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

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

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 

Happy Birthday Cherry...

Hello there

I do hope you are all keeping warm and cosy and not snowed in.  But then again....all that extra time to play in the craft room!  Not such a bad thought after all is it?

Towards the end of last year when I was in the C mode it was Cherry's birthday.  Now I usually try and make a card with a Cherry on there somewhere but this year I decided to open the Tin of Shame and make something from there.  I am determined to get that tin at least half empty during this year.  So here it is...

The first thing I decided upon was this stamped image which is Artistic Outpost and was sent to me by a dear friend.  I always think these look like two spinster sisters who run their family haberdashery.  So that was my theme.

The background piece was in an envelope with a WOYWW ATC.  The pink trellis was sent in another envelope of goodies from over the Pond.  The stamping is all Paperartsy.  There are a few MB flowers tucked in behind the image.  I used Snippets for the stampings and matting of image.

This tiny piece of lace has been in the bottom of my lace basket for years and years so it was time it was used up.  I just love all these little haberdashery pieces.  The button and thread labels.  A little glass flower button to finish it off.

All made using Snippets so I am off to the Snippets Playground to check everything is still in place after the winds we have had recently.

Hettie

On the 11th Day of December....4th Tag of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style

Hello there

Is it me or is it getting colder right now?  Brrrr!  

Today I am sharing my latest card in my Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas...

Here is Linda's inspiration...

For my card I made myself another stencil using my Silhouette.  I am running out of stencil plastic which is not exactly easy to get hold of in this neck of the woods.  So I tried an alternative substance.  You know the dividers that you can get at the stationers that are made of thin plastic?  Well I found some in my drawer in work which the lower numbers had been used.  Well, the inner magpie in me said not to throw them away and an idea was born.   Other than the fact that they are a little thin and need handling carefully, but they do work!!  I sprayed the backgrounds with what was left over from my other spraying I did the other day for Tag 3.

The image does have holly but unfortunately I covered most of them up!  The Artistic Outpost border stamp was already stamped last year but I never got round to using it so I just stamped the other three stamps using Festive Berries and NBUS Evergreen Bough DIs and cut the edge using my pinking shears and then inked with FB DI.

As you may realise my "tag" is a little bigger than a normal tag.  I am making cards instead of tags.  So I added a little MB NBUS Woodland Deer which was cut out of Snippets, inked and embossed with clear embossing powder.

As always this challenge is being sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique.  

As I made a few backgrounds and I had more of the border stamps, I decided to make a few more cards - Yippee!!

I am taking this down the Snippets Playground as there are lots of Snippets used here.  I hear the Nativity Play is going well and there is a Tea afterwards with mince pies and goodies!!  I am guessing there is some pop going down behind the bike shed too with a certain Elf!

Thanks for calling by.  

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

London Calling...Chickens on Guard!

Hello there

Hasn't it been a very mixed weekend weatherwise but I hope you had a good 'un. I went to my Buddy's house yesterday for a day of fun and scrapping.  I took my journal and managed to finish all the pages. Now I need to make the covers and put it all together.  Watch this space...

A Special Friend of mine had a birthday recently and now I know her card has arrived safely I can now share it with you...

My friend lives in the US but she does like all things British so when I was rummaging through my drawers looking for an idea to make her card an idea was born and this is what I came up with.

First I used an X Cut die to cut out the frame.  I then stamped my Penny Black stamp and coloured it with Copics and water colour pencils.  Underneath the sentry box I stamped the AO Look Right.  Then I stamped the AO clock and swiped over with some gold wax.  Then onto the telephone box, stamped on a separate snippet of card and then coloured with Copics. The flags were once part of some paper chain that I bought for the Diamond Jubilee

I am taking this down to the Snippets Playground as there are a few Snippety bits on here, as well as sharing it with Penny Black as they are looking for punches and die cuts.  Why not dig out some snippets and come down to the Playground?

I hope you have a great week.  Whatever you do, don't forget the sun cream!

Hettie

The Eyes Have It...

Hello There!

I can tell you I am absolutely shattered after the Quilting Exhibition this weekend!  I haven't done an awful lot of stuff today but I did have a lovely potter in the garden with my five "little helpers" having a good rummage.

I will share some photos of the Exhibition, including some of my quilts, over the next few days.  I need to play catch up and download the photos from my camera first.

So in the meantime I thought I would share a masculine card I made recently using some Artistic Outpost stampings from my Tin...

The Eyes and Gentlemans Choice stampings were from the Tin, the Think and Wonder were done using my stamps and the background to the eyes was from my spraybox.

As I am using Snippets I am going to run to the Snippets Playground to show my card.  

Thanks for calling  by.

Hettie

Attention Miss Chloe...

Hello there

Monday mornings don't half come round quick don't they?

I recently treated myself to the Memory Box Chloe die and wanted to try it out.  I remembered that one of my Artistic Outpost stamps had a similar plant on it so made a card for a friend...

The image was actually one I found in my Snippets tin, the background Laura Ashley paper was left over from my Guernsey album and the little brown strip was also in the Snippets drawer so I am going to put it in my pannier and ride on down to the Snippets Playground on my bike.  I am a big girl now and have taken the stabilisers off!

