SU Happy Birthday....

Hello All

Happy New Year to you all!  Wishing you all health, wealth and happiness for 2016.

Before I start, I would just like to thank you all for your kind messages that I have received in response to my last post.   I have had some lovely messages whether it be on my blog, facebook, cards and emails.  Thank you all.

Having had a little time away from my blog, I think it is time I kick 2016 with some new posts.  

Here is the first, a card I made for a friend of mine a little while ago....

 I used my SU Blossom stamps which were punched with Archival Ink and embossed with clear embossing powder before painting them with Distress Inks and a water brush (Fossilised Amber and Abandoned Coral).

I then mounted this onto a Snippet of yellow before tying a bit of string with a TH die cut tag stamped.  I used the same Archival ink to stamp the sentiment on the card and hey presto! a card was ready to be sent off.

Just going to put my wellies and sou'wester on and splash through the puddles to the Snippets Playground for a hug with Parsnip!!  See you there!!  I have some catching up to do so please bear with me.

Hettie

Happy Birthday Rachel...

Hello there Peeps!!

 

Sorry I have not been around  much, but life just seems to get in the way of things lately.  To be honest I had not been in my craft room much lately, or so I thought.  I was thinking it was about time I emptied my camera and there were more crafty photos on there  than I realised so I thought I would share one of the cards made most recently for my Buddie Rachel.

The green is quite different to what these photos show, and the text is a good match, unlike the photos.  I never quite get how some colours, green, blue and red, don't always photograph that well.  Or is it just that the weather was not good when I too, the photos?  Oh hum!!

 

These Spellbinders border dies were bought nearly a year ago and except for the initial playing when I received them, they have not seen fresh air.  Naughty me!!  I will say though that they are pesky little dies and thank goodness I had waxed paper or else they may have just ended up in the bin!!  Thanks Miss Di for that little gem!!

 

I also used a Tonic die for the flourish and Memory Box dies for the butterflies and Liquid Pearls for the dots.  The paper is Bo Bunny which was a fresh-never-been-used-before sheet.  Well Rachel is a good friend.  The butterfly and white pieces were all Snippets so I am going to sneak down to the Snippets Playground and see what is afoot.  I understand Mrs A is planning to put some of my chickens in the Nativity Play, so I want to see who else is going to be on stage!!

 

See you all for some hot chocolate!!

 

Hettie

 

 

NBUS Someone Special's Birthday Card...

Hello there Folks!!

I have been doing some uploading of my photographs that were on my camera and came across lots of things I have not yet blogged - oops!!

So I thought I should shift my little butt (in my dreams!) and share them with you. 

Here is a card I made for the Queen of Snippets - Miss Di, for her birthday which was last month!! 

I remembered I had some Chinese backing papers which I had bought a VERY long time ago, but was keeping for "best".  So I dug them out and having cut it to size (5x7) I inked it up with my splatter stamp around the edge and embossed it with gold embossing powder.  I also then added some words to express the moment.

I then took a piece of white card and  I stamped with Versamark ink with a new flowery stamp and embossed with white embossing powder before inking the whole piece with Victorian Velvet and Tattered Rose DIs, I then used my favourite spritz n flick technique and stamped the sentiment and bee (NBUS - Graphic 45).  

  

I took my NBUS Lily Stamp from Sheena Douglass (well over a year old!) and stamped it up with Versamark and embossed it with gold embossing powder.  Once it was dry I then painted with DIs to colour it all in, fuzzy cut it out and ten using my pokey-things-with-balls-on-to-3D it and make some texture. You know what I mean!  I cut out the die (it was new when I did it).

Then all I had to do was layer it up and get it into the post for my friend.

As I had all the stuff out, I set about making another to go in my box for future use, which actually wasn't long.  

This time I used the Abandoned Coral ink.  Isn't it lovely?

I am going to link this up with Mrs Snippets herself so I shall see you all at the Snippets Playground.  Does anyone know if the ice-cream man is coming round still, or has he packed it all away until next year?

Thanks for calling by.

Hettie

Oo la lah!!

Hello there

How are we all doing?  I hope you have not been washed away with all this rain we have had in the last two days.  My wellies are wearing out and I will need to ask Santa for a new pair for Christmas!

I wanted to show you a card I made for my niece recently for her birthday.  As you can tell from the photos it was a beautiful sunny morning when I took the photos before handing it to my sister for when she returned home from Geneva.....

