Sending a hug....

Hello Friends

A Special Friend of mine is feeling a little down at the moment and I wanted to send her a hug so I made her this card.....

I do so love this style of card and am grateful to a lovely Bloggie Buddy for passing on the deets of how to make them.  I used my Forever Friends stamp and coloured it with Copics.  I used some more of my Snippets, my SU tag punch and stamp set with Seedless Preserves DI (can you tell I love this ink at all?).  The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch with some Seedless Preserves ink which I just wiped on the cardstock before punching.  The "With Love" embellishment is one that I have had for ages, and which I am trying to use up.

Short and sweet.   Off to find some blue wool to make another scarf for a Chrissie pressie, having taken a peek over at the Playground as I just spotted something to look at!  Need to put my wellies on first! 

TTFN

Hettie

P.S.  Rachel, Sandra and I are going Puddle Jumping in the Playground if anyone wants to join us you are more then welcome!  

Happy Birthday Rachel...Not quite a Tag!

Hello Friends

What a perfectly miserable Monday morning it is weatherwise!  But you know what means......Perfect weather for crafting in!  Well I would do if I was not in work!

It was my very good friend Rachel's birthday last week and just a few weeks ago Rachel was in my Craft Room for, as she puts it, "a darned good nosey"!!  She asked me why I had all the tags around my room?  I told her that some of them are for challenges and by creating artwork on tags, it is also a good way of practising new techniques or ideas without wasting too much paper/time to discover whether you like it or not.  Well one of the tags that caught Rachel's eye was one I made using the embossing powder resist technique so to prove a point, I made a card version of that tag and here it is.....

I also got chance to use my new favourite DI - Seedless Preserves, as well as Rusty Hinge, Dusty Concord, Vintage Photo and Old Paper.

The bluey/purple background card is created using the card that I put in the base of my spraying box when using colourwashes/shimmers.  When I think they look interesting I take them out and refresh with fresh cardstock!  The butterflies and SU tag were also stamped onto Snippets of card coloured in the same way. Immediately behind is a piece of silver mirrored card, again a Snippet left over from a Christmas project no doubt. 

The ribbon was also salvaged from the Snippets boxes which I must have had left over from making one of the other ribbons on that die and the flourish I found in my embellishment tin.  You can see the button I cheated with thread by drawing with another great find......Sharpies White pen.  Brilliant.  Craft Obsessions have them.  The best white pen EVER!

So overall I think I am entitled to link this up with Miss Di's Playground.  Must remember to put the wellies on before I go over there!  

TTFN and thanks for calling by.

Hettie

12 Tags of 2012 - November!

Hello Friends

As some of you know I went on a lickle day trip to the NEC for the Hobby Crafts Craft Fair the other week and spent some of my hard saved up pennies on some goodies.  Well when I saw Mr Tim Holtz's Tag for November I could not resist (get it!) having a little stamp with some of my new goodies and joining in!   

At the show I had in my hand the set of Tim Holtz stamps or the Soldier die and as you can see the stamps won.  Well, they were on a ridiculously good offer with Craft Obsessions how could I leave them there?  Especially as when I went past a little later all of these sets had gone!  (I am grinning now!)

And here is another little close up so you can see the stamping on the background. This is one of the only times I do not mind ironing!!

Now Mr Holtz wanted us to use Distress Stains but I don't have many colours and certainly not the colours I wanted to use (the Seedless Preserves are to die for!).  So I used the good ole' wrinkle free distress method for colouring the background.  The word "Joy" came from the Season's Silhouettes stamp set.  

Hope you like and please leave me a comment so I know you have been.

TTFN

Hettie

Friday Funny

A woman in her forties went to a plastic surgeon for a face-lift.

The surgeon told her about a new procedure called "The Knob," where a small knob is placed on the back of a woman's head and can be turned to tighten up her skin to produce the effect of a brand new face lift.

Of course, the woman wanted "The Knob."

Over the course of the years, the woman tightened the knob, and the effects were wonderful -- the woman remained young looking and vibrant.

After fifteen years, the woman returned to the surgeon with two problems.

"All these years, everything has been working just fine. I've had to turn the knob and I've always loved the results, but now I've developed two annoying problems:

First, I have these terrible bags under my eyes and the knob won't get rid of them."

The doctor looked at her closely and said, "Those aren't bags, those are your breasts."

She said, "No point asking about the beard then..........."

How did I miss this Challenge - Tag 9 - But I will catch UP!

Hello Friends

I was wandering around on the blogasphere recently and I came across THIS wonderful Blog which is Linda Coughlin's of The Funkie Junkie!  Wow!  I was blown away by all the loveliness on her blog and discovered that Linda hosts "The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas" which if you click HERE you will be taken to Tag One which has all the deets on.  It is worth just going to see all nine tags, they are gorgeous.

