On a Journey with Slimming World

So here we are then, my second post in a day and my altered frame is all finished.

It's gone from this £1.99 photo frame from Dunelm Mills

to a celebration of food, fit for a Slimming World Consultant about to leave her job.

I started by giving the frame a coat of White and Green Acrylic paint that was sponged on in layers, then when it was dry I stamped swirls (My Paper World – Grasses & Embellishments) with pale Blue Acrylic and finally gave the whole thing a light going over with a metallic Gold Rub-On

I wasn’t actually planning to use the photo mount but in the end I decided to keep it and coloured it direct to card with a Tumbled Glass Distress ink pad and them stamped the leaves and flowers ( Rubber Stamp Tapestry Clear – Nature Plate 4) in Bundled Sage and Worn Lipstick, finishing with some tiny gems in the centre of each of the flowers.

Next up was the outside decoration.

Two chipboard Flourishes coloured with a Promarker and a polish of Gold Rub-On. Flowers cut using Timmies Tattered Flower die and a Martha Stewart punch for the leaves, all topped off with some sticky backed pearls. The centre of the large flower has one of the rolled flowers from my new Craftworks Cards ‘Elegant’ flowers and paper pad, which I’ve coloured with Tumbled Glass distress ink.  All the flowers were then given a brush of Stickles and a touch of Gold Rub-On.

Then last but not least I printed the ‘On A Journey’ on my computer, cut it using nesties to make a tag and tied it to the flowers in the top corner along with a heart shaped charm.

And there you have it!

But as you can see from this photo, I didn’t stop there because I then made a matching card to go with it.

I’m linking my project to the following challenges :-

The Stamp Man - Alter something

and

The Daring Cardmaker’s - Focus on Flowers

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Crafting!

Sue
x

Daring Cardmaker’s – First Friday Colour Challenge

It’s been a while since I’ve joined in with a The Daring Cardmaker’s dare and this is what they have in store for us this week.

This week we have the very first in our brand new "First Friday" series. Over the last couple of years we've used Birthstones and Flowers for these challenges, and they've both been

interesting and inspiring themes to work with.

For 2012 the First Friday of each month will feature a Colour Combo Challenge

As soon as I saw the colours for this week dare I remembered that I still had some sheets left in my Linen Closet stack from DCWV that would be perfect and I ended up making no less than three cards.

Baby, it’s cold outside!

And getting colder according to the weather forecast.

I shouldn’t complain because my little South East corner of the UK always seems to miss the worst of the bad weather and on the bright side the snow will help me acclimatize ready for a trip to the snow in Breckenridge, Denver. No skiing for me this year due to bad hip and knees but lots of Après-ski and shopping I hope!

Anyway, it’s Wednesday again so that means a photo of my desk today.

As it goes, there’s not much on there because I had a tidy up after finishing a couple of cards last night.


The stuff that’s on there now is all ready for me to make my Christmas tags this afternoon and when they are done I plan to wrap a few pressies.

The card that’s lying on the table is a card for my neighbor Pat from Bo Jangles (my cat) to say Thank You for taking such good care of him and feeding him so many times this year while I was otherwise occupied with family things.

He’s such a clever cat because he also brought her the most beautiful White Orchid in a Snowflake container from M&S!

I’m so lucky to have such a good friend on hand to help out at the drop of a hat and give me one less thing to worry about....I can’t thank her enough.

Here’s Bo Jangles card.


The two cards that I finished off last night were an order from a friend.
Each year she asks me to make her Christmas cards and every year she sets me a challenge with the two cards for her twin Grand Children who are 3 this year.

Last year it was Bob the Builder and a Princess which wasn’t too bad but this year I was stumped when she asked for Christmas cards with Buzz Lightyear and Woody on them........where to start!

Seeing as I’ve been experimenting with different folded cards this year, Easel Cards, Step Cards, and Swing Cards, I decided to have a go at something different again and went for Tri fold cards.




Oh well, that’s it from me this week as I’d best get on if I’m going to get these tags made and my pressies wrapped.

Don’t forget to stop by our leader Julia’s Blog and join in with ‘What’s On You Work Desk Wednesday’, it’s good fun having a good old snoop at other crafters workspaces.

Bye for now and thanks for stopping by.

