Sunday Snippet Card - Remember to Explore

Hello Everyone

Sunday again and I'm back with this week's snippet card for Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 253. The theme for this month's SWAP on UKPC was to create a project using shades of grey together with a striking accent colour. After much scratching of the head, searching the old grey matter and a lot of hemming and hawing, this is what I came up with.

Happily, I was able to use up a bit of old stash, scraps and snippets on this card - the grey and yellow card is from the snippet mountain.

Here's how it was made.

• The base was made by cutting a 12"x12" sheet of grey card down to 6"x12" which was folded to create a 6" square tent shaped card.
• The front was covered with a Papermania patterned paper from the Chronology 8"x8" pack. 
• The shapes, circles, cogs, etc., were cut from snippets of grey and yellow cardstock (Papermania Textured), using X-Cut's Circles and Spiro Circles die sets. 
• Two large Spiro circles were cut from grey and yellow card by putting one die inside the other. I then cut them both in half and glued the grey pieces to the yellow pieces to create something that, with a stretch of the imagination, might just look like parts of massive cogs. 
• The small cogs were layered together and fixed with 'nail head' metallic brads.
• The greeting, stamped with Memento London Fog, is from Get Stamping's Life's An Adventure. 

I've no idea where the design for this card came from. It was one of those that just started with the base and evolved as I worked on it. And the choice of yellow was a bit of a surprise to me. I'm sure I've said this somewhere on this blog before but I'll say it again, yellow is not my favourite colour. However, I do think that this particularly strong yellow looks well with the gunmetal grey.

Now, I'd better finish. Poldark starts in a few minutes and it just wouldn't do for me to miss it.

Have a wonderful week.

Friday Smiles - Week 193

Hi Everyone,

A bit late today. Computer problems. We had no internet for 2 days and now my new computer doesn't want to play ... grrr. Despite that it's been a good week with lots to smile about.

This little poppet had her first birthday part at the weekend. Here's Lacie wearing a dress her grandmother, our patchwork queen, could not resist.

And here she is again with her cousin, Callum, also one year old. Gorgeous!

I had to include this funny. We could easily substitute Scotland for Canada ... we say that if you want the weather to change just wait an hour and it will!!

I'm sharing with Annie, A Stitch In Time, who always has reason to smile too.

What's On Your Workdesks Wednesday - Week 386

Hello WOYWWers and All,

And a warm welcome to my newest followers/enablers, Sandra and Megan. I hope you will both keep coming back to find out what I'm up to as I get back into the swing of things.

I'm back after a couple of really busy weeks of visiting family, birthday parties and having visitors to stay. It's been fun but exhausting! And because of that there hasn't been much on my workdesk over the last two weeks. However, it's lovely to escape to the peace and quiet of my craft room once again, from where I can report to our Head Desker, Julia, (at The Stamping Ground) that there's a lot of fabric cutting going on.

This is homework for the quilting course. Last minute, naturally. The next class is tomorrow morning so I should get a wriggle on. When I've finished cutting this into 6" lengths it's on to the sewing part. Cue the sewing table.

Sashing and little corner squares to be sewn together. Once that's all done everything, including the sewing machine, has to be packed in to the tote ready for an early start tomorrow! Note: the calendar is on the right month. Now that is unusual.

Right! That's what's on my workdesks this week. Now I'm off to check out as many others as I can before everything is dropped for the Great British Bake Off Final this evening - couldn't possibly miss that :)

Have a great WOYWW and a fabulous week ahead.

Christmas Candle Card - Rudolph Day Challenge October 2016

It's a very long time since I joined in with Mo's Rudolph Day Challenge which runs from today until the end of the month. Truth is I should have been joining in every month because there's only one more Rudolph Day left and my Christmas card box is looking very empty - help!

For this card I've gone for the easy option and used a Penny Black Stickeroo - so useful when time is short.

I think/hope this is a card that a man would be pleased to receive. 

Here's how it was made:

• the base is a plain white one measuring 4" x 5¾" finished size - the orientation is portrait.- covered with a dark grey with a very subtle lighter grey check patterned paper - maker/design unknown.  
• next the band adhered to the middle was created from a length of gold edged red ribbon wrapped around a piece of yellow cardstock finished with a decorative edge punch. 
• to make the topper the Stickeroo was matted on to dark red cardstock and then adhered using dimensional sticky pads.
• the greeting was embossed on to a scrap of the red cardstock, using VersaMark and white embossing powder. It was then matted on to a snippet of the yellow cardstock.
• to finish a sprinkling of sequins was added to two corners.

