SU Happy Birthday....

Hello All

Happy New Year to you all!  Wishing you all health, wealth and happiness for 2016.

Before I start, I would just like to thank you all for your kind messages that I have received in response to my last post.   I have had some lovely messages whether it be on my blog, facebook, cards and emails.  Thank you all.

Having had a little time away from my blog, I think it is time I kick 2016 with some new posts.  

Here is the first, a card I made for a friend of mine a little while ago....

 I used my SU Blossom stamps which were punched with Archival Ink and embossed with clear embossing powder before painting them with Distress Inks and a water brush (Fossilised Amber and Abandoned Coral).

I then mounted this onto a Snippet of yellow before tying a bit of string with a TH die cut tag stamped.  I used the same Archival ink to stamp the sentiment on the card and hey presto! a card was ready to be sent off.

Just going to put my wellies and sou'wester on and splash through the puddles to the Snippets Playground for a hug with Parsnip!!  See you there!!  I have some catching up to do so please bear with me.

Hettie

Oo la lah!!

Hello there

How are we all doing?  I hope you have not been washed away with all this rain we have had in the last two days.  My wellies are wearing out and I will need to ask Santa for a new pair for Christmas!

I wanted to show you a card I made for my niece recently for her birthday.  As you can tell from the photos it was a beautiful sunny morning when I took the photos before handing it to my sister for when she returned home from Geneva.....

Lots of stencilling, inking, stamping, die cutting, spritzing, flicking and embellies....

The Eiffel Tower is a new die which I bought some time ago in a sale..

I inked up a Snippet to make the sentiment here...

Aren't these embellies gorgeous?  The key is a Kaisercraft one which again was NBUS bought for me as a birthday pressie - MWAH - you know who you are....

The lower one is a TH embellie bought eons ago!

And of course I needed an envelope that would take the tower...

......courtesy of my We R Memory Keepers board.

Off to join in the fun in the Snippets Playground.  Got me souwester on and my wellies...who wants to come puddle jumping with me?

Hugs

Hettie

Rudolph Day - August - What Already??

Hello there fellow Bloggers

 

Now how on earth did we get to August Rudolph Day so quickly??

 

Only three more until the Big One!!!!  Aaaaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!  Better get a jimmy on!!!  Not enough cards made yet.

 

So here are this month's offerings....

 

 

I got out my Artistic Stamper stamps and stamped a background with the pinecone using with Potting Soil Archival ink then smooshing the background with Gathered Twigs DI.  I then took more white cardstock and stamped the cottage image and the sentiment with the same Archival Ink and smooshed the outer edge with DI. 

 

 

Then I went on a good rummage in my plain Snippets Box to layer the stamped pieces.  Don't look too close as there are actually two shades of green, but I added a little Forest Moss DI to try and even them out!! The background piece is a VOS piece of K&Co.  Final  flourish is a little wooden snowflake.

 

Off to link this with my Buddy Mo's Rudolph Day and also my buddies at the Snippets Playground.  Have fun and don't forget to let me know you have been!!

 

Hettie

 

 

 

Artistic Outpost...Two for the Men...

Hello there

 

Gosh another weekend that just whooshed past.  Is it just me or does everyone's weekends go too quick?

 

I have been pretty busy today and one of the jobs I wanted to do was to bottle up some honey.  Now in order to do this I have to break up the comb into a double filter, then let this drain into the pot before decanting into jars.  This sounds simple but it can be very sticky.  You can guarantee that when doing this, one of three things happen:-

 

1    Your nose itches.

2    You want a wee.

3    The phone rings.

 

Before I started I went to the loo and blew my nose.  Can you guess what happened as I started to cut the comb  Yep the phone rang.  It was one of those famous insurance companies - the one with a character called Brian.  I told him Hubby was in bed and I was up to my elbows in honey so couldn't talk. To say this took him by surprise was an understatement!!    He was stunned into silence.  I bet that will now go down in the excuses list!!

 

When I steam cleaned my kitchen floor, I had to do the phone receiver too!!

 

Right, onto today's post.  I recently had a few birthdays of the male species, so had to make a few men type cards.  Not my favourite type of cards. Thankfully the two men in question are not connected so I could make similar cards using my Artistic Outpost Grist Mill stamps.... 

You can see my word of the year on these, as well as the sunshine when I took the photos.

 

 

I raided the Snippets box for some of the layers so I am off over to the Snippets Playground as I hear there is choklit over there.

 

Have a great week everyone. 

 

Hugs

xx

Rudolph Day - July Already????

Hello there

 

I am baaaaack!!  Have you missed me?