Lots of stencilling, inking, stamping, die cutting, spritzing, flicking and embellies....

The Eiffel Tower is a new die which I bought some time ago in a sale..

I inked up a Snippet to make the sentiment here...

Aren't these embellies gorgeous?  The key is a Kaisercraft one which again was NBUS bought for me as a birthday pressie - MWAH - you know who you are....

The lower one is a TH embellie bought eons ago!

And of course I needed an envelope that would take the tower...

......courtesy of my We R Memory Keepers board.

Off to join in the fun in the Snippets Playground.  Got me souwester on and my wellies...who wants to come puddle jumping with me?

Hugs

Hettie

NBUS Birthday Card

Hello there

I know, I know, I have been a very bad blogger lately.  My blog has been badly neglected, save for my Friday Funny posts.  I have visited a few of you, but time has simply been running way ahead of me lately, but hopefully the lure of working outside will not be so strong now as the nights are drawing in and it is getting a little on the cool side now.

I wanted to share my Christening cards I made recently, but I appear to have lost the photos.  Shame as they were gorgeous.  For one of the cards I used the same stamps as this card (well it seemed a shame to put them out too soon!) so I guess I can stretch the NBUS rule as this was only the second time I used them.....

The Lilies are Sheena Douglass stamps that I bought AGES ago and not used them - shame on me.  This was also the first time I used my new Abandoned Coral DI which I LOVE!!!    I inked up the stamp with Versamark and WOW white embossing powder.  I then used Abandoned Coral  and inked the background.  Spritzed and flicked some water, trimmed and adhered to the front of the card.  I needed a little white so used a MB die cut that was in the Tin of Shame.  I used some Snippets to stamp the HB and inked up again, Can you see it is different card as it is darker?  I mounted this on to a slightly larger piece of white snippet having first tied a little ribbon around the card. 

Some pearls spotted around and there you have my card.  I do love this colour and those stamps are not going to be back in their packet for long!! 

 

Right then....off to join in on the following Challenges!

 

NBUS

 

 

Addicted to Stamps Challenge

Snippets Playground

Thank you for calling by.  Please leave me a comment so I 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 Mum..

Hello there!!

I know I haven't been around too much recently, but with these lovely light evenings I am making the most of them!!  No self respecting weed will be showing their face for a while!!

I thought I should share the card I made for my Mum a few weeks ago...

 

The papers are all left overs from the Graphic 45 pad I used for Leslie's album.  I must get another pad as I like this one so much.

I even dug out some very VERY old birthday stickers.  No idea which century I bought those in!!  Some lace and pearls too.

I just love the little details in this pad...even the stamps were on a strip in the pad.

These little cards were on another sheet.  Just tucked behind the birdie is a strip of a new punch I bought recently. Of course I used a Snippet to make it!

 

I used Gathered Twigs DI to ink throughout .

 

Off to join in the fun and frolic at the Snippet Playground as this car consists entirely of Snippets!

 

Thanks for calling by.

 

Hettie

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

Happy Birthday ...NBUS Lavinia Stamps

Hello
 
Did ya miss me?  I took a week off blogging to play catch up with things as well as to see if my headaches that I have been having lately are computer related.  I was working all day on the computer and then again for a lot of the evenings so I decided it was time to ease off.  I am going to limit myself to just a few evenings a week while the summer is here so I can do some jobs that are required outside.

I hope you have all had a good weekend.  Mine was fab, having met up with a Playground friend of mine.  We took a trip to Hay on Wye and had a lovely time wandering round in the light showers that were taking place.   Such a shame as driving down the Capel y Ffin is not as good in the mist.  Ho hum!

Right then onto today's share with you.  I made this card some time ago and am only now getting round to sharing it with you.  The stars stamp was new at the time I made it. 

I masked off a panel in order to ink the green panel with Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint DIs.  Once dried I stamped the Lavinia Flower Fairy with Archival Ink as was the Penny Black HB. 

As mentioned previously, the stars stamp was new.  I was lucky enough to win a voucher for the Craft Barn where I bought this stamp (amongst a few other things!)  I stamped it with Versamark ink and embossed with WOW Sparkling Snow embossing powder.

 

I am entering this into the That's Crafty Challenge...they are looking for glittery cards and the stars do sparkle. 

Thanks for calling by.  I look forward to receiving your comments.