Sue
x

It’s ‘What’s On Your Work Desk Wednesday’….and the wanderer returns!

It’s not been easy but I thought it was about time I tried to get my act back in gear to some extent and get blogging again. And what better day to choose than a Wednesday, the day we all pop over to Julia’s Blog and have a good old nosy at what every one is working on at the moment.

I’ll come to what’s on my desk in a moment but first I wanted to show you the Order of Service I made for dad’s cremation and the Thank You cards that I made to send out to those who sent flowers and very generously gave donations to St Clare Hospice, where dad spent his last days.

Back in June I was feeling very guilty and upset……..the reason, I didn’t have time to make the usual six Birthday and Father’s Day cards that I have to do for Dad every year. I was forced into going out and buying cards for him, which really went against the grain and I just couldn’t get the feeling of guilt out of my mind.
So despite having to make fifty, that was the reason I wanted to make something very special for Dad’s Order of Service for his cremation.



Dad was very proud of his days in the Army, so it seemed right to have a photo of him, age 20, in his uniform on the front.

I didn’t have to make quite so many Thank You cards, but I still wanted them to be personal and special so I knew exactly what stamp I was going to use, my good old Penny Black Iris….you can never go wrong with that!




Now then, what’s on my work desk today?

It’s some of my Cross Stitching!




When Dad started his treatment at the Hospice back in May I found myself thinking about what I could do to give something back to them because the way they cared for dad was second to none.

Partly inspired by a beautiful quilt that my good friend Nicki sent over from Switzerland for dad when he was first diagnosed, I decided it might be nice to cross stitch a quilt for each of the eight rooms and one for the central seating area, with a cushion to go with each one. Not only that, I needed something to do while sitting with dad for several hours a day and this was perfect.
Dad loved the idea too and gave me some money towards the materials, which was a lovely gesture.


This meant a lot of stitching was ahead of me because I would need nine squares for each of the quilts and one for the cushion, so a total of 90 squares!
After some thought, I decided to go with geometric designs on the quilts.
They would be good for either gender but the quilt for the seating area would be different. That one will have Yellow Gerbera’s all over it because that is the hospice logo.

Nicki kindly agreed to do all the quilting for me and drummed up some more help in the form of two ladies in Holland who stitch another for another charity project. They will be stitching the squares for four of the quilts and another good friend Sharon has offered to stitch all the Gerbera’s for the seating area quilt, so we now have a truly international project on the go.

As it is such a personal project for me, I wanted to have a piece of my own stitching on each of the quilts, so the ladies in Holland will receive a pack containing all of the materials they need, including at least one of the squares already stitched by me









and when Nicki receives everything ready for making up there will also be a matching label which says ‘St. Clare’ and have the Yellow Gerbera log on for each quilt.



I've already stitched all ten squares needed for one of the quilts and cushions and these will be winging their way over to Switzerland for Nicki to get started on when she has the time.




Well, it’s been months since I blogged properly and I don’t quite know when the next one will be……… but that doesn’t mean I won’t be keeping an eye out!

Lots of Love
Sue
x

2 Sketches 4 You Sketch #32 …..One Very Special Card and a few others

I had fun making my card with this weeks sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You. because I was making a special card for a very special person.

And the reason it’s so special…………well, my friend Sharon’s son was taking part in the Special Olympics last week up in Leicester, an achievement in it’s self, but Sharon is a very, very proud mum at the moment because Adam won Gold in one of his races……How fab is that!

So I’ve used this weeks sketch


to make a special pop-out card for him to commemorate such a wonderful achievement………

Way to go Adam!

Square Card Blank – Craft Creations (Creative Hammer Embossed)
Plain Card - Craft Creations (Kaskad)
Patterned Papers – Basic Grey (Archaic)
Gold Printable Foil – Print IT (Adhesive backed)
Ink –Ranger Distress Ink (Peeled Paint)
Image – Downloaded Kids Colouring Page
Pencils – Prisma Color
Dies – Spellbinder (Labels 1& Large Classic Circles) Sizzix (Skittle Dee Do & Hunky Dory Alphabet)
Embossing Folder – Cuttlebug (Swirls)
Glitter Glue – Craft Planet (Iridescent Sparkle)
Liquid Pearls – Ranger (Baby Blue)
Big Brads – Basic Grey
Pen – Staedtler Fineliner (Black)

Other Bits
Ribbon
Star Clip

I also have a few other cards to share with you this morning.

