Monster March

Hi again. Just a very quick post tonight as it's late and I am a bit tired because I worked in the garden for a long time today and it was hard work and VERY hot. Anyway tonight I've created this card for our darling grandson, Trent, who turns 9 on the 7th of December. It took a long time because of all the masking and I had to use a stamp positioner to get the eyes and mouths in the right place but it was well worth the effort I think. Once again I am going to bed a happy bunny! 'Night, 'night again and thanks for visiting.

Wedding Anniversary

On Thursday this week we will celebrate our 43rd Wedding Anniversary and tonight I made this card to give to my husband. Those of you who are fans of His Majesty Tim Holtz will recognise the tag as His style. I love making these tags using TH Distress Inks. The colours are great and overlay each other sooo well. You can see the Moon Glimmer spray (copper) which I lightly spritzed over the coloured and stamped tag. The stamps are from a fantastic set called Harlequin Rose which I bought on my travels in 2009. It was an expensive set BUT I have used it heaps so it was well worth it. I love the sentiment on this particular stamp and it is certainly very apt in our case. I toned down some orange flowers and coloured a small white flower with TH Distress Ink in Walnut Stain. The other flowers were just the perfect colour to tone with the background card. I added a small orange and brown, 3D butterfly and a few fancy yarn pieces and voila. I am very pleased with my creation so I am going off to bed a happy bunny tonight. 'Night 'night sleep tight or have a good day if you are on the other side of the world from me. Thanks for visiting.

Kate's Card

Hi Everyone I hope you all had a great weekend. Here in Upper Hutt NZ it was absolutely glorious weather. I hope it continues on all through the summer months (even if I do have to go out and water my garden every night!!) Anyway, for me, it was a VERY hectic weekend - craft wise. I had two classes on Saturday where I taught two different types of box. In the morning we made the Secret Keeper Book (see September post Alison's Secret) and in the afternoon we made the Hexagon Box (see September post of same name). The classes went very well and everyone seemed to go home happy with their project. Yesterday we had a Christmas Card making afternoon with a group of keen ladies. We made 6 cards and a wee box and enjoyed a yummy afternoon tea to boot. Diane had made a  wee goodie bag for each of us too which was lovely of her. She is a very busy lady and it's not easy to find the time to put on such a lovely afternoon. Thanks Diane. Whilst I was at the Sister Act shop on Saturday I saw this gorgeous card, which Kate had made, and fell in love with it. Such a simple idea but soooo effective and pretty quick to make too. I bought my supplies on Saturday and I have made 7 in just over an hour this afternoon. (I ran out of reindeer then so my production line halted.) I also bought the lovely Santa Bell decoration at Sister Act. I try to buy a new Santa every year so it was just the right thing for me. So if you are looking for an idea for a gorgeous, quick card to make here it is! Get yourself down to Sister Act in Waikanae on the beautiful Kapiti Coast and see Kate for your supplies. You can buy yourself a Santa too whilst your there. Thanks Kate for such a cool idea and for having such lovely things in your shop. Right! Time for a drink and then back to the production line. Thanks for stopping by today.
P.S The silver line across the bottom of the card is a Happy Christmas Peel Off, but try as I might I couldn't get a decent piccie of it.

A Cool Birthday

Back Again . . . . with this cool looking card for my Nephew's birthday next week. He lives in the northern hemisphere so the trees in the snow are quite appropriate. He has just been treking in Patagonia so he will have seen plenty of snow there too I think. I have had some stunning piccies from him and we are linking up on SKYPE next week so I look forward to hearing about it. Well must go as Di will be here any minute, Thanks for looking.