 

Hugs

 

Hettie

Happy Birthday to Two Special People

Hello There

 

Well, that weekend went whoosh ...and then it was gone!!  Had an exciting one too as I went to the WOYWW Crop on Saturday.  I will share photos with you on Wednesday.  On Sunday I played Apprentice Beekeeper and pulled off our first small batch of honey for 2015!!

 

Tonight I want to share with you some cards I made last month for two Special People who had birthdays last month within a week of each other.  I used my very new Lavinia Snail stamp.  Well, I was ordering a stamp for one of my Special Friends, so I may as well as take advantage of justifying the postage!!

 

 

The star paper is some from Crate Paper which has been in my stash for several years. 

 

The images were all stamped using Potting Shed Archival ink and I used a selection of DIs including Brushed Corduroy, Gathered Twigs and Walnut Stain.

 

Also NBUS were the sentiment cards which I bought last year on my USA trip.  I have been hanging on to them so I thought it was about time they were used.

 

The little stars were made using my Simon says Stamp die and dark brown card used for matting were all from my Snippets box.

 

I had fun making these and I do love the snail image.

 

As I used some Snippets I shall be popping down the Snippets Playground to see what my fellow playmates have been up to.

 

Thanks for calling by.

 

Hettie

http://pixiescraftyworkshop.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/pixies-snippets-playground-week-177-and.html

Happy Birthday Mandy...Retake on a Card!

Hello

 

Where did last week/weekend go then?  But wasn't it a lovely week weatherwise?  Enjoy it while it is hear as according to the weather app on my phone we are due for some wet stuff at the end of the week!

 

Today I want to share with you a remake of a card I made some time ago HERE . Good grief that was October 2011!!

 

This time I used my latest plaything....Brushos...to make the background....

 

I used just two colours both NBUS on watercolour paper.  I sprayed my water with some white Perfect Pearls in the spritzer which gives the Brushos a lovely shimmer.   I meant to cut the top off , but I decided I liked the notepad look!

 

I stamped the Penny Black stamp with white ink and WOW white embossing powder.  Keeping the previous card in mind I added some faux stitching around the edges and some string and button. 

 

I stamped the sentiment from Paperartsy over another Snippet piece of watercolour paper which had been Brusho'd as above.

 

The base card is a Snippet left over from my Christmas Album, which I will be sharing some time soon I promise!

 

I am going to share this with the Snippets Playground as well as Penny Black who are looking for Birthday...as mentioned in the title...this is Mandy's Birthday card which she loved!!

 

Thanks for calling by and please leave me a message so I know you have been.

 

Hettie

xx

 

Happy Birthday Mo...

Hello 

Gosh did you hear that noise last night?  It was a loud whoosh as the weekend just skated past!!  It was a good weekend at Chez Hettie but very quick.  Anyone know where that shiny thing in the sky has gone?

I have been meaning to share this card I made a little while ago for a certain friend of mine.  It took a fair while to get to the recipient so didn't share when I meant to.  

Background was made from swooshing some DIs onto my craft mat (can't for the life of me remember what colours exactly but if you need to know I will try and remember a little harder).  Then I sprayed some water and dabbed the card into it drying, and repeating.  

After the background was dry I took one of the colours and my favourite Tim Holtz stamp and stamped it.  The Sentiment is Hero Arts and was NBUS at the time!

Next flowers.  Now I know this person really likes flowers so cut several layers using a Sizzix die.  Coloured with more DIs before drawing "veins" in with Copics.   The camera has made the veins look quite stark but IRL they were a little muted.  

Out came my moulding mat and I set about making three different flowers just by moulding them differently in each  case.  I liked the look, though the card tried to split into layers so I must remember not to use that particular card again for this.  Some leaves which I coloured again with DI (Mowed Lawn - funny how I remember this one!) and then set about adhering the flowers to the background.

One envelope to match and I was ready to post the card over the water.

I used Snippets on this card so off to join the Snippets Playground.  

Have a great week, and if anyone sees the yellow shiny thing please put it back in the sky.

Thanks for calling by.

Hettie

Happy Birthday Patti

Hello there

 

Thank you all for your kind comments on Tracey 's passing. I appreciated them all. A farmer friend of mine told me that Warren hens usually average four years so I guess nearly six was very good😊

 

Onto my post today which is a card I made for my friend Patti's Birthday.