 

I have decided it is about time I take a hold of my mojo and give him a stern talking to and when that did not work then a bar or two of chocolate and he decided to return and do his job!! Well, you didn't think I would miss out on Rudolph Day did you?  I cannot believe it is July already!!  I got a flurry of paperclips thrown at me today when I dared to mention that it was only four more pay days until the Big Day!!

 

So then, onto my Rudolph Day card....

 

 I was given a bunch of envelopes that are a different size to standard so I bought some card from the local Art shop in order to cut my own.

 I do wish you could see it IRL as it is brimming with Perfect Pearls shimmer.

The main image is Penny Black which stamp I bought in Absolutely Everything last year stamped with Archival Potting Soil.  I mounted this onto a Snippet of gold cardstock and then dark brown cardstock and tied with a piece of ribbon.  I stamped the Tim Holtz text stamp on the main card with Frayed Burlap and then sprinkled Perfect Pearls over before stamping again with the Tim Holtz Christmas stamp.  I mounted the PB image and added a little Poinsettia which I cut using Snippets and edged with gold embossing powder, finishing off with a little glossy accents and gold micro beads.  Another one for my box.

 

Thanks for calling by.  Off to see what has been going on down at the Snippets Playground. Also off to join Mo with the Rudolph Day of course.

 

Thanks for calling by.

 

Hettie

 

Happy Birthday Steph...

Hello there

 

How ya doing Folks?

 

Now we are finally having what we can call a summer, though there are some intermittent dull days mixed in.  At least on those days we can leave the watering to nature!!

 

I want to share a birthday card I made for a good friend a little while ago...

I used my lovely Artistic Stamper stamps and a mixture of Distress Inks including Antique Linen, Peeled paint and Gathered twigs as well as Potting Shed Archival ink.  For the marigolds I coloured them in with Copics.

The base paper is some which I received as a freebie from Prima.  Most of the pieces were from the Snippets drawers and the leaves die cuts were from my Tin of Shame.  A little piece of ribbon to finish it off and I am now taking this down to the Snippets Playground.  I am also going to share this with the Artistic Outpost Challenge too. 

 

Thanks for calling by. 

 

Hettie

Get Well Hammy!

Hello there

 

Well, that bank holiday weekend went quickly, but it was a good one for me.  Hope yours was too.

 

Saturday saw me at our monthly quilting meeting.  When I got home Mr Hettie was pottering outside so I had a sneaky hour working on my Amsterdam album!!  Well, why not?

 

Sunday was spent pottering in the garden, painting the love seat with my usual feathered supervisors on standby.  Today I put another coat of paint on the underside of the seat and started prepping my Adirondack chair ready for it to be painted.  Spent the afternoon making some Christmas cards for Rudolph Day.  I will share them later in the week.

 

Right then.  Onto today's post. 

 

A very good fellow Snippets Playmate had some lovely stamps and dies from Lawn Fawn that I fell in love with.  You see there is a family story about a hamster called Hammy that lived on the bookcase (in his cage of course!), at the bottom of our stairs.  I was too little to have anything to do with it, and he belonged to my big Sister and Brother.  Apparently they were not very good at looking after him, and he had been dead for two weeks before they noticed!!!  Hence I was never allowed to have my rabbit and had to wait until I was married!! 

 

So onto this stamp set and dies.  I knew I wanted to get hold of it, searched UK retailers but no luck.  So I went directly to Lawn Fawn and blow me, I could order it and pay using Paypal without having to set up yet another account and in super quick time it arrived!!  So I had to use it....

 

 

My poor friend was not very well, and in one of the texts she sent me, she told me that her glands were swollen and that she looked like a hamster....hence a card was born!!

 

 Here it is with the envelope.  All coloured in with Copics.  I used Snippets of card to stamp and die cut.  Rachel loved the card or was it the Carte D'or Eaton Mess ice-cream I took up, for medicinal purposes only.

 

I also wanted to show you how my package was sent...

The papers were free and that bakers twine is gorgeous.  There was even a small stamp enclosed.

I would definitely order from Lawn Fawn again...their prices are very reasonable, great quality and postage from US to UK was very good. 

 

Off to play in the Snippets Playground to see what has been occurring over the weekend.

 

Thanks for calling by.

 

Hettie 

Happy Birthday to Two Special People

Hello There

 

Well, that weekend went whoosh ...and then it was gone!!  Had an exciting one too as I went to the WOYWW Crop on Saturday.  I will share photos with you on Wednesday.  On Sunday I played Apprentice Beekeeper and pulled off our first small batch of honey for 2015!!

