Totally Tilda Challenge #15 and Do It with Digis Challenge #3

My new cooker is safely installed in the kitchen; who knew there was an ancient packet of Pickled Onion Monster Munch behind the old one and one of my old Yorkshire pudding tins? Trouble is, I do not want to destroy it's pristine loveliness and actually cook something!

Luckily Mum and I had a lovely lunch at Fir Tree yesterday afternoon; home reared rib-eye steak with garlic butter for me and beer-battered hake with minted pea mash for Mum and tasty desserts and drinks. No need for tea for me and Mr H popped his tea in the microwave, his idea, not mine, so the cooker remains clean, for now!

Wedding plans are advancing on both fronts and Sian and Dan are to get married in New York in May this year so it's full steam ahead and very exciting! Morgan and Mark have a date and the church and venue provisionally booked for 31 August 2012 so there's preparations on the go! I am so happy for them and at the same time a wee bit sad as marriage seems the final seal on their independence from us! It's so stupid because you never lose their love but it has stirred up a lot of nostalgia as it only applies to parents; images of their childhoods.

Before I dissolve into the past I'll share this card. I have combined Magnolia Tilda with a super digi stamp of a heart shaped frame of birds and flowers by the Creative Mind of Sylvie. The sentiment is a digi stamp from Renate.

To match the bluebirds on the frame, I coloured Tilda in blue and used a blue backing paper which was a magazine freebie. I embossed the red paper with a folder from the Papermania Country Companions range which was full of hearts. Tilda has an armful of heart-shaped gems from the same range. Both the ribbon and the bow have heart motifs and for good measure I added a heart charm to the flower headed pin. I was tempted to use a heart topped pin but thought this might be a bit OTT, lol. I used my Promarkers to colour up.
Promarkers used: Satin, Almond, Blush, Ginger, Spice, Sky, Azure, Pastel, Powder and Royal Blues, Rose and Antique Pinks and Tulip

I am entering two challenges with this card: (click on the links to have a looksee!)

Totally Tilda -  Challenge #15 Lots of Hearts (at least 3 heart elements)
Do It With Digis  -  Challenge #3 Valentine

I am going to try some stamping today with the lovely gift I got from winning the Creativity Club Challenge at Docrafts. The stamps are from the new Country Companions range of clear stamps and I am going to try some masking! I also got the hearts embossing folder and the self - adhesive hearts and a Papermania sentiments embossing folder which was largesse indeed. I am also looking forward to having a lovely chat with Bernadette this afternoon!

Hope your Saturday is as fine as mine promises to be, snuggled indoors out of this horrid wind, doing things that give you pleasure! Cheerio for now,

Stymied!

I have been rather stymied making cards the last couple of days because our printer needed ink and as I love my digi stamps, I could make no progress. The ink came yesterday but everything I printed off just did not work for me. Every plan I had drafted didn't look right in real life. Luckily the postie came with some goodies from La Pashe.

I had great fun just building the Cherry Blossoms which I have used to make a Mothers Day card as part of the challenge I am hosting on Docrafts. The layout is from a sketch by Katy Godbeer, one of the designers at Docrafts which is available to Club members. Apart from the Build-a-Blossom flowers from La Pashe, I used a square card blank I made myself, Core-dinations cardstock and some freebie papers and some peel-offs and domed stickers from my stash. I am definately going to try making more flowers - they look terrific and are so relaxing to make.

This is my card for the Tilda Challenge on Docrafts hosted by Carol. This was one of the cards I had planned out using a digi stamp of a wooden door and step, to which I had added pots of plants to fulfill the challenge brief of a gardening theme. In the end it just did not look right, even coloured up.

 I don't have a Tilda doing gardening so I used Strawberry Tilda and avoided red! Well, she's carrying a watering can..... I could have chosen a cooking or baking theme but I had already done that theme in my challenge (see earlier post). Carol's instructions were to use two backing papers and to use a die cut, hand cut or punched shape or border and no ribbon, lace or bows.

I am still rubbish at using my Debbie Moore punches but 'managed' a large oval on the Honour punch on freebie floral paper. I used a hand cut scalloped circle digi from Sweet Stamping Treats and a digi of a rose from Torico instead of the wooden door and popped a paper flower onto Tilda's blossom. The sentiment is computer generated and the card candy was mounted with silicon glue which took ages to set and so the candy got poked and prodded and moved when I was photographing! Promarkers were used to colour everything -shades of pink and green as well as Ivory, Almond and Blush.

With any luck my new cooker should be fitted today. I'm not going to cook on it; just stare at it for a bit while it's still pristine and I don't have to clean it all the time after Mr H has boiled water or burned toast! Which reminds me that I haven't had breakfast yet, so cheerio as I'm off to make toast for the final time on my eye-level grill,

Vix's Hero Challenge.

