CC101FB September Challenge

Hello Friends

What a cold, wet, miserable Sunday it is today.  I can tell you that 23 years ago today it was a beautiful day with blue sky, hardly a cloud all day and warm!  Oh yes.  How do I know this?  It was Mine and Mr Hettie's Wedding Day!  So what better day is it then to have a play in the Craft Room and have some fun!!   

The guys over at the CC101 Facebook group have had a challenge running all month to emboss a background and use some Tim Holtz Rock Candy Distress Stickles.  I am entering by the skin of my teeth at the 11th hour!!  Here is mine.....

I decided to have a bit of Hallowe'en fun using some new MME stamps which arrived a few days ago.  

Here is a little close up of those stickles...

I used a plethora of DIs (Dusty concord, weathered wood, rusty hinge, wild honey, mustard seed, vintage photo, black soot) as well as Jet black archival ink.

Thanks for popping by and please leave me a comment so I know you have called.  Off out to Dinner shortly at our favourite Pub so must fly!!!

TTFN

Hettie

Rudolph Day - Use it Up - Snippets

Hello Friends

Happy Weekend to you all.  I hope it is going to involve some crafting of some description. 

Me?  I am off down to my friend's for a bit of scrapping fun....it has been too long since Mandy and I scrapped together. I have a dance lesson during the early afternoon which I learnt last night I am teaching due to Johan, my Teacher, having had surgery on her eye yesterday.  Then pop to see my parents and back to Mandy's for some more scrapping!  Busy Busy Busy and Fun Fun Fun!!

Whilst I am out I thought I would show you something I made during the week.  Another C card for the Rudolph Day Challenge with my mate Sandra......

Mr Robin popped by to say "Hello".  

This is another Use It Up card.  The Robins image is part of a C card from last year.  I have made another two cards using this card which I shall share with you soon.  All the other bits of card and paper are out of my Snippets Boxes.  The tag is from my lovely new SU punch and stamp set. Love that set.  The sentiment is from a Papermania set.  Ribbon out of my Snippets ribbon tin.  So with all these Snippets there  is one other place for me to go.....the Playground. Teacher has been cooking again so hopefully there is some left for me!  

TTFN

Hettie

Friday Funny

  The Night Nurse

The more you think about this one, the funnier it gets.
Short & sweet, a good one.

A very tired nurse walks into a bank, totally exhausted after an 18-hour shift. Preparing to write a cheque, she pulls a rectal thermometer out of her purse and tries to write with it. When she realizes her mistake, she looks at the flabbergasted clerk, and without missing a beat, she says:

“Well, that's great....that's just great..........some arsehole's got my pen!”

Happy Birthday Megan - Use it up

Hello Friends

First I would like to say Happy Birthday to my niece Megan today.  She is 24!!!  Yikes!  How did she get to be that old?  Here is the card I made for her......

Still in the mode of "Use it Up" that Sandra has gotten me into.  They say green and blue should not be seen but hey! Why not?

My lovely Friend sent me the image some time ago so I coloured it in, raided my Snippets boxes, used my lovely new SU label punch and added a pre printed sentiment on that I have had since the days of Noah building his Ark!  The embossed circles were all punched circles which I ran through the Big Shot with a Tim Holtz embossing folder.  And LOOK!  I am even using eyelets, again bought when Noah was making his ark!  I heard a rumour that Jewsons is selling out of wood lately as there is a rush on arks! 

You can see my lickle chicken has come over for a peek.  Chikkins sure do like a nosey at whatever you are doing!!

Got my wellies on so off to play in the Playground now!

TTFN

Hettie

A Reflective Piece - CC2C & Tim Holtz

Hello Friends

I thought I would share with you something I have been working on the last few evenings.  Linda over at Studio L3 has asked us to turn to page 57 of the Crafters Compendium II and make a piece of artwork using the technique on that page.  This month The Funkie Junkie Boutique are sponsoring the challenge giving away a $25 voucher.  This week's challenge happens to coincide with Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2012, so it is a twoferone week!!

Here is a my piece.....

A little bit bigger than a tag or card from me this time!!  The whole surround to the mirror is about 11" square.  I have been holding on to it for quite some time with the intention of covering it with paper and making an arty piece but when I saw the new Crafters Compendium with this technique I knew what I would be doing with it.  So, when I saw Linda's Challenge for this week I dug out the mirror and set to work in making this piece. 

