tuesday afternoon, 15 days late and weighing a whopping 10lbs. Here I am having my first cuddle this afternoon. William, my grandson and Callum's daddy, is now completely besotted with his baby son.

Here is the new family all together - gladdens my heart to see them so happy.

Next - my great-granddaughter, Rhian, 'graduated' from nursery school today.

Doesn't she look super cute in her robe and mortar board. Love that smile.

Out of all the photos taken of the occasion this has got to be my favourite ... it speaks volumes :)














It was also my youngest granddaughter's last day at Primary school today and it's her 12th birthday tomorrow. This is the selfie she posted to mark the occasion.

It seems like it was only yesterday Shari was at nursery school too, being taught by the same teacher being hugged by Rhian in the photo above. Shari looks so grown up.  And, I'm just a tad envious of that red lipstick ... I would have loved to be able to wear that colour but sadly I have the wrong complexion.

No joke for you this week but I'll leave you with this, I think it's something that most crafters can identify with.

Have a great weekend.

The Great Tapestry of Scotland - Part Two

Good Morning Folks

Yesterday I posted Part One of The Great Tapestry of Scotland giving the background and the whys and the wherefores of how this magnificent work of art came to be. If you want to skip that here's some more information I thought of interest: The Great Tapestry of Scotland is currently the world's longest embroidered tapestry, 143 metres (469 ft) long.

That compares with the Keiskamma tapestry in South Africa which is 120 metres (390 ft) long and the world famous Bayeux Tapestry which is nearly 70 metres (230 ft) long. Which explains why it took us two days to go round the whole display. Here's a few more photos taken of the panels.

The Highland Games

Irish Immigration

Pop Music Booms

Shetland Knitters

Paisley Lady

Map of Scotland

Stop The World

The Great Tapestry of Scotland

Needless to say this is only a fraction of the 160 embroidered panels and, indeed, the limit was set by the quality of my photos. The entire tapestry include depictions of the end of the most recent Ice Age, 8,500 BC; Viking invasions, 9th century; the Battle of Bannockburn,1314; the foundation of St Andrews University, 1413; the Battle of Flodden,1513; Mary, Queen of Scots,16th century; the publication of the King James Bible, 1611; the Act of Union, 1707; the first and second Jacobite Risings,1715 and 1745. Also represented are many Scottish notables such as James Watt, Adam Smith, David Hume, James Boswell, Walter Scott. Then there is a panels depicting the Highland Games, the First and Second World Wars, Scottish Rugby, North Sea oil from the 1990s, Dolly the Sheep born 1996, and the recreation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. And, finally, following his victory at Wimbledon in 2013, a panel commemorating Andy Murray was added. 

It is truly an amazing work of art telling the story of Scotland's history from a unique perspective and well worth visiting if the opportunity arises. I believe it is currently on show in Kirkcaldy Galleries, Fife.  

Hope the weather is good where you are and that you have a great Sunday.

The Great Tapestry of Scotland - Part One

Good Morning Bloggers,

Today I'm not sharing my own pathetic attempts at crafting. No, instead I'm sharing the work of hundreds of really talented Scottish needleworkers discovered last month at the exhibition in Ayr of The Great Scottish Tapestry.

First, a bit of background information on The Great Tapestry of Scotland, It was the brainchild of one of the world’s best-loved writers, Alexander McCall Smith, the author of The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, together with historian Alistair Moffat, and with the artistic talents of Andrew Crummy, as well as more than 1000 stitchers from all areas of Scotland, formed a team with the intention of producing the world’s longest tapestries. 

I apologise for the quality of some of the photos but we were requested to turn off the flash on our cameras with good reason. I'm told that one flash is the equivalent to 100 hours of sunshine ... given that the tapestry is being exhibited all over the country the colours would soon fade if all the millions of visitors used their flash!!! It took us two days to go round the entire tapestry so I'll post the photos taken in two parts, otherwise this would be mammoth post!

Robert Burns - The Scottish Bard

Scottish Football

The Paisley Peacock

Fair Isle Knitters

The Scottish Thistle

Scots in India

Bow Fiddle Rock, Portknockie

Tweed Weaving

For those of us who love stats: - It took 65,000 hours of painstaking stitching, over 300 miles of wool (enough to lay the entire length of Scotland), covers 420 million years of Scottish history, all recorded in 160  panels to create one very beautiful, colourful and intricate tapestry depicting the entire history of Scotland! 

I'll be back soon with Part Two

Have a great weekend.

A Card in A Box - Flower Seeds

Afternoon Everyone

Two posts in one day ... I must be doing something right :)

In fact, what I have to share is a card in a box that I made last month so I'm lagging way behind.

Although I had seen and admired many of these before, I'd never gotten round to making one myself and if it hadn't been for Billy-Jane's challenge for us UKPC members for May, I doubt I ever would. It took several aborted attempts and a lot of head scratching before I constructed something I was halfway happy with.

The base is made from white cardstock, the matting is blue and strips of white punched with Tonic's daisy edger decorate the inside of the box. Everything else came from Tilda's Garden Party paper pad.


Looking down into the box giving a glimpse of the construction and the pretty punched edging.

The sentiment is a favourite Verve stamp.

Now that I've successfully completed one card in a box, I'm thinking that I'd like to try making a Christmas themed one ... just not right away :)


I hope you've had a good day. Thanks for taking the time to read my post - I'm planning to be back tomorrow with another one.

Happy Crafting

2015 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt

Afternoon Everyone,

Just a quick post to note that I am planning to join in with the photo challenge from Rinda, Gallo Organico, The Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt.