I  made my own card so that it could be top folding and perfectly fitted one of the plethora of envelopes I seem to have. Then I took a snippet of white card and stamped it using my SU stamp and Versamark and embossed with white WOW embossing powder. I then used Distress Inks and inked the background.  I took a Snippet of black cardstock and ran it through the B/S with SU embossing folder. I trimmed the papers to fit the card, diecut several Smiles using Penny Black die and stacked them but needed something else. I remembered a video I had seen and pinned to make bows using the Memory Keepers envelope board so set to. A button on top of a punched circle SU punch NBUS and I was happy.

 

So with Snippets and two NBU S (punch and bow technique) I am off to join the parties at the Playground and Playhouse.

 

 

 

Thanks for calling by.

 

Hettie

Happy Birthday Ann

Hello there

I had snow this morning on the way to work!  What was THAT all about.  I knew it was forecast for the guys up north but since when has South Wales been in the northern part of the country.  Pretty cold it is too today!

Never mine ey.  It is always warm in blogland!

I wanted to share a birthday card I made for a dear friend of mine.  So often she asks for me to make cards for her to send (remember my cows wedding card)  and it was nice to make her one and a 70th one at that!  

It is quite a trick colour for the camera to get right, as with a lot of purple shades.  It was more of a purple grey and some of these cards are more blue.  The photo below is the nearest I think, though the pale blue is not quite right.  You get the drift though.

I seem to be into flowers right now and making my own.  These are quite simply Tonic petal pairs punches (some of the first punches I owned) which I then poked a brad through several layers, then spritzed them and scrunched them over to make them as compact as possible.  Once they had dried off I just pulled them out a bit to created the buds.  Simples.

The dies and embossing folder are all from a set I had before Christmas that I hadn't used so were NBUS.  I kid you not, the embossing folder is a PITA if you have not got an A4 die cutter as it is designed so that you have one background sheet.  Maybe a nice fairy will be kind and deliver the new Sizzix one that is coming out!  Yeah right!!

To compensate for the not being able to use one sheet I added some silver behind, as well as some silver Ivy and Sizzix letters.  My favourite (and only) Memory Box butterflies, a ribbon bow and a spritz of Shimmer Mist and hey presto Ann's card was done.  

I used a plethora of Snippets on here and butterflies with ribbon so I am fluttering by the Snippets Playground and Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge.

See you later folks.  Keep warm and safe.

Hettie

Winter Birthdays....

Hello There

Brrrrr!  I have just come back in from Dancing where we held a "bit of a do for Rabbie".  In other words, some nibbles, some Robbie Burns poetry, a Highland Fling and a toast to the Birthday Boy.  Coming home it was mighty cold with some sleet which got to be more snow than sleet by the time I got home!!!  Wrap up warm and that advice goes to my blogging friends across the pond.  I can hardly believe what New England is going through only a few months after our visit there.  

Right then onto tonight's post.  

Last week I had a flurry of birthdays, including 3 on Friday alone!  So I decided to make some wintery birthday cards, one of which was for a Playground friend who had kindly let me borrow her MB Snowflake die after I was drooling over my laptop at her cards.  So here is my card...

 

Isn't that die just wonderful?  And typical of MB dies, it cuts so well too.  So how did I make  it?  I took a piece of white cardstock (some of them from the Snippets drawer) and inked it with Broken China, Faded Jeans, Tumbled Glass and Shaded Lilac (NBUS) DIs.  Then I used my favourite technique of spritz n flick by spraying some water into my hand and flicking over the card, leave it a few seconds then dab the excess water.  Once this was dry I then took a TH snowflake stamp, versamark and my new favourite WOW embossing powder and randomly stamped some snowflakes on the card.

Then out with the NBUS MB Happy Birthday die and cut this out then I used the visiting MB Snowflake die.  Unfortunately one of them got a little scuff when I peeled the tape off.  Never mind...out came the PB Smile die and a Snippet of blue metallic and I covered the blemish.  I liked the idea so much I decided to use it on all of them!

Last job was to layer up the two layers onto the card and hey presto cards were completed.  I sent a photo of the first one to Hubster who was in work and his reply was "its a bit Frozen"!  Typical man ey!

I hope you like it.  Expect to see some similar ones now for Christmas any time soon!  This die has now been pushed up the Wish List now I have used it.  Thanks Matey for letting me borrow it.  

Off to the Playground as some of these elements were made from Snippets.  I hope there is plenty of hot chocolate and plenty of room in front of the fire!

Hettie