Thanks for calling by.

Hettie

Time for a rummage...

Hello there!

Here we are on a Monday again.  Is it me or are weekends just whizzing past at a fast rate of knots lately?  I hope you all had a good weekend and were able to enjoy the lovely weather we had.  

So onto today's offering. There have been a few birthdays in the office this last month and there were three in one week so I decided that I would challenge myself to make them all using bits and pieces that were either:

(a)    in my Snippets tin

(b)    in my Snippets drawer

(c)    on my desk.

So here is Card 1...

The strip of spots is from Bo Bunny and came out of the Snippets drawer.  It was left over from some mini books I made last year!  The leaf skeleton was laying around on my desk - no idea why.  The background to the stamped image was from the bottom of my spray box at some point.  The stamped images are Artistic Outpost ones and were either sent to me pre-owning the set or some of my own...not quite sure. They were in the Snippets tin anyhoo.  The string is Maya Road and is always to be found on my desk as it is in constant use.  I suppose it is not actually a "Snippet" as such but everyfink else is!

The card was actually for my male Boss.  If you saw his desk you would understand the "Simplify" message", and his floor, and my spare desk...

So then, can you guess where I am taking this lickle card then?  Yep, that is right, down to the Snippets Playground.  Sooo excited as I get to play hopscotch with Miss on Saturday in LLJ's Playground!!  Yeay!

Thanks for calling in.  So lovely to see you.  Please don't forget to leave me a note so I know you have been.

Have a great week.

Hettie

Happy 50th Birthday Darling..

Hello there!

Have I mentioned that it was Mr Hettie's 50th Birthday recently?  No? I am sure I have.

Anyways, he wanted a quiet affair, no fuss, just him and me and definitely no party (we are both agreed on that for ANY big birthdays - including mine!)

So here is his card...

See.  No big 50 on there.  Just an Artistic Outpost moose, a sentiment with no name on the stamp, some Kaisercraft pearls and some string.  No fuss!  I think it hit the instruction don't you?

Can you believe the cream cardstock on the front and on the inside is all the same colour?  It is I assure you.

The embossing folder is gorgeous isn't it?  No idea which one as it is one I borrowed from my Buddy.  After I had photographed the inside I decided it looked too plain so added a small 50 in gold, then promptly wrote in it before I took another photo so I am not sharing that now!

Thanks for popping over. 

Hettie

Another Leaving Book...

Hello There

Wow!  Day 6 of no wet stuff!  Hose pipe by the weekend do you think?

Do you recall that I made a couple of leaving books last year?  Well I made a third but have not shown it until now.  (Mainly because I forgot it was in my "draft" list!) So I am sharing it with you today.

I used my lovely Grist Mill stamps from Artistic Outpost as well as Think and Wonder sayings.  Each one of these books has featured AO stamps in and they are my stamp of choice for olde worlde projects.

The book itself was made using a Sizzix card die and chopping it at the fold.  I covered it with TH papers and stamped, inked and attached a clock to the front and a key made with Martha Stewart paper clay and mould which I then inked and applied wax on.

Inside pages on which I stamped using Archival ink.  This allows for people with oily or sweaty hands not to rub the ink off when they are writing their messages in.

The pencil and button stamps were brought over from my lovely friend Kim last year.  Aren't they adorable?  This was their first inking.

All the sayings are from the Think and Wonder collection of AO.  I haven't shared all the pages where I used some more of the sayings as it would make my post seem too long.

The recipient was very impressed and surprised when he got his book.  He had never realised until then that all the cards I have made him over the years were handmade!  and so was truly delighted that I had made his book for him.

I am going to share this with the Artistic Outpost Referral for March which is anything goes.  I am also going to share with the Snippets Playground as there are lots of snippets in there.   Put the kettle on someone! 

Thanks for calling by.

Hettie

65th Birthday Cards - Snippets

Hello There

Here we are on Sunday evening wondering where the weekend went.  It all passed in a whooosh!  I hope yours was a good one.  

I thought tonight I would share a couple of cards which I made for one of my Work Buddies, who asked me to make a card for her male friend who was celebrating his 65th birthday just after Christmas.  Ann specifically wanted 65 on there and told me that he was a farmer who loved animals and the countryside.  

Always loving a challenge I set about making two, leaving the 65 easy to add on whichever card Ann chose, by putting some foam pads on but not affixing them.  Here is card one.......

The leaf with 65 on was left off until Ann decided whether she liked this one.

 I used my favourite stamp company Artistic Outpost set Grist Mill with lots of layers, Tonic and Sizzix die cuts, TH wax paper, ribbon, feathers, button and string.  The 65s were cut using Quickutz dies.  As soon as Ann saw this she said she wanted it.

Then she saw this one....

A Penny Black stamp, coloured with Copics, Snippets of paper layered, ribbon and a glittered 65.  Then she was stuck as she wanted both.  So she took both hoping a friend of hers would like it.  Apparently the Birthday Boy loved them both!!

