Mojo Monthly - Gotta think, think think!

Hello there Crafters

I have been trying to come up with a project for the MOJO Monthly with Sasa this month and I could not think of an alternative way to use my stamps other than the way I have some of them stacked up on my shelf!  Then as I was looking around my room I had a "eureka" moment.

Let me explain a little of the background....  When my Darling was creating my Craft Room I came up with the idea of covering the two purlings that go down the length of my room with cork tiles with a little beading edging so that I could use them as a kind of notice board for photos, bits and "stuff" (you know what I mean).  Well there are some left over squares in the corner of my Craft Room looking for a use or home.  This is where my cunning plan germinated!

How about making some drink mats says I?   Me likes this idea.  So I set about cutting one of the cut pieces (i.e. scrap pieces).  I looked at the average size of drink coaster we have in our house and decided on the size of 4" square.  And I cut.  Conveniently enough some of my stamp blocks are 4" square so I laid some stamps on a block, inked the stamps up with Coffee Archival ink and stamped.

Then I tried another.

You will see on one of them I have rounded the corners.  Not an easy task as the cork doesn't fit in the Zutter corner rounder but it just about fits in the Memory Makers corner rounder with a little gentle persuasion (watch your fingers as it is a little naughty in not wanting to go in!).  They are not 100% tidy once you have cut them but after a little fine tuning with a sander they look much better. 

I now have the idea of making several more with different themes e.g. sewing themed ones, floral ones flutterby ones to suit several peoples tastes for my Craft Stall for which I am selling in aid of our local Cancer Charity at Christmas.  I will, however, before then, adhere some felt on the back to help protect it from burning a table or suchlike (it will hide my first attempt for one thing) and I also want to varnish/lacquer them to prevent the ink coming off too quick.  Hubby has said he will do that for me to prevent it getting on my chest when it sprays.  This will, of course, require me to buy some more colours of Archival Ink as I only have Coffee and Black.  What a shame!!

I hope you like these but please don't buy new cork tiles just to make these as cork is not exactly environmental friendly.  I only learnt this after we had bought it.  Hence why we did not just throw away the surplus. 

TTFN

Hettie

Cupcake anyone?

Evening Peeps!

Woo Hoo!  I came on to do a lickle posting and discover I have two new Followers!  Welcome aboard  Marjo and Craftingtime and welcome to my world!  I hope you like what you see! 

A few of you who saw my Wednesday posting asked to see the cards which were in the making on my desk so here are three of them.  Why only three?  'Cos these are the urgent three and need to be posted tomorrow.  I will come back and finish the others soon!!  I actually needed four cards but I cheated and pinched one out of my tin which I had made on a previous occasion!  It is always a good idea to make a few more than you need in case you are a bit pushed for time or if someone decides to sneak in a birthday unawares!!

I hope you like these cards.  The die is a new one which I purchased from QVC recently along with a long Sizzix strip die of mini cup cakes.  I am not sure why I did not cut any of those out!  Maybe because it is late and I have not had the best of weeks. 

Well, it is late and the start of the weekend and I have left part of my "pear juice" (aka Perry!) downstairs and I can hear it calling to me.

I apologise for the quality of the pictures as I took the photos in the bathroom under electric light (don't ask - Hubby's idea!), as opposed to my normal place of the bay window with lots of natural light.  Hopefully normal service will resume soon!

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend and see you all soon.

Hugs

Hettie

Ingredients:-

Dies - Sizzix; Stamps - Hero Arts, Penny Black, Anitas (but mine really!); Cardstock - Bazzill; Card blanks - Ryman (probably!); Paperstock - assorted incl Papermania, DCWV, Basic Grey and Scrapbox(yeah!!); Brown ribbed card for the cup bit - Coffee #1! other coffee shops are available! (nowt like a bit of recycling my fellow crafters!); Inks - Tsuienko, Tim Holtz; ATG adhesive and foam squares; Schparklies - DoCrafts.

WOYWW 120 - There seems to be alot of cake here...

Hello there Peeps

Here we are again.  Yet another Wednesday!  Happy Hump Day too!  I cannot believe how quickly this year is going and how quickly Wednesdays seem to come around. 

So today is Wednesday so that means one thing to a large bunch of Crafters - WOYWW Day!!  So without further ado here is my desk....