I have added some metal embellishments  which I have collected along the way.

Including some watch pieces saved from previous projects,  some of which are real watch pieces.

And of course, some die cuts from Ranger and a rusty cockeral in the middle.  For some reason our cockeral has not quite got used to the darker mornings and is to be heard at 5am!!

I just love this little piece which I bought in Hobbycraft a month or so ago.  Wish I had bought another one now.  I love the way the light reflects on this piece but it makes it difficult to take decent photos, especially early in the morning on a dull day!

Here you can see a before and after version with the back of the mirror as it is now and the new version.  Think I like the right hand one better myself!  (Though I was finding it difficult to take a picture without my face in it....I can assure you that at this close range and first thing in the morning that would be scary!) 

Now what am I going to do with this? is a question I was asked last night by my friend.  Not sure yet.  I thought about a C gift for my nephew and his soon to be wife, but Hubby says no!  Put it in the Den and make another one for Rhys was his reply. The first is always better than subsequent ones. I did warn him that would mean another trip to the "Ishopwhichcannotbenamed" (Ikea!)!!  Hee Hee!  We shall see ey!

Thanks for popping by.  Do go and look at the lovely pieces that have been made both on the Tim Holtz Blog and Linda's.  There are some stunning pieces.  And of course, don't forget to check out the Funkie Junkie if you want/need some stash!

TTFN

Hettie

Rudolph Day - September Eeek!

Hello Friends

Happy Rudolph to one and all!!

Yep! It is that day of the month where some of us (mad) crafters make a Christmas card/tag/pressie/decoration and link up to the Lovely Sandra who organises this event which has been running since January this year.  Here is mine......

As you can see I have used my new stamp which I was lucky enough to win last month on the Rudolph Day.  Thanks Sandra and thanks Elizabeth for donating the stamp.  It was fun colouring it all in with my Copics and I have used all Snippets so I can take Rudolph to the Playground too.  I even broke out my SU pleated ribbon for this card, but only a little bit.  Don't want to use it all up too soon!  It is sooo lovely!

You have a week to join in the fun of Rudolph Day and there is a fabulous stamp set which you can win this month.  

Thanks for popping by and have a very Happy Rudolph Day!

Hettie

Use it Up Birthday Card

Hello Friends

My Buddy Sandra has been a good influence on me and I have been using up some of my  bits 'n pieces that I have had in my Craft Room for a while including stamped images, papers, cards, Snippets and the like.  Here is a Birthday Card I have made using a stamped House Mouse image which my good Buddy sent to me a while ago.

Coloured in with my Copics and a little sparkly embossing powder to add some sparkle to the icing.

The card itself came in a kit from a well known TV Shopping channel with three letters a loooong time ago, and I am not keen on them because they are pre-printed so you have to choose carefully what you are going to put on them but I think this image works.  A few old brads and some ribbled cardstock (which is straight honest) and a little Banana Frog sentiment stamped and cut with a Nestie.  

I am linking this up to the Playground as there are a few Snippets used in this card.  

Thanks for popping by.  The Treehouse is now complete I believe though it needs some decorating and finishing off inside.  Just as well as the weather is sooo pants now!

TTFN

Hettie

Pink Birthday Card for my Pink Friend!

Hello Friends

It was recently a very good Blogging Friend of mine's birthday, you know who you are, and because I didn't want her to see her card whilst she was away on holiday, I didn't post it here until now. I know she has seen it so it is okay!  

A very pink card for a very pink kinda lady!

I even stamped the reverse as I was going to tease her with it!  I used spun sugar and tattered rose DIs for the background and aged mahogany for the stamping (black for the lickle stampings on the reverse for those smarty pants who are reading this!).  The stamps on the front are Penny Black, Hero Arts and SU and the reverse is Tim Holtz. The two little stamps "handmade by" and "hand made in Wales" are what I use on all my cards and are so old I have no idea what make they are!  And of course I had to include a Snippet on the front as well as the Snippet fibres. 

Thanks for popping by and have a good week!

