CC101 - ATS - Joan's Birthday Card

Hello Friends

If you are looking for the Friday Funny post, don't fret, it is below this one.  I know, I don't usually do two posts in one day but needs must today!

You see I wanted to share with you my Mum-in-Law's birthday card as it is her birthday today!  Happy Birthday Joan!

The Peeps over at the Facebook group of CC101 wanted to see us use one of my favourite techniques "Spritz and Flick" and the Peeps over at ATS wanted to see Clean and Simple, so I mixed the two together and came up with this....

I first made a mask using a 5x7" card, cutting out the centre piece, then inked the centre with Mustard seed and Broken china DIs.  Spritzed and flicked then removed the mask and dried the card.  I used Cobalt Archival ink to ink up my Inkadinkado Hydrangea stamp and stamped this over the centre of the card.

Whilst I was looking for a sentiment to stamp on the card I came across the butterfly stamp and again using the Archival ink I stamped then watercoloured using the same DIs.  I decided against the usual HB as Joan still has the card up I made her two years ago.  Hopefully  Joan will like this one as much as she does love blue.  

Have a Great Weekend which hopefully involves plenty of crafting!

Don't forget to leave me a comment so I know you have been.

Hugs

Hettie

Friday Funny - Heartwarming Lawyer

One afternoon, a lawyer was riding in his limousine when he saw two men along the road-side eating grass.

Disturbed, he ordered his driver to stop and got out to investigate.

He asked one man, "Why are you eating grass?"

"We don't have any money for food," the poor man replied. "We have to eat grass."

"Well, then, you can come with me to my house and I'll feed you," the lawyer said.

"But sir, I have a wife and two children with me. They are over there, under that tree."

"Bring them along," the lawyer replied.

Turning to the other poor man he stated, "You may come with us,also."
The second man, in a pitiful voice, then said, "But sir, I also have a wife and six children with me!"

"Bring them all as well," the lawyer answered.

They all entered the car, which was no easy task, even for a car as large as the limousine.

Once under way, one of the poor fellows turned to the lawyer and said,"Sir, you are too kind. Thank you for taking all of us with you.?

The lawyer replied, "Glad to do it. You'll really love my place. The grass is almost a foot high."

Come on now...you really didn't think there was such a thing as a heartwarming lawyer story...did you?

Rudolph Day - When one became two...

Hello Friends

No!  I am not talking about divorces or anything nasty like that.  I was in my Room fiddling about with some C cards which I was going to recycle when I came across a card, which despite having fabulous images on I knew was too big for me to make another card with.  So.  Rather than bin the card, I cut it into two pieces, trimmed them a little and made two cards for the Rudolph Day Challenge!  

Along with some Snippets and stickers that I have had forever I now have another two cards for my Christmas card tin!  I even the like the top one with the cat on!!  

Hope you like and thanks for looking.  Why not recycle some of your old C cards and join in?  you have until Saturday!

Hugs

Hettie

Scrapbook Layout - ATS - Flowers - Megan

Hello Friends

I can call you a Friend can't I?  We are all friends here aren't we?

The lovely peeps over at ATS (Addicted to Stamps) have asked us to use Flowers as our topic for this month's Scrapbook Layout.  With this in mind I set off to hunt down a particular photograph which needed scrapbooking.  However, as luck would have it I could not find it.  But....fear not!  I came across this photograph of my youngest niece (24 next month and a professional dancer/choreographer - how did that happen?), which photograph also was in need of scrapbooking.  

I first cut out some Daisies and the spikey flower from the Tattered Florals dies, both from Sizzix, using funky foam.  I placed them in turn on my sticky block and using TH acrylic paint I stamped the whole background with flowers and set the cardstock aside to dry.

