woyww 320 - Preparations for Saturdayy's Crop

Hello there

 

It is Wednesday, I have no dancing lesson tonight, so I can join in with the Hostess Julia for her weekly nosey round the crafting blog world which is known as What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday!! Yeay!!!  Been a while since I have joined in. 

 

So I will show you my desk here......

 

 This is an album I am making of Mr Hettie and my trip to Amsterdam.  Isn't that paper just divine?  It is Graphic 45 that I have been saving to use for some time.  I want to get it to the stage where all the tags are made and I can just fiddle and faddle on Saturday for the Annual Crop.  Are you going?  I have all my ATCs ready for the PIF which is coming up real soon, but don't try and strain your eyes to see them....I made sure they were well out of sight!! 

 

 Here are some of the offcuts which I have acquired from making the pages and tags.  I will no doubt use most of them throughout the album.

And those stamps you can see leaning up against my twirly-whirly are from Penny Black. I was lucky enough to be picked last month in their monthly challenge.  Aren't they adorable.

 

Now then.  I have shown you my desk, please leave a comment and I will come and look at yours, and don't forget to stop and call by Miss Julia's desk too. 

 

Thanks for calling by.

 

Hettie

The Mayflower...Mini Album...

Hello there

Well that weekend went like a flash and ended with a crash bang wallop didn't it?  We had beautiful weather yesterday and Hubby and I were able to do a little more work on my little Trabbi called Hilda before it absolutely tipped it down and has remained so most of today.   Never mind ey!  It gave me chance to have a play in my Craft Room today.

Now some of you know from a previous post that myself, Sandra, Debs and Miss had a meet up in Southampton for lunch.  We all had to be on our best behaviour!  Debs kindly volunteered to pick myself and Sandra up from the train station, however there was an hour between our trains so Debs offered to take me to the Mayflower monument whilst we waited for Sandra's train.  Whilst there we met a gentleman and his wife, and he told us that he was a direct descendant of one of the people named on the monument.  

Of course I had my trusty camera with me and snapped some shots.

Debs had made is all a little W or M (depending what hemisphere you reside in) mini album and I decided I would print my photos out on my Pogo printer (a bit like the old instamatic photos which measure about 2x3") and put them into this album.  The little anchor on the front is my addition.

On the left is the main plaque on the monument which is on the right. Surprisingly there are no signs to let people know this monument is here.

Some close ups of the monument.  The little words are from some VOS K&Co paper which I have cut from a Snippet.

The photo on the left is the view over Southampton from the monument.  I suspect that this looks very much different from that day in 1620 when they embarked on the journey.  The tall ship on the right was passing just as we were walking back to Debs' car.  

This building is where the voyagers would have passed through in order to board the ships.  Yes, there were two....The Mayflower and The Speedwell.  Unfortunately The Speedwell didn't get any further than Plymouth.

The little tags in the album I have used to put factoids on including the date, crew and cargo as well as the firstborn on American soil.

If you are interested about the voyage of The Mayflower there is a book available on Kindle HERE which I very much enjoyed. 

Hopefully the next time I share this little album I will have completed an item on my bucket list which has been near the top for a very long time.  I have wanted to see Plymouth Rock and surrounding area since we studied the Mayflower when I were a lass!  

I am off to take this down to the Snippets Playground as I have been using lots of little Snippets in this book.  I hear Debs is poorly so hopefully knowing I have used her little book may cheer her up a little.

Have a great week.  I am hoping that BT will have sorted our t'internet out so I can visit blogs better this week.

Hettie

WOYWW 266 Sandra look away NOW!

Hello There!

Happy Wednesday to y'all!  Today is WOYWW which I am sure you are all aware of already.  Click HERE if you really need to read the whys and wherefores!

Now Sandra and all those with a nervous disposition please turn away now.  I will let you know when you can look again! 

My desk looking pretty messy after a fun hour playing with my gelli plate last night.  I haven't really got to grips with it yet, but that could be 'cos I don't seem to be able to have "fun" time lately.  I am not saying that my crafting isn't fun right now, but I seem to be always making for a purpose and not just for the hell of it!  I have cleared and cleaned the gelli plate and all the paints (except the yellow one hiding on the right) but these are the stencils and roller on their way downstairs.  Just to the left of the pot you can see a ghost printing which I actually quite like.  I can see another pant hiding on the far left too!  Oops!

You can look back now.  I have had two more ATCs recently...

A lovely purpley gothic one from Ike.

And another purple one (does anyone guess I like purple?) from Darnell.  She spells sctuff the way I do too!  Tee Hee!  

Now what have I done with all the ATCs I hear you ask.  Well, I sat down on Saturday afternoon and made myself a new ATC book in the style of the previous two years' so that they are all tucked in safely...

K&Co papers, Tim Holtz on the edge dies, along with my lovely new Moroccan die which a special friend sent me for my birthday.

I even managed to find a Snippet of ribbon to tie the book closed.  I shall be taking this down to the Snippets Playground too!  And here are some shots of the inside.  The ATC on the left is from my PIF friend and the others are from lovely peeps.