All this Wednesday madness and mayhem is hosted by the lovely JULIA.  This is a fab way of hopping around the world in the middle of the week via crafting desks!

As you can see there is an awful lot of cake on my desk!  I have a few birthdays coming up in the next couple of weeks so I thought I would bake a batch of Birthday Cake cards.  That way I can pop some in the tin until later.  As you can see Monkey is supervising the whole thing now.  He has also kindly pointed out that I seem to have missed a trimming off one of the cakes.  Why he couldn't have told me that whilst the Big Shot was out I don't know!!!  If he was any kinda good Monkey he would cut it for me whilst I was at work.

Do you remember this......?  It was on my desk a few Wednesdays ago.

Click HERE and I will show you the finished article!  I say "finished" in the loosest sense of the word.  No doubt I will add a few more bits on there as Christmas approaches.

Off to work and then dancing later so will try and get to see some of you today, otherwise it will probably be tomorrow.  Hope you don't mind me being late.  Have a Great week and see you all very soon.

TTFN

Hettie

Christmas Canvas

Good Evening there Ladies and Gents

How has your Monday been today? Or for those of you over the Pond, how is your day going?

Some kind person has given me some sort of lurgy so I have been doing the ole' hot and cold, sore nose and itchy eyes and ears thing.  But!  Gotta keep going or else I will just seize up!!  I suspect that yesterday's Mushroom Foray, that did not happen, did not help.  We turned up at the location we were told to meet - Abergavenny's Bus Station, the lady who was giving the tour arrived and ticked all our names off, and we waited.  And waited.  And waited.  After a flurry of phone calls we were told that our bus had broken down and there would be another one shortly.  The long and short of it is that we stood outside in the wind and rain for nearly two hours before the trip was abandoned!  Apparantly the second driver couldn't find the Bus Station!!!!  Gutted we were as we had tried in previous years to join the Foray but without luck.  Any how.  After a short stop for a lovely hot chocolate with all the trimmings we went home and I decided to warm up in my Craft Room instead!!

Do you remember this.........?

Well, yesterday I decided it was high time that I took the Bull by the horns and finished it.   I had been having all sorts of ideas about painting the canvas with various colours of inks and paints, or maybe stamping some images on there.  However, yesterday I took a long hard look at it and thought that in reality 90% of the background is covered up so what better way to cover it than some of my lovely MME Christmas papers so that the loveliness comes through.  As the canvas is 14" I decided to make a sort of patchwork of different papers because I wanted the baubles on the right of the paper to be made a feature of. 

I then spent a few happy hours just "faffing" with the canvas, papers and trimmings until I was happy with it. 

The numbers had all been printed and cut using my Silhouette last year but I had not got round to finishing it off.  Unfortunately I lost one number so had to print and cut another one.

I have used Vintage photo around the letters and numbers, as well as Black soot around some too.  The "Christmas" were inked using Fired Brick and Forest Moss.  I am still undecided as to whether to use Glossy Accents on the letters.  I don't know if the glossiness would look right in the corner?!!  What do you think?

Once I had finished faffing I sprayed the whole thing with Perfect Pearls mist in gold and red, however, you cannot really see it in the photos.  (I say "finished faffing" but I am sure I will probably add a few more things between now and Christmas!!)

The chipboard pieces are K&Co.  Ribbons and lace are just from my stash.  The Stocking is from a pair of earrings that my friend bought me one Christmas many moons ago.  I cannot actually wear them as (a) they have metal hooks and (b) they are really too long for my short neck!

I know you cannot see it from the photos, but all around the edge of the canvas I have stamped using my TH Flourish stamp in Forest Moss. 

Well, I hope you like it.  Please feel free to let me know what you think about glossing the letters. 

TTFN

Hettie 

Grungy Monday 21 - Not a tag in sight today

Good Evening Peeps

Can you believe that we have had three whole weeks to complete the Grungy Monday Challenge and here I am doing it nearly last minute.  And would you believe I have not made a tag for this challenge!!!  Don't feint now.  I know it is a shock.  But see, I wanted to use fairly small facets just for the hell of it and also I wanted to use my new stamps that came the other day.  So without further ado........