Et voila! A very quick card. Just a few more to make to catch up - if not it will be a trip to the card shop for me!!

 

In A Vase On Monday - Autumn Forage

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday was such a perfect autumnal day - cool but bright, sunny and dry - we took a walk along the riverside, and for once I remembered to take the scissors with me in the hope of finding material for today's vase.

There's was plenty to tempt me but, as part of the walk was through the university campus, on one bank of the river, I resisted some very tempting berries and instead cut some holly with berries, wild rose hips and ivy flowers from the bank on the other public walkway.

Once home, I popped into the garden where I found red cotoneaster,berries, silvery honesty seedheads (Lunaria annua), more red in the dogwood stem and leaves (Cornus alba 'Siberian Pearls'). A great surprise was to find a couple of flower clusters on the golden hop (Humulus lupulus 'Aureus'). This hop has been growing in a pot for something like eight years and this is the first time it has flowered.

And because the colours were perfect, I added the last bud from the rose 'Hot Chocolate' and the last three blooms from Echinacea 'Tomato Soup'.

I couldn't resist picking up these feather found on the walk to add to my very own 'nature table' (actually the top of a bookcase). Ever since my primary school days I have enjoyed having a nature table. The black and white striped one looks as though it came from a magpie and the other could be from a collared dove. Both birds are frequent visitors in our garden though they don't usually lose their feathers there..

While in the garden I picked some bright asters (the pink one is Aster novai-angliae 'Andenken an Alma Potschke' and the purple is a dwarf form, name forgotten) and clematis flowers which I popped into another vase with a sprig of Viburnum 'Eve Price'.

Clematis 'Barbara Dibley'.






Hope you enjoyed my vases today. It's surprising what can still be found when out autumn foraging, whether it is in the garden or in the wild. I forgot to mention that the rose hips were found growing on the sand dunes down on the beach - not a place I associate with roses.



I will be joining in and adding a link to this post over at Rambling in The Garden for Cathy's lovely meme, In A Vase On Monday.

Have a marvellous Monday,

Scrapbooking & Snippets - Little Girls Pretty As A Picture

Hello,

I hope you have had a very happy Sunday. I'd like to give a very special shout out for my dear friend, Annie ... it's her birthday today. Happy Birthday, Annie! I hope you have a terrific birthday week and many happy returns too!

Deary me, yet another week gone by since I last posted. What can I say? It's been a busy week with birthdays, visitors and a trip to the theatre, not to mention the dreaded dentist appointment - best not to dwell - and no crafting has been done again! And just to make matters worse I'm working on a new computer - the other is fast approaching retirement, ten years old, and is soooo slow. Now I have to get accustomed to Windows 10 ... it's doing my head in so if I make mistakes please bear with me while I work my way through Windows 10 for Seniors!!!

Having created absolutely zilch this week I thought I'd share this scrapbook layout, Little Girls Pretty As A Picture, which I made months ago. I put it away in the Family History album and then completely forgot about it but, as I like to record my projects here on this blog, I thought it was time it got an airing.

The pretty little girls in the photo, dated around 1904, are my great-aunts - Williamina (Mina), Janet (Jessie) and Henrietta (Nettie) and my grandmother, Martha, Nunn - on my paternal side. In the family they were always referred to as the Nunn Sisters but strictly speaking three were sisters and one, Nettie, was their cousin. Until recently I understood that my great-grandmother brought her up along with her daughters because Nettie's mother, Barbara, died in childbirth but recent research doesn't confirm that. Researching the family history further I was unable to find a death certificate for Barbara around the right time but I did discover that she gave birth to a younger daughter, also named Barbara, who died in infancy. I'm sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation - I just haven't found it yet!!!

Back to the layout. As the girls are dressed up to the nines in their Sunday best, I decided that a combination of pink and turquoise on a grey and white base would be just right for this layout. Here's a list of supplies used:

• Based on a 12"x12" 2-photo sketch from Becky Fleck's Scrapbook Page Maps
• Paper - Simple Stores Hello Baby Grey Wood/Chevron sheet; Echo Park Petticoats & Pinstripes Border Strips, Journaling Cards, Elegant Label; SEI White Elegance Tiara; Elle's Studio You and Me Lovely Stripes (2013)
• Ink - Memento Espresso Truffle
• Punches - Martha Stewart butterfly edge & Woodware small butterfly
• Rubons - Basics by Kaisercraft Sugar & Spice
• Embellishments - Wood veneer hears, pink flower-shaped buttons & pink gems from stash

The butterflies were all made from snippets of patterned paper so I'll be popping over to Di's at Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 252 to submit it as my snippety make for this week.