Poinsettia Easel Card

Hi Everyone. What a glorious day we have here in Upper Hutt. I have been swimming this morning and now I am waiting for my friend Di to arrive and we are going off for a walk in the sunshine for a couple of hours. I have put sunscreen on for the first time this summer so that is surely a sign of how good the sunshine is. I've just got time to do a couple of quick posts before Di arrives. The first one is a basic easel card given a Christmas touch with nestabilities Poinsettia flower, paper from a Christmas pack and a tiny touch of ruby red glitter on the red snowflakes, just for a change from the crystal glitter on snowflakes. Very quick and very easy if you're getting down to the desperate stages for your Christmas cards. Hope you like. I'll be back in a couple of ticks with my second post. Talk to you then.

Lollipop, Lollipop Ooh Lolly, Lolly, Lolly. . . .

Remember that song? or am I showing my age. Millie used to sing it way back in the 60's. Anyway here are my lollipops. Do you like them? I think they are soooo cute. They are of course flavoured (scented) tea light candles made up to look like lollipops. How simple is that? I am teaching two classes on Saturday and they will be my last ones for the year so I am going to put a lollipop on each workspace as a little thank-you to the ladies. Some of them are regulars and do lots of my classes and some of them are new to my classes. Again this is a quick, little gift that young children could make or help with. We all have people who we like to thank for little kindnesses done through the year but it can get expensive can't it? The beauty of this wee gift is that it is very in-expensive. Give it a try, either by yourself or with your children or grandchildren and have fun. You can get some yummy smelling candles at the $2.oo Shop! 'Night, 'night again and thanks for looking.

Snowman Soup

Guess what I've been doing this afternoon? Making Snowman Soup Kits!!! Another good idea gleaned from the www. What would we do without it? I think it's such a cute idea and great for that little extra to add to Christmas gifts or as a little something to give to someone who has done a kndness for you during the year. I love it. It would be cool for children to do as well. It's easy and it doesn't cost much either. I'm off to make more cards and gifts now. Talk to you next time and thanks for visiting today.

Tilda with Tealights

Two posts in one day! Wow I haven't done that in quite a while. I'm loving my Tilda stamps - can you tell? This was so lovely to do I am sure I will be doing more - and soon. I've been talking to a dear school friend in the UK for about an hour tonight which has put me in a very nice mood. I'm off to bed now so 'night 'night, sleep tight and sweet dreams. Thanks for looking.

Happy Saturday . . .

. . . .Everyone and I hope you are enjoying your weekend. I have had an EXTREMELY busy week. The Instructor at Monday Aquaerobics had asked me if I had any Christmas cards for sale. I took in what I had which were really our cards for posting overseas. I took in 26 and came home with only 6, and requests for 'more please'. It was good that my cards were so popular but it put me into panic mode as I now had no cards to post overseas and the closing date in this coming Monday!!! So guess what I have been doing all week? Yesterday morning we had a real team effort going on in the dining room. I was writing inside the cards and Harold was looking up and writing the addresses onto the envelopes (bless him). He has the most beautiful handwriting so the recipients will have a beautifully written envelope but my scribble inside the card. Anyway we got them done. I still have two more to make but will make the deadline with just a whisker to spare!! This little card is destined for my nephew, niece-in-law (?) and their 2 daughters and I LOVE it.It was hard for me to break away from the traditional styles and colours but I am soooo glad I did. Thanks to Debbie Dolphin (see my list of inspirations and go take a look at her site. Sure is gorgeous) for her inspiration and helpful advice on where to buy the greeting stamp. Well I'm off back to the craft desk to finish off. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

More Pyramids

Hi Everyone sorry I've been AWOL for a few days but I promise I HAVE been busy. I taught a class yesterday so had things to get ready for that and I have a full day teaching at the end of the month with quite a lot of prep work for that. I've also been plodding on with tidying up the garden as we've had a pretty good week of weather so I hope that all explains my absence. I have made six more pyramids tonight - 3 with baubles and 3 with dear wee snowmen. They are nice and quick to do and I think they are pretty effective too. I have time for more crafting yet tonight as I am staying up to watch my favourite lady, Barbara Gray. She is on Create and Craft TV which a UK program and I watch it through the laptop. She is on once a month from 11am until 1pm Sunday lunchtime UK time which means that it is 12 midnight until 2am here!!! Well worth staying up for. Talk to you next time I have something to Blog.