We were sent HERE by the Lovely LINDA and were given several techniques to use some Facets.  I did make a fourth facet using alcohol inks but it came out a little too red to go with the rest of these, so I will use it elsewhere. 

Ah.  I have just realised why my room seems a little dark this evening.  One of my light bulbs has gone out.  Note to self, change the bulb tomorrow.  No point doing it now as it will be a bit hot!!

Off on a Mushroom Foray tomorrow as it is the Abergavenny Food Festival this weekend.  It is such a shame that it is raining this weekend!  Let us hope we don't pick any "iffy" mushrooms!!

See ya soon.  And don't forget to pay a visit to the lovely Tim Holtz' blog and also Linda's .

TTFN

Hettie

Birdcage Swap

Hello again Peeps

I very nearly forgot to do something today!!

A few weeks ago the lovely Frankie organised a Birdcage Swap (is it Birdcage or Bird Cage?)!  We were all given a few weeks to complete a birdcage tag and then Frankie e-mailed us with our recipient to whom we were to send our completed tag.

Here is mine.....

I made a tag using the TH Tag Die, inked it with DIs and splashed it with water.  I then inked my lovely new Bird Cage stamps which my friend had very kindly brought back from Denver with DI and then powdered with Perfect Pearls in Gold and Bronze.  I inked the lickle birdies with TH Archival ink. Distressed the edges and inked with Walnut Stain DI.  I also stamped around the edges with a Penny Black (Christmas shhhh!) stamp.

I then set about cutting a Bird Cage with my TH die using shrink plastic, which I then heated and shrunk down, and inked with Gold Alcohol Inks.  A little ribbon, TH embellie with E, a little spray with Perfect Pearls spray and hey presto one tag. 

I was so glad when Elizabeth e-mailed me to tell me it had arrived and she liked it.  Phew!!

And here is the one I received from Helen. 

It is so lovely and colourful and I believe coloured with Distress Stains.  Now I KNOW I NEEEED some more colours if they make your work bright and colourful like this.  Thanks Helen!! You have made me spend more money now!!

I must also say a huge Thanks to Frankie for organising this and can you remember me when you do another swap please?

Right!  Off to put the chickens to bed and whizz down to my dance class.  See you all later.

Hettie

WOYWW 119 - Quilting and Monkey

Hello there Peeps

Here we are again on another Wednesday showing our desks off to the world via the lovely Julia Dunnitt.

Here is what is actually on my desk at the moment......

I attended a quilting workshop on Saturday at our Quilting Group and was able to put the whole of the quilt top together with borders!! I even managed to cut out the rest of the fabric to make a backing rather than find another piece of fabric and to avoid having big scraps of these fabrics and not have anything to use them in.   So on Sunday I put the back of the quilt together and then with the help of my tacking gun it is now all ready to quilt.  I will show you more once I have quilted the whole thing.

In the meantime, I needed to make a New Home card for a friend of mine and look who has agreed to have his photo taken and "come out" to meet you all.  Yes.  I have a lickle Monkey too however, unlike some of the others I have seen on my travels around desks, this little chap is incredibly shy. 

Incidentally, I went out last night with a few friends of mine to see the new Jane Eyre.  It is BRILLIANT!!!  I thoroughly recommend you go and see it.

Well, off to work now and tonight my Scottish Dancing class starts so I will probably have to come around and visit you tomorrow.  I hope you don't mind, I know it is supposed to be on Wednesday but I cannot NOT join in any more with this phenonomonomon that is WOYWW!!!!

TTFN and don't forget to visit Julia's desk.

Hettie and Monkey

Can I show you some Candy I have received?

Hi Peeps

I am afraid that I have been a really bad blogger lately.  Unfortunately, our internet has been a little flakey yet again!! 

To be honest though I have not been doing an awful lot of crafting at the moment due to one thing and another though I do seem to have an awful lot of projects on the go and in little "just put this here while I make another birthday/anniversary/new home/wedding card" around my craft room.  I also seem to have an awful lot of magazine piles which need sorting out too.  So much so that today I have had a few hours in my room just sorting stuff out.  The magazines are next to my bed so that I can go through them whilst I drink my Horlicks/hot chocolate/ovaltine whichever I am having that night.  Don't worry, they will not be thrown away but they will be passed on to a good friend of mine and her Grandaughter who are interested in crafting. 