TTFN

Hettie

Friday Funny

A friend of mine found out that her dog (a Schnauzer) could hardly hear, so she took it to the veterinarian. The vet found that the problem was hair in the dog's ears. He cleaned both ears, and the dog could then hear fine. The vet then proceeded to tell Andrea that, if she wanted to keep this from recurring, she should go to the store and get some "Nair" hair remover and rub it in the dog's ears once a month.     Andrea went to the store and bought some "Nair" hair remover.  At the register, the pharmacist told her, "If you're going to use this under your arms, don't use deodorant for a few days." Andrea said, "I'm not using it under my arms."  The pharmacist said, "If you're using it on your legs, don't use body lotion for a couple of days." Andrea replied, "I'm not using it on my legs either.  If you must know, I'm using it on my Schnauzer."  The pharmacist says, "Well, stay off your bicycle for about a week."

CC2C - 21st Challenge - Blended Stains

Hello Friends

Linda over at Studio L3 has asked us this week to pop over to page 45 of the Compendium of Curiosities for this week's Challenge and follow the instructions on that page and make your project.  This week the lovely Guys and Gals at Simon Says Stamp are sponsoring the Challenge too!  Simon Says Stamp are also asking us to use Tape on their Challenge this week so I am entering this piece there too! 

Here is my take on the Technique.....

As you see I have a bit of a "Love" theme going possibly due to it being mine and Mr Hettie's wedding anniversary coming up.  For the tag I used some SU Very Vanilla cardstock and my TH tag die and a mixture of Dusty Concord, Chipped Sapphire, Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint and Black Soot Distress Stains and Distress Inks.  The background stamp is my TH Butterfly collection and stamped with Cobalt Archival ink.

For the tape I used Purple Archival ink and my TH Christmas stamp to stamp on some masking tape.  I then added a little Dusty Concord DI ink once it had dried. The Lace was created using my TH lace die.  The flowers were made using the TH Pinecone die, glue gun and I added some DI and micro beads to the centre.  You can see the bees have been and dropped some pollen on their way out!

I finished it off with a word tag, again from TH and some ribbon bought on our recent trip to Prague!   Now that I have completed this tag, I have plans to use it on a scrapbook layout using a photo taken on our recent trip to Buckingham Palace.

Thanks for popping by.  Do go and see some of the other wonderful pieces using this technique.

TTFN

Hettie

First Day at School....Scrapbook Layout

Hello Friends

A week or so ago I watched a video by Donna Arkle where she demonstrated the use of spray inks to transform plain white paper into beautiful multicoloured papers.  Donna used the backs of papers in her stash and Dylusions inks.  Not (yet) having Dylusions inks why not use my Colourwash sprays?  So armed with some music in my player, some paper stash which I have had for eons and never use, my Colourwash sprays, a spray bottle of water  and all the mini  mister sprays with all sorts of colours used for previous projects....oh! and a glass of wine, I set about spending a happy evening spraying.  

Oh what fun it was and totally liberating.  I highly recommend it as some of the results are gorgeous and I am really pleased with.  This one screamed school photo at me.  Possibly because my school badge was blue and red, and my uniform was navy blue with red, yellow, white or pale blue shirts or jumpers.  

I used my white embossing powder and a new Papermania ruler stamp to stamp the background. Then removing the stamp from the block I inked it again with Black Soot and "rolled" the stamp in order to get little bits of stamping on there (no idea what the technical term is but I am sure you get my drift).  These two photos hopefully show you what I mean.

I also splattered some yellow acrylic paint on the background before adding the papers and other elements.

I added some Papermania sheets from Boofle collection and the Portobello Road collections along with a yellow mat for the photo. 

Using the Silhouette I printed and cut the Boy, Girl and School Flashcards, the First Day bingo card and the Listening Watching Learning tab.

Some rub-ons with red brads were the final touch and that meant quite a few bits have been used up!  

I hope you like what I have shown you today and feel inspired to give your spray inks a new lease of life.  

Thanks for popping by and please don't forget to sign in the Visitors Book

TTFN

Hettie

P.S. This is my niece and nephew - twins!!

Gosh this year is flying by...

Hello Friends

I don't know about you but I really feel like this year is whizzing by at a fast rate of knots!  I am late writing this after watching Downton Abbey!!

Take this afternoon for instance.  As I was putting my washing out on the line (sadly only for a short while I hasten to add) I noticed that the hips on our rose bush were ready to be picked to make some of my infamous Rose Hip Jelly.  When it is time for me to make this I know that winter is around the corner.  Here is part of the bush awaiting picking....

And Hubby dared to take a photo of me in action....