Looking Out or Looking In?

Hello Everyone I have two versions of the same stamp for you tonight. Do you prefer being on the inside looking out as in card one? Or do you prefer being on the outside looking in as in card two? Well I definitely prefer card one for all sorts of reasons. I think it looks much nicer AND it was MUCH easier to do. It takes hardly any time at all to sponge and stamp the snowy scene with Santa winging his way across the moon. On the other hand card number two took FOR EVER!!!!! The wallpaper and floorboards took quite a bit of working out and then the weatherboards of the outside wall took a LOT of patience and the little Christmas tree was a right fiddle to cut out!!! I really don't think that the finished result is worth the time and effort. I think this is a limited edition of ONE!!! Still life's like that sometimes isn't it? It has made me realise just nice card number one is. Thanks for stopping by today.  P.S I think I'll just go and add a bit of glitter to my Christmas Tree to liven it up a bit.

Triangles? Christmas Trees? or Pyramids?

What a busy little bee I've been tonight!!! I've had these in my mind for a while and cut the cards to take to the Christmas Marathon but ran out of time to do anything with them on that day, so I did them tonight, after my shrinky dinks. Thay are so quick to make and so lovely too. I love the vellum. I bought it in the UK when we were there. I should have filled my suitcases with it to bring back because it was very popular when we used it in a class a wee while back. Kate, at Sister Act, chased it and did manage to track some down for the ladies so that was good. Well I'm really on a roll with the QC department as these got the tick of approval too!! Must be my lucky day. I'm off to bed now so I'll say 'night 'night, sleep tight.

Shrinky Dinks

Apologies first off for the poor quality of the photos tonight. I have tried a zillion times but they always come out on the blurry side but I think you can see them clearly enough to get the idea. I hope so anyway. Arn't they cute? I think they are anyway, and EVEN Quality Control was impressed by them and that hasn't happened in quite a little while. He doesn't seem to have liked much that I've done lately. I wasn't even going to show him these but he sneaked up behind me when I was getting ready to photograph them. Fun to do but also scary when the heat gun shrivels them into grotesque shapes before it all ends happily ever after. I love a happy ending don't you? Bye and thanks for looking.

Roses, Roses . . .

Good Sunday morning to you all. Not quite craft this morning but I just had to show you this beautiful rose. I walk with my friend Ellen on Sunday mornings and today when we got back to her house she cut this from her garden for me. I am VERY sad that this is not smelly-vision because the perfume is even more gorgeous than the flower. The first picture lets you see inside the flower more but the second picture is more true to the actual colour. It must be a very old fashioned variety because the modern day roses don't have a perfume do they? Such a shame. Anyway it is adorning the shelf in my kitchen and as that is where I am now heading to wash the dishes I shall be enjoying the lovely perfume! I may have a craft blog later. Talk to you then. Have a good day or 'night 'night sleep tight, depending where in the world you are looking from, and thanks for stopping by.

Match of the Day??

Hi again Everyone. Well it's my husband's birthday coming up next week and I have come up with this card for him. Originally we come from Derby in the Midlands of England where the soccer team is Derby County, known as The Rams. Even after 38 years living in NZ his loyalties are still with Derby County so I tailored the little boy's soccer strip in the Ram's colours and wrote Derby County on the back of his shirt. I drew the goal posts and net by hand and brayered the sky and grass. I used my Promarkers to colour the little boy. I am enjoying using them but have to say that you do need to practise with them. (There are lots of good tutorials on You Tube showing the right techniques.) My husband is my strict Quality Control Department so I hope this passes his inspection next week!!! Whatever, it goes to him with all my love for being such a wonderful and supportive husband. Right as I have no other November birthday's it's back to the Christmas cards and gifts. Thanks for stopping by again.