Rudolph Day Card - February 2019

Hello Everyone

Happily I've managed to make my first Rudolph Day card this year - I was so sad to miss Maureen's challenge over at Scraps of Life last month.

The design was prompted by the plaid patterned paper that was leftover from an earlier project.

Supplies used:

• a white 5" square card base
• scraps of patterned paper from Those Characters from Cleveland (2012)
• leftover scraps of red and white card
• paper backed hessian from a mixed media pad - American Craft's Dear Lizzy 'New Day' collection (2018)
• the felt Scottie Dog embellishment from The Works
• greeting stamp from Sweet Sentiments set - a freebie with Issue 9 of Love Cardmaking (2019)
• ink - Memento's Rhubarb Stalk Dew Drop pad
• embellishments - red/white twine and white enamel dots

As well as submitting it to ScrappyMo's Rudolph Day challenge, I'm submitting the card to the following two challenges:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge 346

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge  - CHNC 426

I was reminded of the felt Scottie dog embellishments by an item in the TV news yesterday stating that Scottie dogs are becoming an endangered breed. 

Seems they are considered old-fashioned so there isn't the demand for them that there once was. Such a shame. Perhaps being in the news will help save our Scottie dogs. I do hope so. 

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 508

Good Morning,

This is going to be the fastest WOYWW post ever as I have to be somewhere in a hurry - and my grandson won't wait! So, without further preamble here's what's on my desk today - the last for February.

There's the usual suspects - boxes of Christmas stash, a saucer of die-cuts and the gardening album - still nagging to be finished, of course. It's time will come, eventually. What is different is the stuff at the front. Bits and bobs for this month's Rudolph Day. The Scottie dogs are cute and will look great with the red/white 'tartan'. I heard in the news this week that the real Scottie dogs are an endangered species. No longer fashionable. Such a shame, they are lovely wee dogs.

I'll be back later this afternoon to join in the desk hop and leave a comment or two but in the meantime I wish you all a very happy Wednesday and a great crafty week ahead.

In the meantime, bye for now.

Scrapbook Pages 1-5 - Summer Challenge 2018

Hello Everyone

Last summer I participated in Mind The Scrap's Summer Challenge and miracle of miracles I managed to make quite a number of layouts. So many, fifteen to be exact, I think I really need to post them here just for the record. Of course, fifteen layouts are too many for one post so I've split them up. Here's the first five.

Life is Just a Bowl of ...

This is a photo of the first of our harvest from our two cherry trees. We are lucky, we get to pick the cherries on the lower branches while the magpies get the rest.

Magical

These photos were taken on our honeymoon almost 23 years ago. We were on our way to Fort William but stopped the night at a B&B on the shores of Loch Linnhe because the view was just too beautiful to drive on past.

Perfection

I took this photo of the water feature in the gardens of Dumfries House for a photographic competition I participated in 2017. I particularly like this layout because it gave me the opportunity to use the fabulous 'Water Droplet' stamp from Designs by Ryn on the background. 

River Ayr

I'm very lucky to live in a town with a river flowing through it. The River Ayr looks beautiful all year round but as these two photos show it's particularly beautiful in late summer.

Pitlochry

Another holiday shot, this time taken more recently in the Scottish Highlands. I really liked this floral display of a 'railway porter' at Pitlochry train station. The flower heads were die-cut from craft foam adding an interesting texture to the layout.

Most of the supplies used are from Mind The Scrap monthly kits with the addition of some bits and bobs from the scrap box. I've also made use of a variety of punches, dies and stamps wherever needed.

I'll be posting the remaining ten layouts over the coming days.

Thank you for looking - your visit is much appreciated.

Layout 3/2019 - Raising the Roof

Hello Everyone,

I finally completed the layout that's been taking up space on my desk, and in my head, for far too long so, for the record, here it is.

The photos were taken at the Christmas Fair in the Glasshouse at Bellisle Park on December 1st last year. The fair was arranged by three local secondary school students working towards their Duke of Edinburgh Awards. The choir came along to give support, and very good they were too.