Whilst the background piece was drying I cut a white shaped piece using my Silhouette cutter (I know there is a name for this kind of shape but I cannot remember it now) and then stamped and embossed flowers using my Mixed Bunch stamp from Stampin Up.  Then the fun began.  I took my pokey tool, using the dots on the flowers as guide, I poked holes ready for me to stitch through with some embroidery thread. Yep! this took a while.  Nine flowers and 24 petals per flower.  Once I had completed this I went around the edge using my sewing machine, first with black thread and then again with yellow thread.  Finally I gently distressed the edge and inked with Black Soot DI.

.

I knew that this TH stamp would fit the bill for a title so I cut out the shape from a Sizzix die, stamped the flowers using Archival ink and set to dry.  I then stamped giggle using Archival ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.  Then I took my Mustard Seed DI and painted the flowers using a water brush.  Once this was all dry I faux stitched the edge with a black pen and inked the edge with Black Soot and popped a threaded button on the left.

Using a piece of Snippets card, I stamped three flowers to match the flowers on the white paper, punched them out and swiped two of the flowers with Mustard Seed DS.  I then cut down each petal on the white and one yellow flowers.  Then, using a kebab stick (very useful craft tool - thanks Hels for that tip!) I curled every other petal in towards the centre of the flower, layered all three flowers and fastened together with a brad, adhering the layered flower to the bottom left of the photograph.  

Here you can see some of the painted flowers in detail.  Once the white paint had dried I took my Mustard Seed DS and just "splodged" the DS into the centre of each flower.  I did not want a defined line and wanted it to look natural.  Whilst the DS was wet you could see where droplets had flicked onto the black cardstock, but you could not see this once it had dried!

Again, using Snippets, I had a rummage in the lace tin and found a perfect sized piece of lace to place across the layout, I cut some "lace" using the TH Sizzlitt die and after another rummage in the ribbon tin, found just the right sized piece of black rik rak which I layered and fastened with staples.

The final touch was to thread some buttons and attach the same to the middles of the flowers.  

I hope you like and feel inspired to make a layout of your own to join in the Challenge.  I certainly enjoyed doing this layout even if it did take nearly all day to complete.  Well, what else do you do on a wet miserable Bank Holiday Monday?

Thanks for looking and thanks also to my lovely new Followers Lynne, Louise and Barbara.  

TTFN

Hettie

Twinchies - Show us a Flower

Hello Bloggers

The Folks over at Twinchie Land have asked us to "Add a flower" for this current challenge. So here are mine.....

And as usual I have turned them into cards so that they serve a purpose....

The images are from a new set of stamps which my buddy Kim sent to me for my birthday by Inkadinkado - thank you again Kim, and all the sentiments are from the same set, bar the Happy Anniversary which is by Hero Arts.  A little Distress Ink water colouring using a water colour brush and edging before mounting onto cardstock and then adhereing onto cards.  The Anniversary one is for my Mum and Dad who celebrate their 57th Anniversary next month.  Hmmn!  Not long until their Diamond Anniversary, but mine and the current Mr Hettie's Silver Anniversary is before then.  Gosh!  That makes me feel soooo old!  Especially when you consider that I was one of the last from my year at school who got married!  Awwww!  Such a Happy Day!! 

All the cardstock came from the Snippets box so I will be throwing these into the Snippets Playground.  Hope they don't get wet!

Huh hum!  Back to business!  There is still time (just) if you should want to join in with the Challenge.  Click HERE for details.

Hugs

Hettie

Scrapbooking Layout - Too Busy to Notice

Hello Bloggers

Well, I had a whole heap of plans for what I was going to achieve today but so far I have only managed one!  Best laid plans.... springs to mind.  However, what I have achieved I am very happy with and I will share with you tomorrow.  But for now I thought I would share a layout from PB days!  No.  Not Penny Black but Pre-Blogging days.  They seem such a long time ago but in reality they aren't that long!

These photos were taken when I went on a retreat in Cornwall with Linda at Just Scrapbooking.  I arrived the afternoon before the retreat was due to start as it was a 5 hour drive and I didn't want to be worried about getting there on time and I also wanted some rest before I started.  So after Dinner I went for a wander in the gardens and sure enough a photo opportunity presented itself!