 

Tonight I want to share with you some cards I made last month for two Special People who had birthdays last month within a week of each other.  I used my very new Lavinia Snail stamp.  Well, I was ordering a stamp for one of my Special Friends, so I may as well as take advantage of justifying the postage!!

 

 

The star paper is some from Crate Paper which has been in my stash for several years. 

 

The images were all stamped using Potting Shed Archival ink and I used a selection of DIs including Brushed Corduroy, Gathered Twigs and Walnut Stain.

 

Also NBUS were the sentiment cards which I bought last year on my USA trip.  I have been hanging on to them so I thought it was about time they were used.

 

The little stars were made using my Simon says Stamp die and dark brown card used for matting were all from my Snippets box.

 

I had fun making these and I do love the snail image.

 

As I used some Snippets I shall be popping down the Snippets Playground to see what my fellow playmates have been up to.

 

Thanks for calling by.

 

Hettie

http://pixiescraftyworkshop.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/pixies-snippets-playground-week-177-and.html

Thank you for the Invite...

Hello there

I haven't been up to playing in my craft room of late but I have a few projects in the draft section that I have not shared with you before.  It is similar to the card I made for my friend Ann, that is because I made it around the same time.  I used my Tonic dies but a different set this time.  This was its first outing so an NBUS.

I covered the card base with the lilac card, chomped the corners and stamped them with Archival ink using my SU set. 

I took the pale blue card and run it through with the Tonic dies and then inked around the edges and layered it up.

I added some ribbon to the bottom....

Some butterflies and some pearls...

and a matching envelope!

I know the recipient liked it...phew!  

Sorry I have not been around much...still coughing for Wales and our internet is flaky these days.  

Simon Says Stamp is looking for things that fly this week so I am fluttering by with the butterflies.

Hettie

My Valentine...

Hello there

Was it just me or was that last weekend over in a flash?  I hope you all had a great Valentine's celebration.  Mr Hettie and I celebrated ours on Friday as Mr Hettie had to work on Saturday night.  I wasn't too bothered as I had already arranged to go do a dance on the night which was fun fun fun.  

We went to our local and had a great meal and Mr Hettie surprised me with a new bit of silver for my charm bracelet and another Boofle.  I was a lucky girl!

I thought I would share the card I made for him....

Yep!  I used my Sarntangle stamp, coloured with Copics and I applied some glossy accents to the hearts and the centre of the flower.  I stamped one of the sentiments with Potting Shed Archival, then mounted this on a Snippet of paper which was from a collection of papers which I sprayed, spritzed and generally had fun with some time ago.  I just thought the colours matched very well.

I rummaged through my little die cuts drawer and found some red stars which were cut with my SSS die. 

With a plethora of Snippets on here I am just running over the Snippets Playground to show my buddies.  If you like the stamps I have used why not join in as there is a set available as this week's prize.  If you wish to buy your own then click HERE.

Thanks for calling by.

Hettie

First Rudolph Day of 2015 - And she is off....

Hello there

Welcome to my first Rudolph Day of 2015 and this year sees the challenge move over the pond to ScrappyMo's blog HERE while Stamping for Pleasure goes to the Elves Rest Home for a little while!

This month seems to have flown by and I had not had chance to sit down and make cards for Rudolph Day until yesterday.  So here they are...

I took a Snippet of cream card and stamped it with the Artistic Outpost Reindeer and my new favourite Archival ink - Wendy Vecchi's Potting Soil before cutting it with my NBUS Creative Expressions bauble die.  Once cut I inked around the edge with Brushed Cord DI and then decided to stamp some of the greenery from TH Christmas stamp set in Gathered Twigs DI.  I inked up a white, yes white, piece of card which was in my Snippets drawer with Brushed Cord, Frayed Burlap and GT DIs.  Once it was dry I stamped the TH stamp with PS and embossed it with clear embossing powder.  

I then set about inking the card itself with the same colours, though more GT I think.  I stamped the same greenery stamp too.  I wanted to cut the bauble top out and spotted a Dunkin Doughnuts coffee wrap sitting in my box and thought this the perfect medium to use.  I then strung it and needed a flash of colour and spotted a small Snippet of ribbon in the ribbon basket.  I then set to layer the card together and needed a little more colour along the bottom (they are closer IRL) so used some washi tape.

I decided to make a second, though I used different elements such as a buff colour Snippet for the Spellbinders bauble, adding a bauble top too, and different washi tape.

I hope you like my cards.  I am off now to link it to the RD challenge as well as take them down the Snippets Playground as they contain Snippets.  I did actually make a third card but I will share that another time as I could not photograph that one.