Lots of old supplies were used on the layout - everything from 2009, Cosmo Cricket 'Jolly By Golly', to 2013, Simple Stories 'December Documented', as well as a few newer, 2018, die-cuts from American Crafts 'Cozy & Bright'. I can't tell you how good it is to dip into the stash I've been amassing for years - it's a real treasure trove just waiting to be discovered!

Unfortunately, I did make a mistake in the journaling - messed up my writing - so I covered it up with a strip of matching paper. It's not too noticeable and I doubt the scrapbook police will give me too much grief over it.

You might have noticed that I'm numbering my layouts, same with any cards I make too. It's just for curiosity's sake - as the slowest scrapper in the world it will be interesting to have a total for 2019.

Thanks for dropping in - it's much appreciated.

In A Vase On Monday - All the Yellows

Hello Everyone

Well, it's been more than a little while since I've been able to join in with Cathy's In A Vase On Monday. For those who haven't read my most recent posts I've been too ill to participate for quite a few weeks. I'm still not 100% but getting there - slowly but surely. But, I have to say, that a stroll around the garden is guaranteed to lift the spirits. Still February and it looks like Spring already

Although I was tempted by the snowdrops and crocus I was really drawn to all the yellows so picked a bunch of daffodils. The miniature, a mix of Tête-à-Tête and other varieties unknown, were the first to burst into colour but the bigger ones, again varieties unknown, are starting to open up now too.

Ordinarily, yellow is my least favourite colour but I can't deny it is cheering at this time of year. The winter jasmine is almost done but I did find a tiny piece still flowering.

The hyacinth was cut from a bowl of three, a £2 supermarket bargain, growing on the kitchen windowsill. The head was so heavy it was drooping so much it was in danger of breaking - it begged to be rescued. 

The crystal vase, a charity shop find, is now in the hall where the almost overpowering perfume from the hyacinth can drift up the stairs. It looks lovely set on the crocheted doily which, though it looks like a vintage find, was made by yours truly last year from a retro pattern found online.

Friday Smiles

Afternoon Everyone,

Well, it's been a while! Most of you will know by now that I haven't been too well these last few weeks - not much to smile about. But I'm on the mend now and found I have a few smiley reasons to share with Annie at A Stitch In Time and you today. Here's a few photos taken this week.

Monday was the first day I was able to visit my youngest grandson with his birthday presents.

Not the clearest of photos but I hope you can see his happy grin which still melts this grandmother's heart. He's just turned twenty, moved into his first home and feeling a bit out of his comfort zone. Happily, he has plenty of family nearby only too willing to visit and be visited so he shouldn't feel too lonely for long.

Coming home on Monday afternoon we were surprised to see the moon bright and clear even though it was only 5.40pm and nowhere near dark. I wish I could have taken a better close-up but this is the best I can do with the camera on my mobile phone - better than missing the opportunity, I think.

The EM brought home these hyacinths a few days ago - the last pot found at the local supermarket and going very cheap. They've opened out beautifully and the perfume is stunning.

And finally, it's crocus time again. As soon as we see crocus in the garden we know it's time to visit Corsehill Park here in Ayr.

It's become an annual necessity because that carpet of crocus is breathtakingly beautiful and guaranteed to lift the spirits of everyone who sees it. It lasts only a short while, a week or two and it will be gone, but judging by the number of people in the park I'm not the only one who appreciates this gorgeous sight.

On reflection I've had a lot to smile about. I hope you have had a good week too.

Take care and have a good week ahead.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 507

Morning Everyone

I see that I haven't joined in on a Wednesday for three weeks - that's a long time for me to be absent from Julia's WOYWW blog hop. But I'm back today and, fingers crossed, that's an end to the winter bugs that have prevented me joining in these last weeks. Not that that I've been crafting so I wouldn't had much on my desk to share anyway but here's what's on it today.

As can be seen, I'm still trying to finish a layout I started weeks ago! While I've been poorly I've had plenty of time to think about what I should be working on and, well, it's all those unfinished projects I have tucked away. I haven't counted but there's quite a few. So, apart from the layout there's the garden album described in yesterday's post. I'll be working on it over the coming weeks until it's up to date.

So that's it for what's on my desk today. I'm still in recuperating mode so it's slow work but better that than nothing at all. Happily the weather is improving too so I've been able to take a wee ramble round the garden to spot these signs of Spring.