Hope you like.....

Funny enough this was before we had our bees!  Thanks to my little notebook I can tell you I completed this layout on 20th July 2010.

Back to work tomorrow and scary thought.....this is the last Bank Holiday until December 25th!  

Have a great week everyone!

Hugs

Hettie

Rudolph Day - Only a few hours late!!

Hello There Peeps

Happy Belated Rudolph Day to y'all!  Sorry I am late.  I actually made this card yesterday but did absolutely nothing on the computer yesterday so it is not getting posted today.  Well, what is a few hours between friends ey?!

So without further ado.....

A Kanban sheet of sparkly cardstock with stars on, some ribbon and a stamped sentiment (I stamped this last year sometime and it was my friend's stamp so I have no idea what make it is).  The gold star was cut out using my Quickutz squeezy die (I managed not to cut myself this time too!  Just as well as I didn't fancy trying to get blood of the gold cardstock!)

When you open the card the wooden Nativity scene is suspended in the circle and moves with a light breeze!  Liking this idea.  The circle was cut using my Nesties and a gold circle placed behind the scene so that it reflects the scene.  

Don't forget you have until 1 September to join in on the Rudolph Day challenge and there is a super Penny Black stamp which will be finding a new home with some lucky participant.

There are also some snippets there so I will be joining in the Playground with this.  I wonder if the Treehouse is completed yet!

See ya there.

Hugs

Hettie 

Friday Funny - The Monks

THE MONKS...

A young monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to helping the other monks in copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand.

He notices, however, that all of the monks are copying from copies, not from the original manuscript. So, the new monk goes to the head Abbot to question this, pointing out that if someone made even a small error in the first copy, it would never be picked up! In fact, that error would be continued in all of the subsequent copies.

The head monk, says, "We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son."

He goes down into the dark caves underneath the monastery where the original manuscripts are held as archives in a locked vault that hasn't been opened for hundreds of years. 

Hours go by and nobody sees the old Abbot . . .

So, the young monk gets worried and goes down to look for him. He sees him banging his head against the wall and wailing.

"We missed the R !

We missed the R !

We missed the R !"

His forehead is all bloody and bruised and he is crying uncontrollably. The young monk asks the old Abbot, "What's wrong, father?"

With a choking voice, the old Abbot replies,

"The word was...

"CELEBRATE !!!"

CC2C - Card for my Daddy

Hello Peeps

It is time for me to share with you the card I have made using the technique which the Lovely Linda has asked us to use this week.  Linda asked us to turn to page 47 of the Second Compendium of Curiosities Book (I do so hope Mr Holtz is working on the Third book!).  This week the Challenge is being sponsored by Funkie Junkie, who are giving away a $25 gift voucher, so it is worth joining in.   As is the Rules I cannot tell you what the technique involves but here is what I made using it.  A card with Lilies on for my Dad whose birthday it is on Friday.  He does so love his flowers so I used more "manly" colours for this card.

I used a little Spritz and Flick technique on the background and on this second photograph I was trying to show the Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls mist but I am not sure if you can see it.

The stamp is a new one I bought on Sunday, and silly me I have forgotten to look what make it is to let you know.  It was a bargain at £4.99 BOGOF!!  Woo Hoo!  Love the old bargains.

Layered using Snippets from my boxes and I used Brushed Corduroy, Mustard Seed, Victorian Velvet, Broken China, Peeled Paint DIs as well as Picket Fence Distress Stains.  Martha Stewart Butterflies as well as my favourite Tim Holtz flourish stamp and my distressing tool around all the edges.  

Thanks for looking and please leave a comment in the Visitor's Book so I know you have been.

TTFN

Hettie

WOYWW 168 - New Desk Please!

Hello Peeps

It is Wednesday which means some of us Bloggers take part in the Biggest Weekly Blog Hop in the World!! (probably).  You know the one....take a picture of your desk, floor, table, chair and post it on your blog, link it with the Lushious Julia and take a dash around the Globe!