Have a great week everyone and thanks for calling by.

Hettie 

Choo Choo

Hello there

Not long now until the Jolly Fella in a red suit pays a visit to all of the good Girls and Boys in the World.  Guess I am getting coal again!  Yippee!!

I am so sorry I have not been around much the last few days.  I have been a little under the weather with a sinus infection and a little problem with my war wound so spent most of Friday, Saturday and Sunday in bed or on the settee in front of the fire!  Before you ask, yes Hubby was with me, but NO as he had flu also!  I also managed to burst a blood vessel in my eye which was a little irritating so was not wishing to look at laptop. 

Anyhoo we are both on the road to recovery helped by Mr Jack Daniels, antibiotics and good old paracetamol and rest!  I am finding that after finishing work I am only fit to collapse and my poor craft room is feeling a little cold and neglected right now.  Not to worry...Hubby's card hasn't been thought of yet alone made so it wont be long until I am back in there.

I thought I would share a few cards I made to send to family and friends...

All roughly the same but different.  Can you believe I bought that Stampenduous stamp in US for ....wait for it....$1.50!!!!!!  I had thought about buying the same one to take to my host Kim but figured she might have it as I knew she had a previous one.  It was in my basket at £13.50!!!  Bargain ey and I love it as it is great for men through the year if you don't colour the holly in!  BTW I used my green wink of stella pen, which I bought as an error....loving it now!  The red is stickles.  The little Santa and Snowman clay charms I have had for ever so are VOS.  I hope they have survived the post.

Right then.  Off to catch up in the antics of the Playground with these.  Hopefully my understudy in the Nativity play has not run away with the idea that she has my part for good. I shall just sneeze on her if she won't give it back!

Let me know if you want to know how or what I did to create these cards.

Thanks for calling by.

Hettie

On the Second Day of December....First Card of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style

Hello There

Thank you all so much for visiting me yesterday and leaving me kind comments on my Christmas Album.  Yesterday I got two photographs, one of myself decorating the Office Christmas Tree and one of a colleague putting the Star on top!  I printed them off but they were a little tacky for me to trim and put in the Album so I will do that later today.

Now for today's Christmas offering.  Those of you who have followed me in previous years will know that I usually follow Linda at Funkie Junkie with her 12 Tags of Christmas.  I LOVE doing these tags and often end up incorporating the ideas and techniques into cards.  This year I have decided to do just that...make cards for family members instead of tags.  So here is Tag/Card 1....

There is A LOT of NBUS goodies on here (I actually made this about two weeks ago, but wanted to share them all in December!).  

Here is the Inspiration Tag from Linda's post...

So as you see I have taken quite a few elements from Linda's tag.  The background is TH stencil.  I have also used the same stamp set.  I decided to use my TH Believe stamp.  I think this was the first TH wooden stamp I ever bought.  Believe is my favourite word!  I used a little washi tape around the bottom....you may notice I have a bit of a reindeer thing going on right now!!   You should see my house when it gets decorated up!

I embossed my reindeer and sleigh to make it pop out, after inking it with Archival ink.  I am hoping you can see that I also stamped on top of the card with the snowflake stamp and white twinkly embossing powder.  Believe me it is there!  This dull weather is not condusive to good photography right now.

Inks used are TH DIs Gathered Twigs, Festive berries, Rusty Hinge, Antique Linen and Scattered Straw as well as Archival.  Embossing powders are Wow and my old faithful clear which has been in a different pot so long I have forgotten who's it is!

Now then. Linda's Challenge is open until midnight 21st December.  It is sponsored by the Funky Junkie Boutique.  If you have never had a look at that store you will be in for a real treat let me tell you.  Click HERE and it will take you over to Linda's blog where you can see all the rules and how tos you require, but not before you have left me a comment please!  Just by reading Linda's how-tos you will learn a lot of new tricks and ideas for future projects.

Thank you all for calling by.  I just love reading your comments, so please let me know what you think.  Also, a big Thank You to Kathy for becoming my latest Follower.  I always love new followers too!

Tomorrow I have no dancing class so I shall be joining Julia and WOYWW with another Christmas themed post.

Hettie

Birthday for a Fella Friend...

Hello there

The weather right now is a bit unpredictable isn't it?  So I thought it was about time I shared this card make with you, which I made for a male friend a little while ago...

I used some Bella Carte paper that I bought on a Playground outing with Miss Di and Scrappy Mo last year, but had been waiting for a special occasion to use it.  I stamped it with my Ryn stamps raindrops stamp.    The TH Umbrella man was cut using the inside of a Kindle box which I hoiked out of my Snippets box!  Doesn't it look fabulous?