Please excuse the Boris hairdo!!  Can you tell I didn't use a hairdryer or wax on my hair this morning?  Hubby was fast asleep, being on nights, so I chose to give my hair a day off and not to use the hairdryer for fear of waking him!!  And it is now in need of a haircut.  Roll on Thursday for that!

Here you can see nearly 3kg of rose hips which I have now put in the freezer ready for when I have a few apples available to go in the pot to make the lovely jelly.  Three reasons for putting the hips in the freezer....(1) I can choose when I wish to make the jelly, (2) the recipe calls for you to quarter the hips in order to break them down a little quicker, by freezing them there is no need to quarter them which is not the nicest of jobs and (3) I can wait for the apples to catch up so the jelly is truly homemade. I am hoping there is enough to make some rose hip syrup too, to help prevent coughing and spluttering over the winter!!

If you have some hips and would like to make the Rose Hip Jelly, (delicious with your Christmas Dinner - oops, I have used the "C" word!!),  I will be happy to e-mail the recipe to you. Just drop me your e-mail address on the Contact Me link above.   

Thanks for popping by.  I hope you had a good weekend and have a good week ahead.

TTFN

Hettie

Friday Funny

A silly Friday Funny for you as sent to me by a man!!

I was visiting my daughter last night when I asked if I could borrow a newspaper.

'This is the 21st century, old man,' she said. 'We don't waste money on newspapers. Here, you can borrow my iPad.'

I can tell you, that bloody fly never knew what hit it... 

Well.  It made me laugh!!

Chooks away.....

Hello Friends

I had some bits on my desk the other day and rather than pop them into my Snippets box I thought I would whisk up a card to go in my basket.......

The Chook stamp is a Penny Black coloured with Copics. The pearlised purple card (behind the image) is left over from a project and the embossed piece was embossed using a Boofle folder.  

Looks like today is shaping up to be a nice one weatherwise so I have the washing machine on ready for Hubby to put my quilt out later.  Not the one I showed you yesterday but one I made a looooong time ago.  Maybe I will share that one with you soon.  I had a swap around the other day on the bed.  

Thanks for popping by and Hello to Sarah, my latest Follower.  Nice of you to join me.  

See ya!

Hettie

WOYWW 171 - New Desk Friends

Hello Friends

It is Wednesday so therefore time for a trip around the world via crafting desks, otherwise known as WOYWW, with the wonderful Julia. I know I am not a particularly regular WOYWWer but I do try to ensure a visit once in a while.  I was going to join last week but unfortunately I had a prior engagement at a certain large house in London whose family have been featuring a lot this year!  Wink Wink, say no more!!  Unfortunately, the family were visiting Scotland, but they didn't mind my popping by for a nosey around whilst they were out!  

Right, I digress.  Here is my desk.  Photo taken about 9pm last night as I left it.  Yep!  It is tidy.  The Tidy Fairies have paid a visit.  Well it was that or ironing!!  I am sure we can manage the morning rummage for pants for a day or so longer for the sake of my Craft Room!!  TMI??

And look at that!  Monkey has a new friend courtesy of Doone!  Looks like she has settled in already.  Haven't got a name for her yet so suggestions would be grateful!  Kitty has a twinnie and you can see her in the last picture below.

I thought I would update you on my quilt too.  I spent a very late Friday/early Saturday putting all the blocks together and the border.  Needless to say I was a little weary eyed when I called into bed on Saturday morning and not an alcoholic beverage passed my lips either!  Just a final cream border, backing, quilting and edging border and hey presto it will be finished!  I have actually ready drawn the quilting pattern on the cream panels but not sure if you can pick the design up.  A little larger than 12" wouldn't you say?!!

And here you can see my twinnie kitties with the loot which I recently received from Doone.  I won the handbag charm (still in the lovely packaging here next to pink twinnie) as part of the Blog Hop on 1 August, and I was to choose any item off Doone's desk.  However, I asked Doone to choose something for me so it would be a surprise, which it was.  Delighted I am too! Fankoo! After having had some disappointing news in the post that day this really cheered me up!! Fankoo so much Donna.  I cannot wait to use the stamp!

Right!  That is enough from me today.  Click HERE to be transported around the world in 180 or so desks!  Please sign into the Guest Book so I know you have been.