Here is my lovely "new" desk which Hubby and I picked up about 10 days ago.  We went to an auction at which we used to be regulars "just for a peek" and before I knew it I was bidding for an old fashioned pine table (something I have always wanted for my kitchen, no chance unless I have an extension on the house as I have a long thin galley kitchen!) Why not have it for my room? I thought.  No worries!!  However, the first worry was how on earth we get a 72" table into a small hatchback?  We did, upside down and back door open all the way home!!  Phew!

So having sanded the table to get rid of the pen, ink, paint and general detritus I then waxed, polished, waxed and polished again and we got it upstairs - through the window - we must have looked hilarious to onlookers, and in to my room.  As I mentioned, it is 72" long, the old one being only 48"!! and it is about 12" deeper than the old one.  "It will fit - no problem"!!  Well it did after a bit of jiggery pokery!

Love my new table as I now have more room to just "put" things on like the basket of fat quarters which are just behind the lamp on the top picture and I can still put my cutting mat on and cut fabric WITHOUT having to put the machine on the floor.

In this basket is some 200+ triangle squares which will form the outer border of my Challenge quilt which I showed you the beginning of a short while ago.

And here are some of the blocks.  Only problem is I have since found out that the Challenge quilts are only to be 12" square!!  Oops!!  I feel pretty silly really, especially when you consider I am on the Committee.  However, someone else on the Committee thought it was "any size" though she hasn't actually started hers yet!  Never mind ey!  I will at least have a lovely quilt, and another entry into our Festival next year.  I even bought the backing fabric for it at the NEC Festival of Quilts last week so was well pleased.

Well, enough from me.  Thanks for letting me chat about my new table and quilt WIP.  Now, click HERE where you will be transported by Magic Quilt to the lovely Julia and pop over to see some other blogs who will show you what they are currently working on!

Hugs

Hettie

Happy Birthday Lesley - Some More Snippets

Hello Peeps

You may remember the Bingo card I made last week, well I did not want to put the Snippets back into the box so I thought I would make my Buddy Lesley's Birthday Card for her.  As it is her Birthday today here it is (I didn't dare post it yesterday in case she peeped!)

As you can see I have used my lovely Penny Black stamp with the flowers coloured with my Copic pen to match the dusky pinks.  I have also used some Victorian Velvet DI (seem to be favouring that lately), my Tonic punches that you can weave to make 3D flowers with little glimmerey spots in the middles. The stamp was inked with Coffee Archival ink.

The Birthday Girl has now seen it and I can report that she really liked it!  Phew!

I will be joining in with the Playground with this card.  I hear from the Jungle Drums that there is a Tree House in construction! Yeay!  At least I will have somewhere I can hide when I need to!  It will also give us somewhere to go when it is raining and we have had enough of splashing in the puddles!  Will it have a kettle Di?

Thanks for looking and please don't forget to sign in the Visitor's Book!

TTFN

Hettie

Christmas Card - Snippets

Hello Bloggers - I am back!

No, I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth, only had two lovely days at the NEC in Birmingham at the Quilt Exhibition.  I came home Friday evening tired, het up over the stop-start-stop traffic all the way home, and most definitely spent out!  Fergus came too and had his photo taken.  Will show you that another time!

I then went to Pontadarwe (near Swansea) on Saturday morning, after first driving part way and realising I had no indicators so had to stop, fiddle with the fuses then Hubby brought  Fran's car down and we went on our way!  Yesterday I tried to play catch up with housework, take my friend to the Retail Park (bought myself a lovely skirt in M&S for £1.50!! Gotta love bargains!) and then home to play more housework catching up and then flopped onto the settee for some well earned rest.  

Hopefully I will be able to play Blog catchup later this evening!

In the meantime, I thought I would show you a Christmas card I made last week!  Oops!  I mentioned the "C" word!  