I need to finish this off with some doodling and stamping, and maybe some tags (though I am not sure as it is mighty thick now) but my priority was to put them somewhere safe so they didn't wander.

Due to a cock up error I managed to make too many pages so if anyone still has some spare ATCs they wanna swap, I would love a couple more?  I cannot count these days.

Right.  That is me done.   I do hope I haven't given anyone the heebeegeebies by the mess on my desk.  Thank goodness I didn't show you the floor too!

Click HERE to whizz over to the lovely Mistress of the Desk's desk and join in the madness that is WOYWW.  If you leave a message I shall call by either later today or tomorrow after I finish work.

Hettie

Scrapbooking Tuesday - T on Tuesday - T stands for FirsT FlighT!

Hello there 

Do you know what?  I totally forgot last night that today was Tuesday!!  I know!  Just smile at me sweetly and walk away - I know!

So today is still Tuesday and a day when I share a scrapbooking project and also join in with my friends over at Elizabeth's blog for a cuppa and a look at some nice stuff on T on Tuesday!  

So without further ado, here is today's project and my cuppa....

Now I know I have shared some of this project before some time ago, but there is one distinct difference......it is FINISHED!!  Here is a little side on view with a better view of my cup and the layers on the album....

And here is my cup.  Another Sophie Allerton, not sure if you have seen this before?  Apologies if you have but these are my favourites!

I know Elizabeth will like to know a little of how this album came about and I do hope she approves.  The pages inside are actually made from recycled paper carrier bags in which the lunches for our partners used to arrive - six of them.  I asked the girls on our Reception at work to keep for me (the clean ones anyway) and I snipped off the handles, folded the ends over and fastened the bottoms of them using Laura Denison's "stack the deck" method of attachment.   The covers were rescued from a pile of books that were being thrown out as they were out of date.  The book they were on was very heavy so I saved four in all, one each for Lesley and I to make these books and the other two for weighing down card to which I had glued on covers so that they dry flat!

Rather than give you a blow by blow account of all the pictures and inserts, I have made a collagey thingemyjig for you to look at.  Just blow it up to get a closer look!  I would get the owner's consent before you try blowing up your puter though!

I am not going to bore you with all the details, only to tell you that there are die cuts galore, some which were sent to me, Tim Holtz, stampings, Sizzix, Cottage Crafts, Memory Box, lace, McGall, Stampin Up, Martha Stewart, Bazzill, Papermania, recycled chipboard for the birdcage, bits left over from other projects and Snippets galore.  Tee Hee!  I am skipping over to the Snippets Playground too!

I enjoyed making this book as it does hold some very happy memories of me and the Hubster in the early 90s, including my first ever flight.  

Thank you for calling by.

Hettie

Scrapbook Tuesday - T is for.....Mini Album!

Hello There

Let me start by apologising for being "off the radar" a little at the moment.  I have a big quilting project on the go at the moment which needs to be finished by the 29th!!  Unfortunately due to being poorly last month it has put me behind schedule a little!  Don't fret, I will be sharing it once it is finished!

Well today is Tuesday.  Time to share a scrapbooking project with you as well as join in with Elizabeth and Bleubeard with a cuppa, or in my case a glass of squash.

On Saturday my Buddy and I had our monthly Scrapping Day so, true to my aim this year, I finished a project which I am sharing with you today.  Yeay!!!

Here it is....

Today I am drinking some blackberry and apple squash.  It was dinner time when I took the photos, hence they are not very good as I had to use the flash. Apologies for that.

I made this mini album for my Mum in Law for her 80th Birthday.  We were planning to take her to Longleat as her present.  I made her a "ticket", album and we bought her a digital camera.  Unfortunately soon after her birthday her sister died and a few bouts of ill health, so we only got to take her to Longleat last August, on her 83rd birthday.

As far as she knew it was only Hubby, myself and her that were going.  However I had managed to arrange for her niece, her hubby and daughter to meet us at Longleat, which was a lovely surprise for her.

Luckily we were all able to fit into Helen's car rather than ours.  It would have been a tight squeeze!  Poor Mia sat in the rumble seat in the boot!

The weather was glorious and altogether we had a lovely day.  

It took some time to locate the album for me to have back to put the photos in (none of which MIL took!  Anyone want a brand new unused 14 megapixel camera?) and the album has been waiting for me to print photos and put this together.  

Ta dah!  Finished.  I shall let MIL have it back now and another job done and dusted out of my room.   

So then. Why not pop over with a cuppa to Elizabeth's blog and share what you are up to today?  I am also popping over to the Snippets Playground as I most probably used snippets at the time I made the album, though it was before I was blogging.  I certainly used Snippets to mount the photos on before adhering them into the album.

Thanks for calling by and I will visit you if you call by as soon as I can.