Wishing you all a wonderful week, whatever it brings you.

Cardmaking - Golden Leaves Snippet Card

Hello Everyone,

And a happy Sunday to you all. Thanks for joining me on what is a dull and cool day - only 9°C this morning. Almost time for me to go into hibernation with Di's hedgehog family, methinks. That's Di of Pixie's Crafty Workshop - the lady lucky enough to have what seems like the UK's entire hedgehog population living in her back garden.

And talking about hibernation, I believe the Danish have got winter sorted with their hygge approach to winter. Hygge is hard to define but seems to encompass blazing fires, candlelight,  warm woolly clothes, throws, hot chocolate - in fact all things cosy. Sounds perfect to me.

I've just noticed that it's a whole seven days since I last posted anything. Where has the week gone??? It's been busy for me - people to see, places to go, things to do - ending with a visit to my doctor on Friday with a nasty case of acne on my face. Who would have thought that a woman of my mature years could develop acne? Turns out it is acne rosacea and it is no respecter of age!!! Oh, and while I was with the doctor she just gave me my flu injection too - talk about adding insult to injury!

Enough of that! You came to see my snippety make for Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 251 so here it is at last.

The object of this card was to use up a few snippets from the mountain,  a sadly neglected stamp, and Brusho ink powder, just because it is fun to use.

Here's how I made it.

1. I used a plain white base for a 4" x 5¾" finished size, turned to create a tent style card, opened out and laid flat out on the craft mat for the next step in the process. Before moving on I covered the back of the card with copy paper, taped it down on each side, to prevent the Brusho powder getting where it wasn't wanted. 
2. Next, I spritzed the front with water - not so much that it was saturated but enough to allow the Brusho to do it's magic. I chose the Leaf Green powder for this background, just puffing it here and there because I did not want too much coverage. Where there wasn't enough water some of the powder didn't react,  so I spritzed those areas again, ever so gently, until I was happy with the effect it created. 
3. While the background was drying, I grabbed a snippet of white card and stamped it with Penny Black's Golden Leaves stamp using Memento Pens for the colour. The middle image is coloured with Bamboo Leaves and the outer images with Pear Tart. I also touched the edges of the middle image with a Peeled Paint Tim Holtz Distress Marker just to create a bit more definition. 
4. To finish the topper it was matted on to a snippet of green cardstock. The greeting, which was created by stamping Crafty Stamps Thank You with Bamboo Leaves ink on to a teeny weeny snippet of white and matted on to yet another snippet of the green card, was adhered to the top right corner of the topper.  

And that was the card done.

I have another busy week in front of me with the highlights being my great-granddaughter's first birthday on Tuesday, the same day my second oldest grandson, on leave from Shetland, will be here for an overnight stay, and on Thursday two of our friends are staying overnight and we are off to the Gaiety Theatre here in Ayr to enjoy the sound of Nick Ross Orchestra. Should be a night of nostalgia for my husband  and his pal - they both love the big band sound!

So if another week goes by without me posting anything, I think you'll know why ... I'll be exhausted :)

Weather update - it's pouring with rain now - and I have to go out in it soon, big sigh.

Wishing you a wonderful Snippet Sunday and a great week ahead.

Christmas Cards - Winter Bough

Hi Everybody,

Here's the finished card that you might have seen part done on my desk on Wednesday.

Inspired by Cornelia who was, in turn, inspired by Coni, Which Craft, this card is about as clean and simple as I get. You can check out how they made there cards following the links but here is how I made mine.

• The base is for a 4" x 5¾" card finished size. I chose to create a tent style card so stamped the image to the right of the front. The stamp is Penny Black's Winter Bough which was stamped with VersaMark and then heat embossed with gold powder. I used Heat It Up Gold embossing powder because, well, it was what I had in my stash. Cornelia used WOW powder and Coni used a Ranger product. It would seem there are many shades of gold - mine seems quite dark in comparison to others. 
• The card was then opened out and laid flat out on the craft mat for the next step in the process. Before moving on I covered it with copy paper and taped it down on each side to protect the back. Splattering with gold paint, which is what I did next, can be messy! I used Spectrum Noir Aquatint Ink #70 gold paint to splatter randomly, concentrating most of the spatters around the stamped image.
• The greeting, Basic Grey Christmas Greetings, was stamped using VersaMark and gold embossing powder, as for the main image, on to a snippet of white card, trimmed to size. To finish the greeting it was matted on to yet another snippet, this time gold mirror card, and then adhered to the left of the image.
• The final touch was to wrap gold jewelry cord around the top of the front three times before tying it into a bow.  