The first is an A4 sized retirement card ………very scary as I’ve not made an A4 before and there’s an awful lot of space to fill!

My brother asked me to make the card for a guy he works with who leaves at the end of the month and the card had to be quite specific.
They work as drivers for a company called Pettex who supply Cat Litter and small animal bedding amongst other things, so he wanted to card to have his lorry and the company logo on it.

My brother sent me a photo of the lorry so I had something to work from and then I found yet another colouring page, coloured it to match and layered it several times so that stands out from the card.

I also wanted to incorporate a few of the companies products in some way so I decided to have various animals chasing the lorry shouting ‘you can’t leave, who will deliver my ?????’.

My final addition was a sign post that says ‘Hainault (where the company is) one way and ‘Doneworking’ in the direction the lorry is traveling.

And here’s the masterpiece in all it’s glory:-


The next batch of cards were also an order, this time from someone who’s two sons and two friends are about to take their Black Belt in Karate.

She asked for four personalized congratulations cards, all the same design but done in different colours.

And four Thank You cards which were to be the same design and colours.

Well I’m having knee trouble again so I'm about to head for the sofa and rest it up.

From time to time I get fluid build up and this time I think it was set off by my kneeling to sort out some DVD’s. I wouldn’t mind so much if it was the one that I’ve just had operated on but it’s not, so it’s lots of rest for me and keep popping the anti-inflammatory!

See you all soon and thanks for stopping by.

The start of another 'Crafty' year

So what happened to 2008?

I think I must have blinked and missed it….well that’s what it feels like anyway!

I can’t believe that another year has passed us by in a flash, but I suppose I’m just going to have to except that it really is 2009, so ...........................

Happy New Year Everyone

I hope you all have a healthy, happy

and an even craftier one than last year

The Daring Cardmakers have kicked the new year off to a good start with their first dare of 2009.

Giving Thanks

We bet you're now ready to put away all that Christmas stash, at least for a while - but there's something which must be done before the present-giving season fades into memory, and that of course, is to say Thank You properly for all those gifts we so enjoyed opening.So this week's Daring Cardmakers task is to get those Thank You cards made and sent - see how we like to help you get things done (hehe)?Anything goes this week as long as that all-important Thank You" message is there.

I thought I would say ‘Thank You’ in flowers.
I started by cutting a rectangle, shaping the corners and then, using a Rosewood coloured Marvy LePlume pen, wrote the words ‘Thank You’ very lightly in the centre.
Next I stamped over the writing using one of the three new sets of Tapestry stamps I was lucky enough to get for Christmas.
The set I’ve used for this was a gift from my Dad. It’s called Porcelain Bouquet and is really delicate and pretty.
On a separate piece of card I stamped the vase of flowers, still using the same set of stamps and cut it out using an oval Nestabilities die.
To finish the panels I’ve chalked over them and around the edges in shades of Pink.

Now to the main card blank.
I edged a White card using a clear border stamp from another of my new sets and added some Pink flowers before chalking around the edge of the card in shades of Green.

I finally attached the ‘Thank You’ flat onto the card and the oval vase panel on 3D foam and added three small Pink brads for the finishing touch.


I didn't stop there though........oh no!

I knew I would be needing more than one Thank You card so I decided to make this little set of tag cards too. It also gave me the opportunity to be true to one of my New Year’s Resolutions………..…use up my old stash!
These tag cards were the leftovers from an old Self Addressed kit and they’ve been hanging around in a box for ages (that should actually say 'years' but I’m too embarrassed to own up to that!)

The front of each tag has been embossed using different Cuttlebug embossing folders and the edges inked with Green (Peeled Paint) Ranger Distress Ink.

The vase of flowers and Thank You stamp are both from Hampton Arts, my bargain buy from ebay just before Christmas. 100 unmounted stamps for a little over £10.......not bad err!
I’ve stamped them with Black Versafine and then chalked each image to match the colour of the tag before mounting them on a mat of white card using 3D foam.
I then finished each tag off with some coordinating ribbon.