Snowdrops

Crocus Tommasinianus

I'm particularly pleased to see that the snowdrops have not only survived but are increasing, if only by a few - there were none when we moved here.

That's it for this week. No books this week - I've been too poorly to concentrate fully but that's improving now too so perhaps I'll have one or two to write about next week.

I wish you all a very good WOYWW and a great week to come. Many thanks for popping in - your comments are much appreciated.

Garden Album - A Work In Progress

Hello Everyone,

I'm sure I'm not alone in having more than a few unfinished projects. In fact, I have more than a few and it's time I finished each and every one. Starting with this album which is intended to be a record of what we have done in the garden since we moved here more than five years ago. 

The album was found in a used book store.

I was attracted to the illustrations and quotations on gardening that appear throughout - foolishly I imagined it would make it a very quick and easy project to complete!  

One of the pretty illustrations

Here's a few of the pages as they are now. Clearly unfinished - no embellishments and no journaling. Just photos. 

Looking through the photos I'm astonished at the changes we've made to the garden through the years and it's a real pleasure to be reminded of the beautiful flowers we've planted so far. 

The plan now is to bring the album up to date and with that in mind it will stay on my desk - you might say, a nagging reminder - until the job is done!

Hope you've had a good day and thank you for visiting. 

Christmas Card Club - Cards 3 & 4/2019 - Fairy & Robin

Hello Everyone,

It's been quite a while since I've been able to blog anything - another lung infection bad enough to prevent me from doing much more than cough. Happily, I can report that I'm now almost completely recovered and normal service can be resumed!

And I have a twofer for you today because, unfortunately, I wasn't able to post a card for the last Christmas Card Club challenge. Firstly, here's the card for this week, CCC no.4, which is based on Gwen's challenge - 'birds'.

Actually, I've only managed one bird so I hope that passes muster. I found this bird stamp in a set and thought that coloured appropriately it would look like the perfect Christmas robin.One of my all-time favourite Penny Black stamp creates a very nice wintry scene.

Supplies used:

• a white A6 card base (Docrafts) portrait orientation
• stamps - Berry Red, Snow White (Penny Black); Winter Woodland stamp set (Craftstore) - leaf and bird; Forest Magic - greeting
• inks - Memories Black; Memento Rich Cocoa; Versafine Olympia Green
• card - white for stamped topper; red for layering; scraps of smooth white for bird and greeting
• paints - black, brown and red Spectrum Noir Aquatints Nos. 63, 40 & 11 for bird 
• embellishments: black 'pearl' for birds eye; Xmas Red Stickles for 'berries'

The second card, CCC no.3, should have been posted two weeks ago for GranMargaret's choice - 'angels or fairies'. I'm not a fan of either angels or fairies so I very nearly ended up going for the fallback of 'anything goes'. However, after a lot of digging around in my stash I discovered this fairy topper.

I also dug out of a box of 'experiments' the piece of embossed vellum used as a layer on the card. It started out as a sheet of plain white vellum but a long time ago, in fact two printers ago, I used desktop publishing software to change the colour to pale blue. This was in the days before it was possible to source coloured vellum - now it's easy to find online.

Supplies used:

• a white A6 card base (Docrafts) landscape orientation
• card - blue and red for matting and layering; scrap of white for greeting
• papers - red/white check from Those Characters from Cleveland (2012); pale blue vellum
• embossing folder - Snowflakes Cuttlebug) 
• topper - this cute fairy image is one from a set bought from an online store several years ago (source forgotten)
• embellishments - red peel-off greeting; red/white gingham ribbon; turquoise enamel dots

Right, that's me caught up with the Christmas Card Club challenges. It's so nice to be back and fit enough to participate again. The ladies in our Christmas Card Club will be publishing their cards too. To save the stress of the last minute dash in December we make a Christmas card every two weeks and posting it on our own blogs - see the list of links on the sidebar to the right.

There's quite a whiff of Spring in the air today so hopefully that's an end to the winter blues. The EM certainly thinks so - he's planning ahead by putting the picnic chairs in the boot of the car ready for the better weather.

Thanks for visiting - I really appreciate it.