The panel with the holly stamping on was made using a stamp which I embossed with white on a piece of watercolour paper.  I then stamped over the top with alcohol inks with a dash of gold in (you may just about see the shimmer).  I then made the tag (which comes out so the recipient may wish to recycle it next year) and I even used a sticker - yes - a STICKER!  I keep buying stickers and hardly ever use them! Oh! and some buttons.  All the papers were from my Snippets piles so I can join in the Playground.  I wonder if there is a hammock in the trees?

Hope you like and do not forget it is Rudolph Day on Saturday with my lovely Buddy Sandra at Stamping for Pleasure, so why not make a Christmas card or something and get an early start for this year?

TTFN

Hettie.

Friday Funny

WRONG EMAIL ADDRESS 

A Scottish couple decided to go to Spain to thaw out during a particularly icy winter.

They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier.

Because of hectic schedules, it was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules.

So, the husband left Glasgow and flew to Barcelona on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day.

The husband checked into the hotel. 

There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an email to his wife. 

However, he accidentally left out one letter in her email address, and without realizing his error, sent the email.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Blackpool , a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral.

He was a minister who died following a heart attack. 

The widow decided to check her email expecting messages from relatives and friends.

After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted. 

The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:

To: My Loving Wife 

Subject: I've Arrived 

Date: October 16, 2008 

I know you're surprised to hear from me. 

They have computers here now and you are allowed to send emails to your loved ones.

I've just arrived and have been checked in. 

I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. 

Looking forward to seeing you then! 

Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.

PS: F***ing hot down here! 

Soo Excited - Scrapbook Layout

Hello Bloggers

When I was removing photographs from a photo album the other week I came across this photo of my eldest Niece Angharad on her 4th birthday sooo many years ago.  I didn't put it away into the storage boxes, but instead left it out to scrapbook.  Another scraplift from Scrap 365!

I used K&Company, Bazzill, Bo Bunny and Snippets papers.  I also used my new Toy for the first time, my lovely shiny new Cricut!  Love it!

Making Memories little word stamps, Stampin Up, Tim Holtz script stamps as well my Nesties.

And what can I say?  String!  Love string on a layout! Oh and coloured eyelets in pink and brown as well as a pretty brad.

Here I used the Tim Holtz stamp on the Labels die.  I used shadow cutting on my Cricut for the title.  I used some stamps around the edge as well (not used until now!) inked with Vintage Photo DI.  The edge die is a Martha Stewart.  

Thanks for looking and please leave me a comment in the box so I know you have been.  I am away for the next few days at NEC Quilt Exhibition!  Woo Hoo!

Hugs

Hettie

CC2C - Cordinations Challenge

Hello there Bloggers.  Happy Tuesday to you and I hope the weather is being kinda OK or better, i.e. not raining!

Linda over at Studio L3 has set us the task of turning to page 61 of Vol 2 of Mr Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities where you will find this week's technique, which involves Cordinations papers.  This week the lovely Guys and Gals at Simon Says Stamp are offering a prize of £25 to one lucky participant so it is worth joining in if you can.  Click HERE for details of this week's challenge with Linda.

The Peeps at Simon Says Stamp are also asking you to use your favourite technique for a chance to win $50 and as this piece includes a few of my favourite techniques I shall be entering it there too.  If you have not noticed the new blinkie on the top of my margin, I was very lucky to come in the Top 3 last week with THIS piece and I was on Cloud 9 when I found out on Friday.  Thank you!  

I have to confess that I only recently ventured into my Cordinations book and actually used any of the papers last week when I made the Christmas Trees.  You see, I like to hoard them until I find the right project for them.  I had the urge to use the Victorian Velvet sheet for this project as I was finally going to use my Destinations papers, which again I have had a while but not used, and there are hints of Victorian Velvet  in the paper.

Right then, enough waffling.  Here is the layout which I have created using the technique on page 61.....