It seems ages since my last blog on Friday and I have not had much time since to write a blog but that's because Morgan and her fiance Mark were up  doing some wedding planning and we now have a provisional date of 31 August 2012 for their big day. Morgan is now going up a gear in overall excitement!

And I have just had a phone call from Sian; she and Dan have decided to get married in New York, this year! No date yet as they are waiting for the brochure to decide where in the Big Apple they will tie the knot. I am brimming over with emotion and excitement for them both - those two wee scamps suddenly old enough to get married - oops, there's been some spillage from the eye department, lol.

This is the card I made for Vix's Hero Challenge on Docrafts. The digi stamp is from Mo Manning and is called 'Prince Edward Island'. She is, of course, the irrepressible Anne Shirley from the Anne of Green Gables books. This character, along with Josephine March from 'Little Women' is/was one of my heroines. Anne was described as being plain with red hair and freckles which is an accurate description of the young hazeyj and she had a temper, which remarkably, I still retain. (Hair is now dyed, from grey, still have the freckles and the plain tho'!) If I tell you Anne also was a person with good intentions that never went according to plan well, me to a tee, eh? The sentiment is from Rainbow Echo Designs at Sentimental Sundays and was such a must to put with this stamp. The cardstock is orange core-dinations and Lasting Impressions and I made the flowers and butterflies out of scraps and gems. The 'vines' were heat embossed in white.

I had some success with the new baby cards which I made for the Creativity Club challenge on Docrafts; I won the random draw and I am now hosting the new challenge. I have entered a few more challenges but have to wait for ink for the printer before I can print off my digi stamps - my progress has stalled  for now. It maybe a few days before I can share new cards.

On that note I will say cheerio for now

Hubris and why you should avoid it.

It's a late post and not much to see, except an entry for a challenge which I pulled but I have to vent, at myself. Why did I have to say that everything was rosy in the last post - hubris, and I should be more careful!

 First of all the car Mr H decided upon was sold by the time he contacted the garage to accept their offer and then my cooker was finally delivered only to be snatched back again. I kid you not - four weeks after it was supposed to be here, they knocked on my door this morning at 7.30. Since I had been assured that I would receive a courtesy call from the driver, half an hour before the delivery, I thought I was safe. (no such call was undertaken!). I was in the bathroom just deciding to take my shower & had to re-dress  rather hastily - Mr H was still asleep. I showed them into the kitchen, looking like naebody's bairn in my bare feet, and the lead man just shook his head and said "Sorry, love, we can't fit it, against regs".  Apparently my fitted kitchen with wall cupboards only 2" away from my cooker with its eye-level grill prevent me from having a replacement  cooker of the same type - there needs to be a 6" gap now. I either dismantled the kitchen or had to forgo the cooker - yeh, right.

 I felt like screaming but I didn't.  I bid them farewell, had breakfast etc and took their docket and with Mr H in tow, went to Curry's to get a replacement cooker with a grill in the middle. Went through the obligatory palaver and went to look at the more suitable cookers and spotted that one which we had originally ordered had been reduced by £80. No -one had even hinted at this in my numerous conversations with Currys - oh yes, it was all about  making a saving before the VAT rise - no blooming mention of a swingeing reduction in price in the New Year. I  chose a cooker with as good grace as I could muster (not much!) and was told it would be delivered next Thursday - I just burst out laughing and had to exit the shop and leave Mr H to seal the deal before I became manic.

Still, we had a lovely meal at Fir Tree Farm, my mum and me, and the sun has been shining all day. This always means that the Seasons Cafe is buzzing with customers but we were able to get a table and excellent food. Part of the experience, for my mum particulary, is to get some treats for the weekend and it's always nice when new stock has been delivered. They had some venison in the shop and on the menu but I chickened out and bought sausages instead - just fancy Toad-in-the-Hole with onion gravy!

Mr H is also very suspicious of anything new I try to introduce - you should have seen his face when I brought home ostrich meat from the Farmers Market - if they can't grow it or raise it in Yorkshire he doesn't want to know. Try as I might, he would not be persuaded that the ostrich was farmed locally. In his mind the meat had come from the African savannah and he was having none- and he was unanimous! I have to admit I found it very strong and gamey but not awful., there was just too much for one person!

This is a card which I ended up not submitting for the weekly challenge on Docrafts. I desperately wanted to use the Kokeshi digis I got from Sylviestamps and stitchystamps to complete the sketch which was this weeks brief.. However I just could not get on with this card once I had finished; it's too busy and the papers just don't do it. I had to reduce the size of the digis and found colouring and shading difficult. I spent a lot of time on it too but at least I have learned that you don't always have to get it right and can just try again.

Ranting and then philosophy, where will it end? Well, now, really because tea is  nearly ready. I'll say cheerio then, Hazel x

A bit early for Mothers day!

