They have been and gone

Well, my son and his partner have been and now have left. We had a lovely time but eating last night seemed to take forever. Mum had made so many things - can't think how many courses we had.

The dessert did not set so we had to have it all runny - reminder: never make a new sweet without first trying it out - good job it was immediate family.

Just another couple of cards for the demonstration next Sunday. Went through my stash of images I had already stamped up and then cut them out with the various Nesties I am using.

I really must try some of those layouts that you see and use some of my ever growing stash of papers. Trouble is I never find two or three that will go together. Need to sharpen up on this.

Now to get on with the cleaning of the cupboards - in an attempt to show Sam some pottery I unearthed things from on top of the kitchen cupboards - and boy oh boy - did they need cleaning! Now the tops of the cupboards need to be done - ah well .. out with the rubber gloves.

Busy Day

Went to deliver the birthday card and presents for my little cutie (Chloe) this morning. She is cutting a back tooth so was not as outgoing as normal when we got there. At the sight of Chas she goes all shy and would not move her head from her Grandma's shoulder at all so he had to go. When she knew he was going she quite cheerfully said "by bye" - poor Chas. Anyway, it was lovely to see her.

Then I have been doing some drawing and made some peanut butter biscuits - this time with crunchy peanut butter - Andy and Sam are coming tomorrow for a meal with us so I must have biscuits for them to munch on when they arrive.

Anyway, here are a couple more cards for the dem a week on Sunday.

This red one has a utee tile on it with an Oriental head on, looks much better IRL but it needs something else on at the base of the card apart from the mitzihuki knot which I did simply ages ago. Must get some more of those knots done as I did some really elaborate ones before.

This one is quite simple but I like to think it is elegant. I got the idea from a Hero Arts picture I saw - gives the punters an idea of doing dots around the embossed area. It would make a nice sympathy card or done in gold embossing powder on cream would be quite elegant for a wedding invitation. What do you think?

Blog Awards

What a week - a good one I might add. First of all Sam did "tags" for the Challenge on Lots to Do at the beginning of the week (see earlier posting) and then Chris, my friend from Paddy's Stamping Place gave me this Friends Award.

Thanks Chris - that was lovely - especially from such a talented stamper as you. Pop along to her blog and see what she does, some lovely eye candy on there.

Think I have to nominate six other people so here goes- three new friends, all deserving this award

Alison

Lesleyanne

Zoe

and three long standing friends

Anne

Sylvia

Dot

You must check out their blogs - each one is so different and showing such talent.

The second was from Cath. Now I owe Cath a lot as she has introduced me to so much in the stamping world and I count her as one of my most treasured friends. Thanks Cath, for the Award (not sure what you said about me is true) and for being YOU. Check out her blog - you will see what talent she has when you visit.

For this award I have to list seven "interesting" things about myself. Chas fell about hysterically as I got stuck at two. Just to show him I now list my seven interesting things about me:

1) I have a lovely son, Andy, who is 6'5" and gorgeous (he won't read this so am ok to say it).

2) I used to teach Gary, Phil and Tracey Neville (Man Utd, Everton football for the guys).

3) I was the first ever County Outdoor Activities Adviser for East Lancashire Girl Guides.

4) Broke my ankle Parachuting with the Black Nights. Put paid to my outdoor activities.

5) Once went out with the drummer from The Hollies (before he was in the Hollies) and was asked out twice by the middle guy in the Trio Athene (who?)

6) Had my stamping room fitted out by the Big Strong Boys and was on TV.

7) As a teenager was removed from a cinema for jiving in the aisle (Rock Around The Clock had just come out) - not sure I should let you all know that.

Now for my seven nominations (must remember to let them know). All are very talented and I really enjoy their blogs - hope you do too.

Effie

Hilda

Leandra

Liz

Paul

Sam

Sid

Now so I don't feel I have not uploaded anything here is another card for the diecut demonstration.

Another Tag

The Challenge this week on Lots to Do, as I mentioned in an earlier post, is to make a tag. This is mine. I was using one of the Impressabilities from Spellbinders and thought it would be nice to do it on core card and then sand it off. This has provided the background for my tag.

All the images are from a Non Sequitur plate and the archway was stamped on a piece of cardstock which already had the crackle stamped on it. The coin in the bottom corner has been painted with Pewter Twinkling H2o's although it does not show up in the scan. I tried it originally with silver embossing powder on silver cardstock but it came out too thick and didn't look as I wanted it to.

I aged the script with Antique Linen after stamping it in black.

The statue was stamped in grey and mounted with foam dots as were the scrabble letters spelling out the word 'Greece' or 'Hellas' as I thought it more fitting.

Another two for the Demonstration

Another two I did yesterday ready for my demonstration for Oyster Stamps. This pixie one is using the same die, once with the stamped image and another one as a frame behind it. Then I punched some holes down the side and threaded ribbon through the eyelets. Just another idea for the punters.

This one uses an image I had of a photostamp. I also used one of the Impressabilities as a background, placing it over my cardstock and sponging through. As you can see, this time I used one of the Labels and then cut a hole in it with a Nestability Oval - decided to do a bit of "mix and match" with the dies.

When I find my little pearls I will put three of them on the band at the bottom but although I searched and searched I could not find them yesterday. Ah well!

Chloe

It is my friend's daughter's second birthday next month and I have been busy making her a birthday card. Last year I did a wall hanging with cd's and this year she has an accordion style book made with the Nestabilities I have been playing with in readiness for my demonstration for Oyster Stamps. Tracy kindly gave me some to play with and I sneaked this card in for Chloe.

I have used the elf/gnome(?) stamps again but this time used all of them as I wanted enough pages to be able to spell out the word "birthday" (at the bottom of each page is a diecut letter). (At the top diecut letters spell out "happy".)

I originally thought I could put lots of embellishments on but then realised that tiny hands can pull things off and tiny things can go in tiny mouths. Not a good idea!

So I had to diecut and punch out some tiny shapes and stick them on (firmly I hope).

The front of the card has "Chloe" and the number "2" in diecut letters and numbers on. Each page is backed with a teal coloured cardstock shape and there is a striped satin ribbon connecting each page.

Am sure she will like it - know her mum will!

RSS Challenge

This week the challenge over on RSS is to use Green (my cardstock), Butterflies (I painted mine with Twinkling H2o's), Flowers (my background ones are from a Non Sequitur plate and my rose is unknown), PVA Resist Technique (my rose was painted using PVA and Stewart Gill True Colours which I mixed to get the orange shades), Buttons (found these tiny orangey ones in my stash) and, finally, Lace (I aged my lace with Antique Linen Distress Ink).

I got the "Post Card" stamp last weekend (Crafty Individuals) so that came in handy for this challenge and the writing I have had for ages - again unmounted and I do not know who it is by.

The lady is being used again because I just love her and her dress is a very pale lilac and her face is painted with Natural Linen (Twinkling H20's). The postcard which I made up from the two stamps is aged with Antique Linen and then I have torn it and turned some torn bits down so it looks kind of crumpled. You will notice I have used one of the Nestabilities again to frame her face - quite like these.

I hope this is in time for the challenge.