I am entering the first card in the Artistic Outpost Challenge for January as all the images are from their stamps.  I am also entering both cards in the Snippets Playground as they both include Snippets.

Have a good week everyone.  Keep warm and safe.

Hettie

Scrapbook Tuesday - T is for Tantrum!

Hello There

Tantrum I hear you ask?  Yes this morning when our stupid internet would not load photos on to Blogger for me!  I left my puter lined up to upload a few photos for today's post and when I had my shower I popped in my room to find it was still digesting them.  I had my breakfast and only one was uploaded.  I got dressed and was near enough needing to go to work and I only had two photos uploaded.  So if you would like to see some close ups I have to ask you to F11 or whatever you do to make the photos larger!

So today is Tuesday and as is my custom I am sharing a scrapbook layout with you as well as joining in with my friend Elizabeth over at T for Tuesday.

So I started with a sheet of white cardstock and left it clean and took a piece of graduating blue paper with snowflakes on there and punched it all the way round with MS PATP.  I took my new XCut dies which Santa supplied pennies for me to buy and cut a mat in the blue plain cardstock and I corner chomped the photo.  Before I adhered this with foam pads, I layered a beautiful MB cut which my lovely friend sent me having embossed it with WOW embossing powder.  This is my new found favourite embossing powder of choice btw!

I took some Snippets of papers and ribbons and layered the layout with these and VOS ribbons as well as stamping the Theresa Collins calender onto Snippets of white cardstock and AO sentiment.  I used some Snowflakes from my Tin of Shame as well as made some more and layered these up with some TH sprigs too.  Under the snowflakes middle right, there are some stick pins too, which I cannot now show you a close up of.  The skates are from TH die which another friend of mine sent to me.  I embossed them with WOW white and some silver and laced them with quilting cotton before attaching the snowflake and bell with some sparkly twine in black.  Some gems and hey presto my layout was complete.

And my cup of tea?  We have camomile and honey today in my very special Winnie the Pooh bone china mug. Always prefer tea in bone china.

That's all folks thanks to t'internet!  I am hoping that does not mean we are without again for a while now!  I cannot even blame it on the wind as often happens! 

Rightio, off to the Snippets Playground to see what mischief has occurred there today and also to Elizabeth's to see what is happening at the tea table.  

Thanks for calling by.

Hettie 

Scrapbook Tuesday - T on Tuesday - Hunterman

Hello There

Happy Tuesday to you all.  I hope if the weather is very cold you are warm and if it is very wet (as it is right here) your wellies are not leaking!

Today is Tuesday so I am sharing with you my Scrapbook Layout which I created on the weekend.  I am also joining in with Elizabeth and Bleubeard on the T stands for ....  I have been meaning to for ages so today is as good a time as any.

Rightio, onto the layout......

This is my Man - Mr Hubbie.  He is down at the bottom of our garden clearing the undergrowth.  Except at this point he was fixing the electrickery cable which he had just cut through with the chainsaw.  This lead goes to the pump below which we need to pump water to our home!  By the end of two days he had redeemed himself of the little mishap as he actually cleared a LOT of the undergrowth - just need to go the other way now.  

Here is how I started.  I took a plain fresh piece of 12x12 SU VeryVanilla cardstock and masked some areas off using washi tape/tissue tape.  Now before you have the eeby jeebies, I often see people using these xpensive tapes to mask off and cried, but when you look at how much tape is on a reel, you can spare a lickle bit to mask off a masterpiece!

Once masked I flicked some acrylic paint which I had watered down a little to make flicking easier and then using my lovely shiny new star mask I masked little areas with my Sweet Poppy Embossing Paste (had it about 3 months and not used the black!)

Then whilst that was drying I had to think about what I wanted to decorate the page with and decided to dig in my Tin of Shame.  This tin is one of those that I just throw bits in that might come in useful.  There are die cuts (some sent to me), stampings, flowers, old credit cards, paper pags, old cards, you name it it is probably in there.  Well, my Aim for 2014 is to clear it again so I can find things.  And that is where I got all my embellishments from except the TH dangley thing!  Look away now if you are scared...

The tea of today is Camomile and Spiced Apple.  Due to the antibiotics I can only tolerate one cup of normal tea first thing in the morning before said antib.  So I tend to drink a plethora of herbal teas during the day.  That cup is the last one of a set of 6 that Simon's Nan bought us when we got engaged.  It is pretty special to me. 

I have used a plethora of trimmings.  All boy (top left) is Cosmo Cricket likewise the Go confidently under the picture and the chipboard letters.  The dark star is one left over from a scrapbook kit of many years, the birdie on a branch was donated as was the branch and picket fence.  Paperclip was from Ikea, the chipboard star was a piece of packaging, the brad is ancient, the ribbon was out of the snippet ribbon basket.  The arrows were in a pack of assorted punctuations bought at least last century and never used!   The little stars stampings are Lavinia Stamps inked with Mowed Lawn DI (NBUS)

Off to the Snippets Playground for a little play with my buddies.  Hopefully the fence is fixed now and the goat has come home!

Thanks for calling by.  Enjoy your tea!

Hettie