TTFN

Hettie

P.S.   I just want to say "Happy Birthday" to a good friend of mine, who is currently away on the other side of the planet, but hopefully she may see this message at some point.  I would show you her card but she may see it.  Don't drink too many of those fancy cocktails Honey! xx

CC2C - Christmas is coming....

Hello Friends

The Lovely Linda over at Studio L3 has asked us this week to turn to page 44 of the Compendium of Curiosities book II, follow the instructions and put the technique to use.  Well, as Christmas is lurking ever closer this technique was crying out for me to play with some recently acquired stamps to let them play!

Here is the first one using Pine Needles, Pumice Stone and Walnut Stain DIs on cream cardstock.  I then used some Christmas paper and punched a strip using my EK Success 2in1 punch adding some stickles to add a touch of sparkle. punched a label to add a sentiment on edging with Fired Brick DI.

And for the second stamp I used Coffee Archival ink, Antique Linen and Walnut Stain DIs on white cardstock.  For the background papers I used some glassine and alcohol inks and then layered this onto some more Christmas Bo Bunny card and wrapped some fibres tying them in a bow.  Both stamps are Inkadinkado.

Loved the look of this technique and can see some more Christmas cards coming up using this technique.  Thanks Linda!

There is still time if you wish to join in with this technique.  You just need to ensure you have Mr Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities II book and play along.  Don't forget to pop along to Tim Holtz's website for more ideas and how tos.  

Thanks for popping by.  

TTFN 

Hettie

Twinchie Card - Tempus Fugit

Hello Friends

I wanted to send a card to my Aunt and Uncle, not seen them for a while and I want to pop by and see them next month, so I thought I would make a lickle Twinchie card.  I thought the "Tempus Fugit" stamp (free from Craft Stamper magazine) was quite appropriate in the circumstances! 

Some Snippets including Basic Grey, some "lace" I made for a project and Bazzill cardstock all out of my Snippets boxes (yes I have more than one box of Snippets) so I can take this into the Playground whilst Teacher is still on her "Teacher Training"!!   The dandelion stamp and flower are from Hero Arts and the Hello is an SU stamp.  There are also some Perfect Pearls but not that you can see in this photo.  My favourite technique of spritz and flick in evidence here too! (Sorry it is not the best photo but I took it under electric light!  The card is white honest!)

Thanks for visiting and please sign in so I know you have been here.

Hugs

Hettie

ATS Sketch Challenge - Helicopter Flight Layout

Hello Friends

See! I told you I would be better this week at blogging!

As some of you are aware, I have recently taken part in a few ATS Challenges.  This week they have given us a sketch to work from.  This one....

After checking with my Buddy Victoria that scrapbook layouts were acceptable, an idea was formed in my head of making this layout.....

Perhaps it was the fact that the rotar blades go round in circles, I don't quite know why I thought of it as circles?  The larger of the two photographs has been hanging around waiting to be scrapped for some time and I was able to print the smaller one on my printer.  I also added to the circles by using spotty papers.

As scrapbooking usually incorporates the rule of 3s I added a third much smaller circle of a compass - an essential tool for flying!

For the downward stripes I used my new EK Success 2in1 punch and stamped the lower "stripe" to look like a log book.  And as it was Hubby's birthday present, I was able to use my SU bunting punch and stamps.  I do soo love this set in case you haven't noticed!  The labels were made using my Silhouette.   The journalling box was stamped on a Snippet of card.  

Here you can see the stamping detail and brads which I put on all the corners.  I stamped but did not put the brad in the bottom right corner.

And then......

..... as I have a couple of birthdays coming up I decided to use the sketch and make some cards in readiness using the Snippets left over!  This way it saved adding more Snippets to my already bulging Snippets boxes! I am linking this to the Snippets Playground even though Teacher is currently skiving I mean on holiday, and shopping til she drops by the sound of it!  Never mind, by the time she comes back the Treehouse will be built and the chicken coup will be chosen.  See HERE if you want to vote in the coup poll!

These are all the Snippets left from the three sheets of patterned paper and a piece of cream for the journalling I used!  This paper was great as it was quite thick and double sided!  (The brown with spots are on the back of the stripes).

Thanks for popping by and please leave me a comment so I know you have been.  

Have a great week whatever you are doing.  I am now going to go downstairs and try and get the colourwash off my mitts before I go to work in the morning!  I will share what I have been doing shortly!

Tally ho and see ya soon!

Hugs

Hettie xx