I liked the first card so much I made a second one to match. And this gave me the chance to use another couple of snippets - yeah! Every little snippet used is one less in the snippet mountain! And, of course, I'm joining in, once again, over at Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 250 where Di is looking for anything as long as it involves snippet(s).

Wishing you all a happy snippety Sunday.

Friday Smiles - Week 190

Hello Everybody,

And a very happy, smiley Friday to you too.

I can't say that it has been a particularly good week for smiles. Yesterday brought some disturbing news concerning our young nephew who had to go through an emergency operation. We're told that he came through the surgery but he's still in intensive care so it's a case of wait and see with fingers crossed.

That was so not the way I thought I'd be starting my Friday Smile for Annie at A Stitch In Time but I do have something cheerier to share too.

On Sunday we went along to the annual Apple Day at Culzean Country Park. There are about 25 varieties of apple grown in the orchard and on this day every year the harvest is offered up for sale. We are invited to fill a large paper bag with as many apples as we can paying only £1 for the bag.

We were also invited, before we bought, to try out any apple we liked the looked off which I think is such a generous way of introducing people to unusual varieties - ones we will never see on sale at the local supermarket! I also tasted some pressed apple juice and it was delicious.

Also there were stalls selling local made produce. Not in the photo was a homemade soup stall - we had tomato and basil soup which was very tasty.

We've been enjoying lovely warm weather but spotting this tree in the car park reminded me that it's autumn, not summer!

And finally, I've been on the Blood Sugar Diet for a few weeks in an attempt to ensure that I don't develop Type 2 diabetes. I was diagnosed with Impaired Glucose Tolerance some years ago and I did lose weight then which reversed the condition. Recently, though, I noticed weight has been creeping on again, hence the diet. I'm finding it an easy diet to stick to and so far I've lost 11lbs - yeah :) Of course, I've still a long way to go - whilst it's so easy to put on weight it's so much harder to take it off again which is why this made me chuckle.

Happily, my goal is much more realistic and reachable ... surely :)

Take care all and have a very happy weekend.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 383

Hello Everyone,

Oh my, where did last week go! It seems like only yesterday I was linking up with Julia at Stamping Ground to join in with Week 382 of her blog hop. Famous the world over, it's a favourite weekly stop for nosy interested folks like myself who look forward to seeing what's other crafters are up to and what is on their desks.

And here's what's on my desk today. After seeing a wonderful card made by Cornelia at Stempel Spass yesterday I was inspired to get out card, stamps, embossing powder, and gold paint. Truth is my stamps have been tucked away in drawers, forgotten and neglected, for months so it was about time they saw light of day again. I've concentrated on airing my favourite wooden-mounted stamps - there's plenty enough to keep me stamping for quite some time. Just as well too, because I haven't really begun making Christmas cards yet and if I leave it any longer I'll start to panic. What am I saying? I'm already panicking!!!

That's me for today. Nicely brief ... just as Julia prefers.

Happy WOYWW,

In A Vase On Monday - Summer in October

Considering we are now in the first week of October it is surprising just how many summer flowers I am still finding in my garden.Though it can be quite fresh and chilly early morning - temperature this morning was just 4°C - for the last week or so we've been enjoying warm sunshine during the day allowing the late rosebuds to open up with a last flush before winter sets in. Even the dame's violet, hesperis matronalis, is still happily blooming away. I grew this from seed so had no idea what colour to expect but I'm so pleased we have the white, it lightens up the shady area where it is growing.

These white/yellow blooms are from the modern shrub rose, Patricia Kent. It's repeat flowering and very nicely scented.

The red rose is is The Anniversary rose. Another repeat flowering rose with a good fragrance.

The purple blooms of the mallow, malva sylvestris 'Mystic Merlin' is also still in flower despite it now being October. 

Contents of the vase: roses Patricia Kent and The Anniversary, dames violet hesperis matronalis, mallow, malva sylvestris 'Mystic Merlin' and foliage eucalyptus gunnii and escallonia.

Normally at this time of the year I'm looking at picking berries and foliage, not gathering roses.  Pop over to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden, to see what others are finding to put in a vase today.