There are several things I have to be thankful for; just to name two; my cooker is coming tomorrow and my husband had decided on a car, amongst many others! No more irate phone calls to Curry's and no more jaunts to garages. Joy be unconfined!


I love digital stamps and when Glamourie posted a free set of Pamper stamps, I had to download them and make a card. It had to be for my mum but my dilemma was that I have already made her three birthday cards for her birthday on Feb 8. Well, it's nice to be prepared and have a choice! So I made her a mothers day card which is a bit early, I grant you.

I had left over images so I decorated inside the card as well.

I didn't make notes about what materials I used to make the card as it is not being entered into any challenges but I would like to thank Glamourie for her lovely stamps and encourage people to have a look (click on her name). I have been experimenting with making round sentiments on the computer and it has been a tad hit-and-miss but I think the two I used here are in the hit category.

Brenda from Floral Fantasies is giving away yet another load of stonking blog candy so for your chance to win click on the link, above or on my sidebar.  Even if you don't win, Brenda makes beautiful cards and there is always inspiration to be had there.

That's all I have for today, cheerio, Hazel x

Love Blog

Hi
 I just have to tell you that I've been tagged with the Liebster or Love blog by Elisabeth of  the Silverscrappers Blog. Elisabeth is one of the crafters whose work inspires me so I feel very honoured.

Many thanks Elisabeth!

 There are a couple of conditions for the award – explanation and instructions follow:


You have been TAGGED and want to participate? Then create a post where you post the 'LOVE BLOG' image.

You should also blog the person’s link that gave you the award and inform her/him that you accept the award.

You can then choose 3 - 5 favourite blogs which you also link in your post, then each blogger will inform you that they have been tagged.

Dear bloggers:

The aim of this action is that we bring unknown, good blogs to light, so I would ask you not to blog fellow bloggers that already have 3,000 followers. As always, the hardest part is to pick who to pass this on to, there are so many bloggers I could give it to, so . . .

Alice

Kevin

Ginny

Lisa

Susan

You have been awarded the

I'd like to have chosen lots more but the rules say five max. I only hope I've done the linking correctly.

Cheerio for now

Just Magnolia #90 and Get Sketchy #71

It's not that I'm nuts for challenges it's just that I keep finding challenges which appeal to me! Maybe I'll slow down! In a bit!

This card is for entry into the Just Magnolia and hAnglar & sTanglar challenge #90

Gingerbread Tilda teamed with a Lynne Salmon sentiment  following a sketch challenge; I made a 15cm square card from  white A4 cardstock and rounded the corners with my new crop-a-dile corner chomper. The yellow matt is from PM lemon sorbet range as are the yellow flowers and the yellow ribbon and the purple circle was cut from PM handmade metallic paper. The lace is from the Ribbon girl and the other items are from my stash. I tried to colour the head of the pin, which was white, with my Tulip Yellow Promarker but it looks a bit green to me.

Promarkers used: Violet, Lavender, Orchid, Amethyst, Mulberry, Cool Grey 1, Orange, Caramel, Shale, Warm Greys 4 &5 , Ivory, Satin and Blush.

This card is to be entered in the Get Sketchy challenge #71 which involved following a sketch and the use of a digital stamp from the Pink Cat Studio, which is the site which introduced me to my love of digis so I just had to enter with Billy on his train. You get 3 sentiments on his flag so he could be used for a birthday, a Christmas or a general occasion card.

I made a 4.5" x 6.5" card from white A4 cardstock and matted it with yellow polka dot paper from Dovecrafts Back to Basic range. Just couldn't resist using my chomper again! The smaller matt  was made from Core-dinations cardstock and yellow basketweave paper from the same Dovecraft set. The brads and buttons are from my stash and the Butchers twine is from the Ribbon Girl and is great for a ribbon substitute for masculine cards. I used a bit of Glossy Accents to give texture to the front of the train, the carriage wheels and Billy's flag. The image is raised from the small matt using silicon glue, as is the worded piece if the flag, but I think I will stick (no pun intended) to 3d foam in future as the glue does not dry quckly and if the card is moved the image can slip - eh Mr H?

Promarkers used: Ivory, Almond, Pastel Pink, Cocoa, Cinnamon, Caramel, Tan, Crimson, Magenta, Gold, Ginger, Lime Green, Pine, Forest Green, Slate, Warm Grey 4, Denim, Powder Blue, Warm Grey 2 & white gel pen

I'd like to sent best wishes for a speedy recovery to Bernadette, who has been very poorly! Get well soon my friend. Also, if you pop over to Mina's blog, here, she is offering candy to celebrate 250,000 hits to her site - 250,000, that's huge but no wonder, her cards are the biz!

Have a smashing Monday if you can, we're off to look at more, but different model, cars, big whoop! Cheerio for now.