Artful Times Layers it Up ...

... this time with Acetate.  It's Sam's choice and I think I was in the mood for doing weird things the day that I made this card.  I had recently bought myself some Octopode stamps, had an idea what I wanted to do with my acetate layer and set off using a totally different stamp to this (in my head) but as soon as I got in the box I chose this one.

I started by using my Pan Pastels in a very light shade, then I stamped a PaperArtsy stamp in the corners with Versamark and went over with a darker shade of green.  Then I stamped the main image with my Black Archival Ink and also the words (don't know who they are by).

Then I prepared my bigger background - again PP's but in darker greens - some background stamps with Versamark again and then darker greens and some brown over the top.  A quick run through my Grand Calibur with a cogs and wheels embossing folder on the thick acetate and it was ready to be put together.

I assembled it with eyelets in each corner and then realised it also needed some down the side.  Two jump rings attached some chain to the card and the whole was mounted on to a base.  There's Steampunk Flo ready to go off to find her 'cap'.

Hope you get as much fun out of thinking what to do when you use 'Acetate as a Layer' for this challenge of Sams.  See you at Artful Times, and thanks for the super entries we have had for our other challenges to date, I was surprised to see so many Mona entries - and gorgeous they were too.  We love looking at what you do.

Cambridge

As I said yesterday, last week we were in Cambridge celebrating Chas's birthday and I have only just decided to blog a little about it. The reasoning behind this was that most of you will have seen whatever we saw in the city and as the weather was not that good we didn't really get a good set of photographs with our little point and shoot camera.

There was only one thing I wanted to see and that was the Corpus clock.  I stood and patiently took photographs but my camera and a glass fronted case do not work so you would be better to Google it if you don't know what I am on about.

The place Chas wanted to see was King's College Chapel and we spent simply ages in there.  Spectacular!

Anyway, to begin with we stayed just outside Cambridge (overnight parking is always a priority with me) at Leverton House.  An excellent B&B, very tastefully furnished and with a lovely full English breakfast perfectly cooked.  After we had dumped the car we caught the bus into Cambridge and walked down to the river.  No punting for me - not when I saw how difficult it was to get out of one on landing back!

Birthday Boy by the river

and now for something to eat??

Oh dear, we should have realised when we saw the Paramedics parked outside, something was amiss, one of the chefs had had a suspected stroke!  Not to be deterred (and because I was pooped) we waited 20 minutes for our food and were delighted with what we got.

Next day, birthday morning, we caught the bus, got tickets for the Hop on Hop off bus and went to the Fitzwilliam Museum to see the sculptures in the gardens.  These were amongst my favourites

There was an exhibition of Chinese burial culture going on inside (Search for Immortality - Tomb Treasures of Han China) but we were not allowed to take photographs.  It was most interesting to see what the Chinese Community had made available for us all to see.  Just as we were about to leave the heavens opened and so we made quick use of the gift shop and the cafe.

Once it abated we waited for the next Hop on Hop off bus and were so disappointed - the audio system was not working on the right hand side, the left was full and there was a 'ginormous' cobweb 

on the other side of the bus.  After a journey into the countryside (at break neck speed), a stop at a garden centre and the American Cemetery we made our way back to civilisation and walked down this street on our way to Kings.

What can one say about Kings?  It will certainly be viewed differently when we watch the 'Carols at Kings' this Christmas.

The magnificent ceiling

The screen with Henry's and Anne Boleyn's initials carved into it

 Elaborately carved choir stalls

The East Window

By the time we came out the day had changed and the sun was out, everything was nice and dry.  Chas took off and took some photographs outside.

Now it was time to think about having something to eat so a quick look in a bookshop and then it was off to the pub Chas had decided he wanted to eat at - they did not do food on a Tuesday!!  So it was back to the Baron of Beef where we had eaten the night before and two delicious steaks - quite the best he had tasted declared Chas.  A taxi back to the B&B (last bus is 6.50 p.m.!!!) and a flop on the bed with the tv on (had to catch up with the Olympics).

Next morning we left Cambridge, calling at Ely on the way home.  Had a wonderful time in the Cathedral, the best Guide possible (Alan) and a delightful sandwich at the Coffee Speed on the High Street.  I won't go into details about the cathedral as we have another visit planned in a few months time.  More about that later.

At the moment I am not built for city breaks so to be honest it was not much of a trip for me but Chas got to see something he had always wanted to see - and on his birthday - that and a lovely steak is all a man can ask for.

WOYWW 167

OK, so now the cat is out of the bag so to speak.  We were not at home last week. It was Chas's birthday so we were in Cambridge.

Mojo still not fully returned to the fold but I did manage to colour a couple more of those Mike Powell images although to be honest I have seen what Buttons did with one and these pale into insignificance BIG STYLE!  Well worth checking out what she did - but not until you have seen mine so they don't be as big a disappointment.

Both coloured in with watercolour crayons

Such quirky pictures!

It was a good job I had these images just waiting to be coloured in as Chas painted the opening for the loft ladder (new) which is in my stamping room and I am having real problems with my breathing.  Can't go in there despite window being opened, an onion sitting there (phew what a pong) and now a fan on.   I don't seem any better for having had the pacemaker fitted, just hope the next procedure clinches it.  So for all you WOYWW'ers this is my desk today - the dining room table.