One of our favourite photos of the Eiffel Tower as it shows the sheer awesomeness of the Tower as well as the ingenuity which went into building it all those years ago.  The text was cut out using my latest toy, my Cricut using the font Stone Script.  The centre panel next to the photo has had a mixture of DI and gold wax rubbed over the embossing.  Throughout this layout I have used Victorian Velvet, Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo DIs and all edges were distressed using the TH Distressor and Walnut Stain DI.

I recently came across my tin of stamps which I used to collect as a child (just a couple of years ago!) and so I decided to have a little rummage through the tin as I was sure there would be some French stamps in there.  Sure enough there were and the stamp which is still affixed to the envelope with the frank mark on there is dated 1980! The stamp to the left is actually a Tim Holtz stamp, and the mini map is a Cavallini sticker. The sprockets are TH as well as the film strip. All the brads I used I bashed with my TH hammer.  It is OK, I am old enough to use a hammer unsupervised!  We came back from Paris with somewhere 700 photographs between us!  I love this little heart charm but cannot remember where I bought it!  There had to be a heart on there somewhere as it was our 20th Wedding Anniversary (I was a child bride!).

Unfortunately I have taken these photos under lights and you cannot see the full effect of Perfect Pearls (PP) which despite being one of the messier products to use, is one of my favourites and I like to stamp on paper using DI and then powder the PPs and then mist to wick the ink underneath.  You can also see some PP used on the tag too.  More of that to come in a moment.

Here you can see the stamping direct on to the background and the washi tape and tissue tape I have used.  I only have two washi tapes but I can see I will possibly be buying more at some stage!  There has to be some purple tape available somewhere!

Here you can see the tag which I have removed from behind the photograph.  I got the distressed effect by placing a TH flourish mask on my craft mat, then placing the tag over the top and sanding the card with my sanding block. Loved doing this and cannot believe it has been ages since I last used this technique.  Then I stamped a flourish over the top and dusted with PP.

Thanks for visiting today and please sign in the Visitor's Book so I know you have been here.

Hugs

Hettie

Happy Birthday Mackensie - ATS Bingo Card

Hello Bloggers

I will apologise now for any errors in this post but I am writing this whilst watching the Closing Ceremony of the Olympics so am basically touch typing while I watch what is happening!  Loving it.  I also want to say Well Done to the guys and gals who have brought a GREAT Olympics from the people who built it, the volunteers working there, volunteers, children and stars who worked on the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, organisors and of course.....the Athletes.  BRILLIANT!  You all deserve gold medals!

Right.  Down to business.  Today's card.  It is a birthday card for my Best Friend's daughter Mackensie who will be 10 on Wednesday.  Where has the time gone since I first held her in my arms?  I have used the ATS's Bingo Card Challenge to create this card.  

I chose the line Flowers, Emboss and Ribbon.  So here is the first photo which shows the embossing, ribbon and the true colours of the card....

The second card shows the flowers on the bottom of the card......

And here is the complete card, which also shows the decorated envelope.  Unfortunately, the colours are not  quite as they should be.  The previous photographs are more accurate.  Not sure why as they were all taken at the same time.  I cannot rephotograph it as I popped down to give the Birthday Girl her card and pressie today ready for Wednesday.  Ho Hum.

I have also used Snippets to make this card so I shall be popping it into the Playground too!  Can you believe we are on week 33 already?  Gosh this year is flying by very fast! 

Right then.  I am sorry to make this short but I want to see the rest of the party.  I also want one of those red outfits that the girls who accompanied the flag bearers are wearing.  I wonder if we will see them on eBay in my size??

Thanks for joining me and before I go I must say Hi to Ann, Natasha, Zoe and Barbara and a huge Thank You for following me and also I mustn't forget LLJ who joined me earlier this week.  Five new followers in one week!  Thank you to all my Followers for choosing to fly with me!

TTFN and I hope you all have a good week.  What are we going to do with no Olympics now?  Oh yes I know.  Crafting with CDs on and little distraction!

Hugs

Hettie