I know Linda is currently on Tag 9 and there are only three more to go but there is still a while to go until the Big Day itself so I guess I can give it a go.  They are sooo scrummilicious I just have to join in!  There is also a chance to win a shopping spree as these challenges are sponsored by The Funkie Junkie shop.  Let me tell you, having had a peruse and a little shop there, having recently won the CC2C Challenge, it is worth the chance to win! 

So here is Linda's tag......

Didn't I tell you it was scrummy!

Now here is my take on Linda's tag.......

Instead of stars I have used hearts made from Snippets of SU Vanilla cardstock, die cut with a Sizzix die and stamped in Barn Door with my new Wendy Vecchi stamp (in love with these and they were a steal so it would have been rude not to have bought them!).  The burlap pieces were also Snippets from my Christmas Album project.  The key was out of my jar of odd keys and watch bits (I have been told by a high authority - Mr Hettie - that it was the old key for the shed) which I coloured with black alcoholic ink, along with the mini bells hanging on the mini hearts of course!

The Holly leaves were cut out of another Snippet of SU Vanilla cardstock (I keep every piece of the SU Vanilla cardstock in a separate bag as it is great to work with), inked with Pine Needles DI, a little Fresco Snowflake paint topped with glossy accents and some Hampton Art fine glitter sprinkled over the top.  Once dried I added a little more Pine Needles around the edges.

These mini hearts were die cut with chipboard then some Ferro and Puffed Paint were smooshed over and heated with the heat gun.  Love this Ferro.  It is soo schparkly in the natural light. I crimped some wire through the crimping tool and added the bells to the hearts and wired them to the key.  I also popped two star pins into the bow, which is a Snippet of fabric my quilting friend gave to me.

The base of the tag is Kraft cardstock which I ran through the TH woodgrain embossing folder.  I painted this with the Snowflake Fresco paint and once dried added a layer of TH Rock Candy Crackle paint and once that was dried I added some Black Soot DI.

A little TH ticket and some gingham ribbon and hey presto, my tag was finished.  Now then, which one shall I do next?

You have until 17th December to catch up with all 12 tags and there is a chance to win a prize  from the sponsor Funkie Junkie  Love their goodies and to be honest, postage was not an awful lot in the context of things and pretty quick to the UK (8 days from order to parcel!).

As there are a few Snippets on this I will be linking it up to my Buddie at the Playground.

Thanks for popping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.  Gotta love comments. And finally, thank you Linda for such a wonderful Challenge, I have enjoyed making this no end, and think it will live in my kitchen.  Anyone who has been in my kitchen will know there are a collection of hearts in there!

TTFN

Hettie

Finished beading project!

Hello Friends

At the WOYWW Crop last month, Janet over at Fairthoughts took a little workshop to make a beaded project.  I did not get chance to finish it on the day and a friend of mine offered me a crimping tool (and tuition) in order that I could finish it.  Here it is....

Sorry about the background, it is cork and the light was funny but the colours in the keyring are very close.

A few little turns for you to see all sides...

It was a lovely project and I will work out where I am going to put this (not on a bunch of keys that is for sure) in due course.  At the moment I am enjoying seeing it hung on the board with the sun catching it.

Thanks Janet for teaching this.   As you can see I had a few bits and pieces which matched.  Not hard really as I am rather fond of purples and various shades of!

TTFN

Hettie

Musical Christmas - FSC

Hello Friends

At the end of last month I shared with you THIS post which had my altered Mail Box on and which I had entered into the Fashionable Stamping Challenge.  I was very pleased to learn that I had won the Challenge!  

I had not come across this Challenge blog before I was introduced to it by Terry, but I rather like it so I decided to enter the current Challenge which is Music and here is my card.....

The background of the card has been made using my Tim Holtz flourish stamp and gilded with Indigo Blu gilding flakes (first time of using!  Tip - don't sneeze when using these or else they will get everywhere!).  The next layer is a Snippet of SU Vanilla cardstock which has been inked with Brushed Corduroy DI, although you have to take my word for it as you cannot see it until you fold the music sheet back.

The music sheet was created using a WOW stamp, one of my buys on Thursday, on vellum using a technique shown by Mr Tim Holtz on his 12 Tags of Christmas 2009 (Day 9 I think).  I made the music notes with my new Memory Box die, again using a Snippet of SU cardstock, which I inked with Brushed Corduroy DI and brushed over with some gold Perfect Pearls.  

The Poinsettia was cut with very thin chipboard to which I had attached sheets I had cut out of a Czech book which I am using for another project yet to be completed.  I then inked the petals with DSs and DIs, edged with Black Soot DI and swooshed with my new favourite DS Antiqued Bronze. Once inked and dried  I then stamped over the petals with the music stamp.

I also added some smudges of my Treasure Gold wax to give it some sparkle.

Thanks for looking and why not pop over the FSC and join in as you still have a little time?

Let me know what you think!

Hettie

x