Totally Tilda Easter Egg Special Challenge

First let me tell you that my lovely mum enjoyed her special day yesterday and they made such a fuss of her at Fir Tree, even putting a birthday candle in her hotpot crust! She was tickled pink!

She's mugging for the camera here and she sat directly in front of the woodstove's chimney!

I was taken by surprise by the early call from the Totally Tilda Easter Egg Special Challenge but this is my entry and I have managed to include a sentiment by the talented Lynne Salmon. A link to Lynne's site is in my sidebar.

Tilda is colored with Promarkers and matted onto a flower embossed card which you cannot make out very well on this pic. I tried to distress the ribbon so it would crinkle more - I can do it to my own clothes no bother - but didn't get the effect I was aiming for, so will have to keep practising. The top sentiment is Lynne's and the bottom one is mine because the brief was the inclusion of an egg. Obviously mine had hatched, lol, and Tilda is carrying the results, so I had to add more.

Off to get a passport for New York, cheerio for now,

Slider Cards

Birdie Slider card, closed.



Birdie Slider Card, open




Hedgie Slider card, closed




Hedgie Slider, open



Just a couple of shares today as I was trying out a new technique, slider cards, which I followed from a video on Docrafts, < click to be taken to the vid. My love of anything new, to me at least, is well documented, so I had to have a go.  I get a bit daft with new folds etc and these are so effectively surprising, I made two just using bits and bobs to decorate. To be truthful, the first try was so-so (the sliding mechanism) which prompted me to try a second time. For the Birdie slider I used a set of Kars Clear Stamps to decorate and with the Hedgie slider, I used the Country Companions Clear Stamp set I won in a challenge. Coloured up with Promarkers!

It's my ma's 79th birthday today and we are going out, even Mr H, to celebrate, so will have to start now getting the slap on, if I am to look gorgeous, in time for lunch. Cheerio for now,

Kimono card, copied From Kevin (A 'Sun' Headline if ever I saw one!)

Good morning from a very gusty Merseyside. The sun is shining tho' and all looks well for a bit of shopping later on........

I have a card to share which I made for no other reason than I saw an example on Kevin's blog, click here to travel to McCrafty's blog and look at his gatefold card with insert. I have called mine a Kimono card because I covered it in paper from Dovecrafts Oriental range and used the coordinating stamps. When closed the card screamed 'kimono' and so I just had to give it a ribbon 'obi' with a beautiful coral headed pin from the Ribbon Girl. Of course the Obi would be at the back of a Kimono but I have allowed myself some poetic license.

I wish I could organise layouts on this blog but I am at the mercy of my appalling lack of comprehension regarding technology. Rubbish in, rubbish out - I know it's my fault but the harder I try, the worse it gets. The stamped images were coloured up with watercolour pencils & pens & some other markers but I feel the results are not as satisfactory as I wanted. I just feel that I rely on my Promarkers and should really try to extend my skills with other colouring mediums. I fancy trying distress inks but it may be costly and I'll have to save up.

Sorry for the abrupt departure yesterday but Morag's internet went down so she rushed here to use our wireless connection with her laptop as she has a heavy working week this week and wanted to get her cyber business sorted as she may not get the chance till next week. Our wireless connection splits the signal between users and sometimes the signal strength is weak with just me & Mr H using it and we lose connection so I shut down so that she could get onto the net and get finished before shooting off  to Mums for lunch and then to work!

Why I felt I had to explain, you can lay at the door of  'Miss Manners'! Cheerio for now,

Docrafts Challenges.

Spent yesterday afternoon stamping and masking with post-its and getting generally filthy but as I said to Bernadette, it's a good excuse for being mucky. I am generally a clumsy type; body trying to catch up with brain, brain full of cunning plans - you get the picture. I am always dishevelled but stamping makes me grubby but legitimately so. I also found that standing up to stamp gives a much better result - my back doesn't like standing still so I was up and down like a yo-yo and now my knees are pointing out just how much they don't like that sort of treatment!

I haven't made anything yet from the panels I stamped so will share two cards I made earlier for challenges on Docrafts.

This is an idea for Clares Inspiration Challenge. She asked us to take inspiration from a photograph of a station with its ironwork etc. I was in two minds about entering but when I saw this set of Kars Clearstamps in Crafts 4 U 2 Do, an idea came to me. When I was small my Mum used to take us regularly to Dunfermline to visit my Auntie Margaret. We used to go either from Waverley Station or the Haymarket. What struck me was that there were birds high up under the iron rafters and glass roofs. Birds, indoors it seemed to me, in a giant cage.

I used the stamps to heat emboss the bird and birdhouse in black and white on the opposite colour of card. I made a card blank from black card and then randomly stamped the caged bird in black ink over a slghtly smaller square of white card stock. The greeting was handmade with a black ribbon cut from the inside of one of my jumpers. (the two bits that hold the garment onto a hanger more securely) I added some decoration to the inside 'cos you can't write succesfully on black card.

This is for the Digi Challenge on Docrafts using an image and sentiment from Making Our Mark. We had a limited amount of items we could use and this is my effort!

My sister has arrived and wants to use the Internet so I will say cheerio for now,

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