Hugs

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

Butterflies, Bows and Buttons - WOYWW3 ATC book

Hello There

You know I mentioned yesterday that I had had a fun day with my Buddy Mandy on Saturday?  Wanna see what I made?  Course you do - silly me!

Ta dah..........!

I dug out some VOS K&Company papers that I liked.  Cut them to 9" square and folded, refolded, flipped, glued, adhered, inked, doodled and turned it into a little book to put my WOYWW 3 ATCs in!!  I had plans to create a picture to include them on but decided actually, a mini book would be better as I am running out of walls!

On the front cover is TH edge die of butterflies.  Some MB butterflies.  Lace. Buttons. Ribbon, Bow and the star is a beautiful flower that was in a box that my friend Mrs A sent to me back last year.  I am hoarding these flowers and only using them on special projects.  A little book of other people's art is special right?

And here are some of the pages and ATCs from inside....

Mary and Karen.

Lisa and Annie.

Belinda and Ann.

I didn't photograph the back cover doh!  It had the (NBUS - yet bought ages ago) TH edge die of scissors and thread to show the stitched ones from Annie and Jo!

On the tags I used the Prima stamp that I used last week for Mandy's Anniversary with Archival and then added more lace and ribbon bows.

As I have the essential ingredients for the Butterfly Challenge, Butterflies, Buttons and Bows, I am joining in nice and early.  There is still over a week left to join in so why don't you?

I have used Snippets so am taking this over to the Snippets Playground.  It may remind a certain someone, you know who you are, that I am still waiting for last year's ATC to finish the WOYWW4 other album I made!  

Thanks for calling by.

Hugs

Hettie

Scrapbook Tuesday - T is for Christmas, and Rudolph Day!

Hello There

What a busy day it is today.  It is Tuesday, so time to join in with a cuppa T with my friend Elizabeth and Bleubeard.  It is also the day when I share a scrapbooking project with you.  AND it is the 25th of the month so thereby Rudolph Day!!

So I would get yourself a cuppa T right now as this is a picture heavy post today.

So to start, here is my scrapbooking project with a cuppa.  As it is Rudolph Day I chose a Christmassey type mug.  Not in your face Christmas, but it is a snowy scene nonetheless.  The cup is of Krtek (aka Little Mole) and was bought in Prague several years ago.  It contains some Twinings Camomile and Spiced Apple tea.  See I am trying to stay on the Christmas theme!  The project is my Christmas Album which I actually finished at the end of January!!  (Hurrah Hurrah) but have not been able to share with you until now....

Album was made by moi from chipboard, cut down, painted and then covered with pretty papers.  I added a die cut of Memory Box flourish, a Tonic flourish, ribbon, TH deer, Papermania owl, wooden Angel and MME Merry Christmas banner.  Once the pages were made I bound them all on my BIA and then decorage.

And now for the edge of the album...

Inside first page.....

Then it opened out like this....

And then this.....

I didn't do them all the same though.  Some I folded and cut and manipulated like so.....

If you are thinking the papers are familiar, I did not buy any new papers for this year's album, choosing instead to use papers that I already had in my collection.  Will someone please polish my halo for me?  There are MME, Basic Grey, DCWV, as well as trimmings from all over the place.  I did use a lot of TH Chit Chat stickers too as they are nice and small.  Please feel free to click on the pictures if you wish to have a closer look too. 

I had to include these picture.  Our Tree, Our Girls, Me wearing a silly had and my mad friend Sian, who after a long time not seeing, we got together again through a mutual friend and Facebook and now see each other on a regular basis!  

New items used on this album are some of the wooden elements, stars, gingerbread men and MC as well as the owl on the cover!  Other than that all the bits are old.

Some more pics. I like to keep the stamps from foreign climes and also this year's current Christmas stamps.  

And finally, our good friends Mandy and Andy usually meet up over Christmas to exchange presents, either at their house or ours.  This year we met at the pictures as we all wanted to see Disney's Frozen and then we came back to ours for tea.  Happy thoughts!  If you are going to the Crop I shall take it there so you can have a closer look.  Unfortunately I cannot credit anyone for the design as I saw something on Youtube and did not make a note of the person who had a similar one.  I say "similar" as I modified mine greatly. 

And now for the Rudolph Day.  My Mate Sandra runs a Rudolph Day challenge for which we are to make two Christmas cards.  Here are mine......

I used another image from the Tin of Shame for the chicken card.  For the poinsettia card I used some new vellum I have bought (mine ran out so valid purchase) and it is beautiful.  I coloured the back of the petals and leaves with Copics.  The ribbon was bought for me by Mandy (above) when they were in US and has been unused until now.  The card is pre-embossed and must be about 5 years old.  I bought them with Angela who passed away nearly 4 years ago!  Not used until now!

Both the Album and the cards contain Snippets so I am skipping down to the Snippets Playground too.  I am sneaking a visit to Hazel's Christmas challenge too! 

Phew!  Thanks for sticking me so long.  Sorry it is a bit of a long post today.  Bet your cup is ready for a refill now!

Thanks for popping by.  

Hettie