I've been following Rinda's blog for a year or two now and have thought about joining in her scavenger hunts before, just never quite got round to actually doing it. This summer, I've decided, is the year to start!

The idea is a simple one, take a list of 21 items, find and photograph them then post the photos here. I take hundreds of photographs every year so this should be easy to do ... well, you'd think! We shall see. What attracted me to the challenge is that it will encourage me to get out and make an effort to explore the area more. And be more observant too, especially as some of the items on the list are more challenging than others and some are just a bit quirky!

Here's Rinda's Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt List for 2015.

1. A bouquet of flowers
2. An ornate door knocker
3. A person walking a dog (or other animal)
4. People playing a board game or card game
5. Architectural columns
6. A metal bridge
7. A turtle
8. Someone "plugged in" to social media
9. A tent
10. A college or university
11. A cellular tower or television satellite dish
12. A public restroom, bathroom, or toilet
13. A merry-go-round or carousel
14. A traffic signal
15. A flag pole with at least three flags on it
16. A panoramic view, taken while standing someplace high in the air
17. At least two people wearing matching outfits or uniforms
18. An overloaded truck, car, bicycle or other vehicle
19. A ticket booth
20. A natural body of water
21. A photograph of you with a sign reading "2015 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt". Note: you may not use a substitute for this item.

If you find something on the list too difficult, you may substitute one of the following items for any one item on the list, except for Item #21:

Alternative A: People eating outside
Alternative B: Someone holding an umbrella
Alternative C: A rocking chair

I'm not sure where I'm going to find a 'turtle', #7, and the three flags on a flagpole, #15, is probably impossible. I'm sure I've never seen three flags on a flagpole here in the UK and it may be because, according to the UK Gov website guide, the flying of only one flag on a vertical flagpole is permitted! So that will be a substitute then :) Oh, and where are all the overladen vehicles,#18, when you need them?

All photos have to be taken between June 1st 2015 and September 22nd 2015, and everyone is welcome to join in ... just pop over to Rinda's blog, Gallo Organico, and let her know if you do decide to take part.

I've already made a start and it's going well. Indeed, I'm thoroughly enjoying the hunt and plan to begin posting photos very soon.

Have a great day,

New Home Card

Afternoon All,

Following on my yesterday's post I thought I'd show you the new home card I made for my niece, Louise.

If you are thinking it's a lot of pink, you're right! Louise loves everything pink, shiny, glittery and very girly and her new home is a true reflection of all the things she loves ... even the basin in the kitchen is pink :) So, of course, this card had to be all those things too. Being able to make a card so personal has got to be one of the best reasons for cardmaking :)

Here's a list of the materials I used:

- white, A5 size, deckle edged base card
- Pink Sorbet cardstock, Papermill Direct, trimmed to fit the front of the card
- Textures embossing folder, Distress, Crafter's Companion
- pink printed silk ribbon and deep pink glitter ribbon from stash
- snippet of satin finish silver cardstock for matting topper
- white printer quality card for topper
- Squiggles digital stamp, Home, coloured with ProMarkers in shades of pink, lilac and green. (The edges of the topper were also outlined with a blossom pink ProMarker)
- Stickles, Cotton Candy to decorate and edge the topper
- New Home button and pink gems from stash

It was simple enough to put together too, made entirely from stash and I even managed to use a snippet which is perfect because it gives me the best of reasons to pop over to Pixie's Snippets Playground for the first time this week :)

Although I've been something of a bad blogger recently it's not because I haven't been crafting, it's just that I've not been around much to blog about it. However, I do have lots to show when I do find the time - some scrap pages, more cards featuring Brusho backgrounds, a box card I haven't shown yet, and several interesting trips and days out we've had. I've just sorted out the photos taken of the Great Scottish Tapestry ... there's lots of photos - it's a very long tapestry - so I may have to write that up in two parts.

So, with the need to catch up, I'll bid you farewell for now and as in Arnie's immortal words, I will be back :)

Happy Crafting,

In A Vase On Monday - Mystery of Tranquillity

Evening Everyone,

I've had a busy day gardening today but not in my own garden. My niece, Louise, moved house on Saturday and to say her new garden was a mess is and understatement. I think the previous occupant did nothing at all, the weeds were knee high and the few shrubs and trees there are all dead ...there was not one garden flower to be seen! A truly sad site. My husband and I spent five hours strimming, weeding and clearing the garden. And that's just phase one!

But before we left I found time to nip into our garden and pick a little posy as a wee gift for Louise to welcome her into her new home. It included the first rose of the season and I did remember to pop it into a vase and photograph it before we left the house to join in with Cathy's In A Vase On Monday meme.

I love this rose but it's not what it promised to be. It's a David Austin rose bought bearing the label Tranquillity and described as having 'white rosette blooms forming from yellow buds tinged with red.'

As proof, this is what the blooms looked like last year. Same rose bush, same position, but completely different flowers.

I've compared the flowers in bud and they are the same as last year and the same as illustrated in the David Austin catalogue so I'm left with a mystery. Why is the rose bloom now so different?

I teamed the rose up with a sprig of London Pride, Saxifraga, and Lady's Mantle, Alchemilla Mollis and to give the posy to Louise it was tied with a scrap of ribbon left over from the new home card I made for her.











Although I did check out everyone's vases last week, and thought they were all truly beautiful, I'm sorry to say I was unable to leave a comment on them all. Hopefully, this week I will be more successful.

It's late, almost 11pm UK time, and I'm absolutely tired out after all that gardening so I'm off to bed but will be checking out your vases throughout the next few days ... wouldn't miss it for the world :)

Happy Gardening,