You've heard of "duelling pianos" in some bars - well ours are duelling lap tops as you can see - and my cuppa has been drunk so I need to get another one made.  See the pad underneath my box?  Eighteen sheets of 230 gsm watercolour paper in a pad (almost A4 size) for £1.99 from The Works.  Need to get my Pan Pastels out.

That's it for now folks so I will leave you with these images but please do not forget to visit Buttons and Julia to see more desks.  Ta Ta for now!

Happy Birthday to a Special Little Girl

Last week I made a special birthday card for a lovely little girl whose Nanna is a special friend of mine.  I know some of you will know the story behind Nanna Jo's grandee who lives 'over the water' and the trauma she has had in her little life.  Well today she is a lovely, happy, smiling, intelligent little girl and you would not believe she has suffered with anything when you look at her.  Thank you God - and thank you the doctors and staff at the hospital that she had to attend so much.

Thankfully she is bi-lingual and I did not have to write in anything but English on her birthday card and this is what I made for her (don't you just hate it when the ribbon on tags makes you have that extra bit on your scan)

As you can see the theme around it was Gnomes!  I covered a piece of red cardstock with bright stripey paper in greens and pinks and oranges and added a turquoise and a lime paper as contrast.  On the right is a pocket which contains some tags for her to pull out.  Each one has a different brightly coloured ribbon on and a Gnome doing a different activity in the garden.

The first two - the foreman and the digger (all images were coloured with my Neocolours)

I scanned these in the wrong order didn't I?  Doh!  The final ones (from the right) - the sower, the waterer and the tidier upper.

Inside on the insert I wrote some questions for her and her mummy to answer - well for her to answer but for mummy to read out to her. Here are one or two of them:

What colour is the tunic of the Gnome who is digging?

How many watering cans are there?

What is the colour of the tunic of the Gnome with the watering can?                                                      

How many seeds have fallen out of the bag?                                         

How many Gnomes have green Wellington boots on?

What is the colour of the tunic of the Gnome who is not working?

What colour of an apron is the Gnome wearing who is sweeping up?

I hope she will use this card as a learning tool to help her with numbers and colours.  The idea was purely my own, I have not seen it anywhere so please, if you copy it would you give me some acknowledgement?

Happy Birthday Little One - I hope you have many many more birthdays as happy as today.

And Still the Birthdays Come

Today it is Von's birthday and so to help her celebrate I made her a birthday card.  As Von has bought some Pan Pastels and is struggling a bit with using them I have made her card using PP's.

The tag is a Manilla one and the background is done in a mixture of Spray Inks and PP's.  For the background  card I used a semi-shiny cardstock (just to try a different one) and stamped a large background stamp in Versamark first of all tearing a large hole in a sheet of scrap paper and stamping through it so the edges became irregular (didn't fancy a rigid rectangle).  Then I went over it in Yellow first and then Orange PP's and finally finished it off with a quick spray of Fixatif (yes, it is spelled that way on the can).

I just thought this would be another two surfaces that Von could see work quite well with the Pastels.

Happy Birthday Von!

WOYWW 166

Right, this is scheduled but it is a true picture of my desk this Wednesday morning.  Had so much to do before we went away for a couple of days (we are in Cambridge, or more precisely, on our way home now) that the desk just had the door closed on it.  Who wants to go rummaging in there?

Mr Mojo had to come back, even in 'forced form' as there were cards to do that I could not miss.  Must admit that I was tempted to dig out an old one from the past for Chas as I am sure he would not remember.  Trivia like that does not remain in his memory, ask him who starred in what, who sang what and what year or something intellectual and he will come up with the answer straight away.

Anyway, all you WOYWW'ers out there - this is one of my quickest post ever and if you want to see the cards I made you will have to check the 7th, 11th and 13th of this month.  Wonder if I get a gold star for my short post from Ms Julia.

It's Someones Birthday

And that someone is a special guy who has been running the household over the past three weeks whilst I have been incapacitated.  I could get used to being looked after like this but guess it is not fair so I've decided to accept that "all good things come to an end" but Thank You Chas, you are a star!

Today is his special day, his birthday.  So Mr Mojo had to return in some shape or form.  What do you buy a man who has everything he wants, has only maths (yes maths), football and messing about on his computer as hobbies/interests?  So hard when our Andy rings up and says "Mum what can I get him for his birthday?" I don't even know myself.  So today his gift from me is coming in the shape of a day out.  Starting with breakfast, going onto lunch, then aperitifs and a meal in the evening as well as sightseeing.  Taxis all the way so he does not have to do any driving - indulgence for one day.  I'll probably blog about it some time soon.

In the meantime here is the card I made for him:

Just black and white - embossed in black on a white card - the squares are mounted on black mountboard to give them a bit more definition and are by Crafty Individuals.  The larger image is, again, embossed in black and is a Stampers Anonymous mounted stamp that I wanted for ages and have hardly used until now.

Right, things to do, places to go and money to spend.  There's a full English on order!

Toodle Ooo!