I thought that tonight I would show you some Candy I have received recently from some wonderful Blogging Friends.

First up is a wonderful box of goodies which I received from the lovely Jo at Jozart.  A few months ago I learnt of a lovely crafter Ethyl who had unfortunately had a terrible accident and was undergoing some serious operations, and her wonderful friend Sheree was asking fellow crafters to make Get Well cards which would be sent on to Ethyl  to help speed her recovery.  Well some other wonderful people offered some gifts which Sheree drew lots from the people who had sent cards.  I was lucky enough to be drawn to receive Jo's gift which was a lovely box full of goodies.  Boy did my face light up when I opened this box.

The second wonderful bit of Candy I received was from Sasa.  Sasa is running a wonderful monthly challenge called MOJO Monthly.  Please visit Sasa as the interviews and challenges really are wonderful. 

Well last month you may remember seeing this....

Well it won the MOJO Monthly and I was lucky enough to receive these.   I am sooo happy as these stamps look wonderful. 

Well, I am off to finish making the Sunday tea now and settle down with some hand quilting in front of the TV for a few hours before going to bed! 

It just remains for me to say a huge Thank You to Sheree, Jo and Sasa. 

See ya soon and have a good week whatever you are up to.  Please keep your fingers crossed that this internet problem stays away.

TTFN

Hettie

WOYWW 118 - Winter's Here Already

Hello there Fellow Crafters.

How are you all doing?  I hope none of you have been blown away by this terrific wind that is howling here in South Wales as I type this. 

Well, here we are again - Wednesday.  And what does that mean to a bunch of about 130+ daft Crafters every week?  NO - it is not bin day or washing day or bath the dog day it is WOYWW Day!! Yeah!!  I love Wednesdays or as it is also known "Hump Day" in our household as once we have hit lunchtime today, it is freewheel to the weekend!! Here goes, here is my mess...

As you can see I have a project on the go, which is a Birthday card for one of the girls I work with Judy - Happy Birthday Judy!!  Not a very good picture as it is dark here in Wales too!!  I received a text last night from a cousin of mine who seemed surprised that we even had electricity in Wales - yes, she will be slapped!!  I have used my  new Sizzix dies which came the other day from a well known seller beginning with Q followed by V and C!!

Not alot to report today, I still have too much to do and not enough days of the week to do it all.  My desk is still a mess and getting worse!  In fact, I think on Sunday I shall take the day to have a good clear up in my room and see what delights are at the bottom of all the piles of "stuff" that I have hanging around waiting to be finished.  I also managed to finish putting the finishing touches to my Bird Cage Tag Swap piece which will have to be posted tomorrow.  I do hope the recipient likes it!  The Swap was organised by the lovely FRANKIE.

Our internet is still dodgy and no doubt if this wind keeps up it will be gone again.  I apologise if I did not get round to you.  If only we could have an 8 day week but still work 5 days, or even better a 4 day working week but still get paid for 5!!

Don't forget to visit the lovely Julia HERE and join in the Hop Around the World via desks!!  Talking about around the world, Mr Michelmas has settled in very well though he likes to be in the kitchen.  He has a particular fondness for oatcakes.  I shall have to find a recipe so that I can keep up with him, Elizabeth if you are reading this I am sure you have a family recipe tucked away somewhere!!  Especially nice with homegrown honey I should imagine.

Bye Bye Folks and please leave a message for me after you have read my wafflings!!

Hettie. 

Get Well Soon Card

Hi there Peeps

My Buddy's Mother was poorly a few weeks ago and was in Hospital for her Birthday, so I sat down and I made a card for her to cheer her up.  I did not want to share it with you until I knew she had received it and then I forgot to share it with you, so I thought I would share it with you tonight.  I hope you like it!

Lots of different stamped and patterned papers which I layered up.  The main flower and stamp is Paperartsy, the swirly stamp is Crafty Individuals and the sentiment is Penny Black.  The butterflies are Martha Stewart punch, the smaller flowers are made from Tonic punchesand the flourish is Sizzix die.

Colours used are Aged Mahogany, Vintage Photo and Walnut stain.

Thanks for looking and please leave me a comment.

Off to bed now as I am up far too late.

TTFN

Hettie