Happy Birthday Mary

Today it is the Birthday of a lady who is very special to the hearts of lots of us on Katy's Corner - aunty Mary, or Smart Mary as she is known universally.

I had to make a card before I left for my short trip to Germany and so I decided to make her some "inchies" and use them on a card.

The card I used was a prefolded one with four apertures, just perfect for the inchies so I set too and made five of them.  Everyone makes an extra one for errors don't they?  No, that was not the reason, I could not decide which faces to use from the ones on the Crafty Individuals set I had but I knew I was not using the young girls ones.

First of all I coloured some mountboard with Broken China, Rusty Hinge and a touch of Bundled Sage.  Then I stamped the images with black Archival Ink and cut them out.  Tough mountboard!  Took a while.  Then I went around the edges with Rusty Hinge to finish them off, mounted them on a scalloped square (Spellbinders of course) and that was that.  The extra one got placed in the bottom corner and so I made another one and stamped the birthday greeting on it.

Happy Birthday Mary - an atc is on its way, didn't forget, just ran out of time.

A Bit of Naughty

I had to do two cards for two friends and, so unlike me, I did them both the same.

Here's one of them

And here it is viewed slightly from the side so you can see the effect of the screen.  The extra "leg" is a reflection from the acetate.

I thought it rather a clever idea to make the screen from acetate and then have it curved around the figure.  Here is how I did it:  (saves you thinking)

First of all I stamped, in Stazon, the screen (Non Sequitur) on a piece of acetate.  You have to be so careful with this as the stamp can slip and also the ink can lift off in places.  Left it to dry naturally overnight.

Then I cut the screen out but left two tabs, one at either side (hope you can see these).

Next I stamped my lady (Non Sequitur again), coloured her skin tone in and her shoes and stamped an Art Nouveau image (from Tanda) down the side.

Next I marked up on my lady image where the tabs would be - you need to curve the screen whilst you do so (as in my second picture)  - and mark top and bottom of each tab width.

Then you cut between your lines to allow the tabs to sit in later.

It is now ready to assemble.  Entirely up to you what kind of card you make this into but as you can see I made mine into an easel card which I think is probably an easy one to do, particularly with the next stage - sticking it down.

Push one tab in and crease well on the back side so that it lies nice and flat.  You could use a bit of sticky tape to hold it down but I didn't bother.

Next tape the left hand side and across the bottom - it will hold well in place without any other sticking.  This will allow the recipient room enough to handle the card and push in the tab on the right hand side when they display it.

There all done!  An easy card but a tiny bit different.  You could, of course, colour in the screen but I chose to leave mine as it was to display the lady more.

Here is the other one, just a different piece at the base (both bases are Tanda).

Am sure both ladies will cope with sticking the tabs in - I did put a note on the back of each card.  Hope so anyway.

One of them was Diane who had a birthday on Wednesday and the other Ann who has a Special Birthday today - so Happy Birthday to both of you!

Winter? Of Course It Is.

Thank goodness I still had my Christmas stamps out and could manage to do something to fit in with this theme of Zoe's.

What does "winter" conjure up for you?  "Chestnuts roasting on an Open Fire, Jack Frost Nipping at Your Nose".   Are you all singing along?  Cold, crisp mornings, pretty frosty patterns on leaves and plants, bare trees prettying up the landscape, warm fires and hot drinks.

In my case, as I am in Munich at the moment, (oh so clever being able to blog from there without my laptop - just kidding this is a scheduled post) I need to add Gluhwein, hot steaming cups "mitt Rhum".  Oh what a different woman I become when out of my own country, knocking back those steaming alcoholic drinks.  I can vouch I will be having two or three of these per day, along with Reibekuchen, Bratwursts and anything else that takes my fancy.  But is Munich ready for me and my new boots and my stripey socks?

Trendy or Wot?  (one son thinks NOT)

But I digress as I sit dreaming of my few days away visiting the Christmas Markets in Germany the weekend before I go.  But to the task in hand.