I cut a piece of pearlised turquoise with another snippet of this card...so nearly all gone now sadly.  The Gentleman's Choice is from an Artistic Outpost set that were kindly sent to me.  The tag on the right was cut using a Sizzix die and stamped onto a Snippet of kraft card and stamped with a TH sentiment, as well as the pocket which I stapled on.  I took the inspiration from a tag I made for the CC101 Challenge and just cased it.

This is on the back of the tag.  Inks used are Ranger Archival and Gathered Twigs DI.

I cut some strips of card stock to make some pennants and the long skinny one I run through my old Dymo tape runner and sanded the letters ever so carefully to make them pop!  The music ribbon is a last remnant that I bought a while ago and wish I bought more!

Right that is it for me today.  DO  NOT look at the bottom of my blog where it tells you how close Christmas is away...I told you NOT to look!!

Off to join the girls and boys who are bunking off school at the Snippets Playground as there are lots of Snippety Snippets on here.

Thanks for calling by.

Hettie

One Stamp...Four Ways...

Hello there

Is it me or does it seem rather "Autumney" today?  We now have lovely warm sunshine outside, but I notice that we now have blackberries and some of the leaves are changing and it just feels like Autumn.  No problem as it is my favourite season anyhoo.

Right then, onto today's post.

Last year whilst on a Playground outing at a Craft Show, I was looking at some goodies on a stall when I overheard a conversation that went like this...

"So then Mavis, are you going to buy that die?  It is so you and I know you will do a great job of it".

"Well Agnes.  Whenever I buy a die or stamp, I try to think of three ways in which I might use it.   If I can't I don't buy it.  I am just thinking as so far I only have two."

I turned and nodded my approval on Mavis' method of thinking and since I have tried to do the same...mostly.  

Well the other day I was rummaging through my drawers looking for something or other and I happened upon this stamp Elegant Butterfly by Stampington and Company which was a kinda impulse purchase...it was sitting on a table just over from where I was working at a scrapbooking retreat...however, I don't very often use it as it does not really lend itself to being played with.  Or so I thought.  I then thought about Mavis' conversation and set about finding three alternative ways to use it.

So here is Option 1...

 I stamped it as it was onto white cardstock with Archival ink in Cobalt.  Once it had dried I scored around the edge of the cut piece and then carefully with my sharp knife, cut around the butterfly and then mounted it onto a piece of navy cardstock.  I then scored around a square card and mounted the navy onto the card.  Hey presto one method.

Option 2...

 For this option I stamped the image as above then sliced horizontally at 1/2 cm (or thereabouts), making sure that you keep each slice in the right order, then cutting horizontally at 1" sections, starting the second row at 1/2", again keeping each piece lined up so they don't get mixed.  (Yes I know I changed increments between cms and inches, but the size I cut the image wasn't divisible in inches!)  After inking around each piece using Pumice Stone DI I then attached each piece to a navy background.  I don't worry about the pieces not being exactly straight as I live in a 16th Century cottage and so have not got one straight wall or corner!  That is MY excuse and it is MY card!!

Option 3...

I inked the stamp with versamark and white WOW embossing powder which I heated.  I then inked the background with Peacock Feathers and Faded Jeans DIs.  I spritzed and flicked and distressed the edges.  Once it was dry I mounted it on white card and then navy before mounting this onto some woodgrain card (NBUS and very old).

And now for Option 4...

Here I tried the chalkboard effect.  Not something I have ever had good results with before but this one kinda turned out how I like it.   I used a really old, not very good white ink pad to stamp the stamp.  Then I added WOW white embossing powder and heated.  I then took the same white ink pad and dipped the corner of a cloth in it, but not too much, and then gently rubbed around the image to make it look like an old board.  I then drew around the edge with lines and kisses and mounted it onto a tan card (handmade).  I scorred the card top and bottom, added some TH tissue tape, some Maya Arts string and a button.  This is currently winging its way to a special friend.

Well, I hope you like my take on Mavis' idea.  I cannot actually remember what their names were, only the gist of the conversation, but I am so glad I had overheard it.  I shall have a rummage and try doing this with some other underused stamps.  I hope this post inspires you to try the same too.

I am going to take these cards down to the Snippets Playground as they do contain some Snippets.  I am also going to take it down to my friend Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge as it contains Summer  Butterflies.

Thanks for calling by.  Don't forget tomorrow I will be joining in the Blog Hop and so I will be pleased if you call by then.

Hettie