I did not want not make another Christmas Card and so I thought of bare trees as a landscape but to be honest I did not want to even make another card.  So I turned to my dies and a current favourite - Spellbinders Poinsettia.  Isn't it a gorgeous die?  At the moment that and the Anemone are my two favourites. Had a little bit of paper left over from when I was dem'ing at Leigh for Oyster Stamps (hi Graham and Tracy) which is absolutely gorgeous.  Wish I had had the forethought to buy some.  It is like a parchment type paper, in a sort of smoky blue but one side has this almost greeny yellow iridescence about it.  It's fab - pity it won't show up here in the photo.  Wonder if they still have it at the shop?

Anyway, I cut the poinsettia out and then took a tin from my cupboard, painted it with Snowflake Fresco paint to give it a light base and then put Ice Blue over the top.  When it was dry I dabbed Sky Fresco over it with a piece of crumpled up Cling Film.  It was finished off with Ultramarine Stazon snowflakes.

The Poinsettia was stuck to a circle of silver mirror card and placed in the centre to cover up the clear middle that said "National Trust".  All I have to do now is make something to go inside it and I have a gift for someone.

This photo does not do the die justice.

Rightio - now to see what Zoe has said in her intro to this month's themes on JFF - hope to see lots of entries.

WOYWW 130

It's that time of the week when zillions of people (well maybe not so many but 'a lot') speed around the internet to see what everyone is up to and what they have been doing.  This is mainly by viewing desks ranging from the neatest of neat to the untidiest of untidy ones.

Where do they do it you ask?

Why via What's On Your Work Desk courtesy of the leader of the pack - Ms Julia Dunnit.

Follow this link and have a real good time - only grab a cuppa before you do - and a biscuit or two.

Well, this week my desk is ?

Oops, it is missing.  No, not having work done, not moving house, not a big renovation of my room (I wish) just a missing person - ME!

I have no desk to show you because I am not there.  I am freezing my nose off in Munich.  Enjoying the occasional glass of Gluhwein, or two, or three (well, it is cold), the Reibukuchen, the Bratwursts, the Rote Wursts, Stollen and Lebkuchen.  Weight Watchers here I come!

Anyway, to satisfy all you crafters out there who have made such an effort to come and see me (I will visit you, honest, just have to wait until I am back on Thursday) here are a couple of silly cards I have made for Christmas.  Hope they amuse you.

A favourite stamp by (can't remember - those people who did them on magnetic paper) and a PaperArtsy background one.  Words are computer generated.  I've made this card time and time again, year after year and I still like doing it.

This is a square card with a tiny fold over at the left hand side and is ideal for the man in your life.  Trouble is my man has had this one so who am I going to send this to this time?

ps Gotta fess up this is a scheduled post and that is a photo of me at another Christmas Market.  Watch this space though - there'll be a report soon.

Father Christmas

Thought I would share a couple of my cards that have pictures of Father Christmas on them.  You can see I got carried away with doing lots of them in a similar vein:

Just a bit of ribbon, and Spellbinders of course

Same stamp, same ribbon and some doily

(thanks to Shoshi)

Different Santa, different ribbon but more doily

Now you are all probably all going to think I am crackers but the other day I picked my soap box up to wash it and I thought the bits left in the bottom looked like someone.  What do you think?

Didn't know whether to leave this on or not as the photo doesn't show it up quite the same, think the flash has caught it too much, but it did look like Father Christmas - honestly.  If you stare intently can you see him?

Changing Times and Making New Friends

I felt rather sad the other week when a letter popped through my door to tell me that my Personal Banking Manager was taking early retirement.  Linda has always been really easy to talk to and we have chatted about my crafting on more than one occasion - the last being only a few weeks ago in a review when she said what a pity it was she did not live closer to enable her to attend Victoria Stampers.

Well, it hit me like a ton of bricks how much I am going to miss her, isn't it funny how we make friends with people we never meet and have the feeling that we are close.  It happens here in Blogland, you come across someone, leave a message, they leave one back, you leave another and so it goes on.  So many friendships are forged this way and some actually become reality with people meeting up with one another.

Anyway, I digress.  Because we have chatted about crafting and because I felt Linda's retirement needed something, like a card from me, I set to and this is the card I sent to her

Again I used that beautiful face although I don't think I have quite caught it here in this photo - she looks a bit spooky with empty eyes.  Well, I was pleased with the card and hope Linda was too.  Happy retirement Linda and I hope you get chance to do lots of crafting and other things for many many years to come.

ps Had to delay posting this because of my "Shape" cards for JFF - you can see it was made around the same time.

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