Second Time Today

Wow that hasn't happened in a long time!!! These two complete my task I'm happy to report. The corset card is for my niece who is a bit of a fashionista so I thought she would like this and the simple little fairy is for Harold's great niece who turns 6 in August. Now I just have two or three calendars to make to take as gifts for Special Friends in the UK. They will be like my recent post but if I don't get them done in time I always have the option of doing them after we come back and posting them at the end of the year don't I? Right feeling rather pleased with myself I shall say 'night 'night and toddle off to bed. Hope you saw something that you liked in my posts today. Thanks for looking anyway.

Making Good Progress

Good Evening Everyone and I hope you have all had a good day. It has been another gorgeous sunny day here in Upper Hutt. May has been an incredible month, and for saying we have Winter knocking on the door we are experiencing some very warm temperatures. Some of the nights have been a little cooler of late but nothing too terrible as yet. Well last night and this afternoon I pressed on with the task at hand and produced several cards like this one. I havn't used my trusty brayer in quite a while so I particularly enjoyed making these. Making several the same speeds up the process immensely. I got quite a little production line going!! First I cut all my picture panel pieces to size and then began to create the picture on them. Brayer first colour on all, apply sun mask to all, brayer second colour to all then third colour to all. Sorted out and mounted all the stamps onto separate acrylic blocks so that I could just ink and stamp to create the picture without having to mess about changing stamps on one block. Lastly sponged the bottom of the panels. Next cut the black and the grey pieces for mounting onto. Stamped the swirly stamp onto the grey and then assembled all the pieces together and all done. Tonight I hope to get my last few done so I'll sign off and go to it. Thanks for stopping by and looking today.

Running Out of Time

Hello Everyone. We go off on our annual holiday in just three weeks time and I am running out of time to do all the things I need to. June, July and August are the busiest months (along with January) for me with birthday cards. Hence I need to be super organised and have ALL my cards made ready to either leave here for the NZ people, take with me for the UK people or have ready for the ones which occur immediately I get back. I made one for a young friend whose birthday it is today and three from my list. Where are they then you ask . . . . I forgot to photograph them before sealing them in envelopes!!! DUH!!! I made these four tonight and managed to remember to snap them and Blog them before bed. Because I am getting panicky I decided to do groups of three or four in the same style (but just a touch different) as I find that much quicker than individual ones. Quicker to cut and score several cards the same size. Quicker to dry emboss four one after the other etc. These tree cards are all for males - always a problem don't you think? Along with all the craft things I need to do we are still in the middle of our big re-organisation/autumn clean. We have had some new furniture and so it has been like musical chairs moving things around. I think we are making forward progress but it is only a small speck of light at the end of the tunnel at this point. For an habitual hoarder (like me!!) it is a very traumatic experience - clearing out drawers and cupboards. I am having to be ruthless but I am being very brave about it!! Right off to bed. Thanks for stopping by tonight. I hope to be back soon with the next batch.

Christmas Lantern Gift Box . . .

. . . . with Tilda and Edwin of course!!!Hi Everyone. I am a little tired tonight after teaching all day today. This morning was pretty cruisy with just 3 ladies who worked away happily and went home pleased with their efforts and a very pretty covered bottle each. Actually they didn't go home because all 3 stayed on and did this afternoon's class as well. I had 8 in total and as there was some measuring and cutting to be done first, we had a few mistakes which got us off to a stressful start. Fortunately we had spare sheets and once the cutting was sorted the rest of the afternoon went reasonably well. All seemed pleased with their Thanks a Bunch card and said they were pleased to have learned some new techniques and that they had enjoyed the afternoon. It was a 3 hour class (as opposed to a normal 2 hour) and so it was a long day by the time I had driven for an hour to get home. I called at the 'Chippie' to buy tea, as cooking on top of such a long day would have been the final straw. After a couple of cups of green tea and my fish and chips I was recovered enough to finish off this lantern which is going to be a class in October (nothing like being well organised!!) This has to be my year of Tilda and Edwin and the ladies who do most/all of my classes will be expert in the Distress Ink painting technique by the end of 2011. I loved this little lantern when I saw it and love it even more now that I have completed it. It was used for choccies or similar gift box but I just happened to see these little tealight candles which are battery operated and they look just fantastic flickering away inside the lantern. Quite an easy little project to make and certainly very enjoyable. Right that's me done for today. My two favourite Little People are here for the night whilst Mum and Dad are at a house warming party so no doubt it will be an early start to the day tomorrow so I'm off to bed now. Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you like my little lantern.

Late into the Night

Good Morning again Everyone. This posting shows yesterday's efforts which continued on into the wee small hours. I think it was about 1.15am when I went to bed feeling very pleased with my day's work. This calendar is inspired by the one made by Debbie Dolphin at the beginning of this year. I fell in love with it and decided I would make some for SPECIAL FRIENDS at the end of this year. I am also going to teach it in Sept/Oct after I come back from our holiday. This is the proto-type. As always you learn heaps on your first one - things you would differently next time. The eagle eyed amongst you will see that it has a 2011 calendar hanging on the bottom. That's because I haven't bought any 2012 ones yet so I will have to change it when I have. I am also going to look on-line to see if I can print my own off. I am sure I will be able to but is it worth it??? These little pads cost me only a few pence in the UK last year so they are on my shopping list again for this trip. I had my Healthy Heart check at the Doctors this morning and am pleased to report everything is in good working order. Right I must go and tidy up my craft mess from yesterday. Have a good day all of you and thanks for stopping by today.

Back on the Bottle !!!!!

Good Afternoon Everyone. This next weekend is the Bottle class in the morning and Thanks a Bunch (see earlier posts) in the afternoon and so this weekend just passed has been a busy one getting my materials ready. I covered this baby Baileys bottle for a different example for the project. It is such a cute wee bottle that I think it lends itself very well to the project. I am working away on more class samples and will post them as I finish them. Harold is away for the night tonight and also on Wednesday which means I can work away and don't have to worry about things like cooking tea at tea time I can just break off when it suits. Not that he bothers but I always feel like I must produce meals at conventional times for him. It will be very strange tonight without him home. We haven't spent a night apart in a VERY long time. I will be pleased to see him late tomorrow afternoon. Why is he away - GOLF of course ('scuse the pun). He is playing in a 4 day tournament and is staying at our eldest daughters to cut down on time spent travelling and very early mornings. O.K back to the craft desk. Thanks for looking and I hope you all had a good weekend.

Twas the Night . . . .

Good Morning Everyone and I hope you are all fit and well as am I. A good post today (I think so anyway). It is my latest sample for a class in June and as you wil see it is a star book themed around the classic poem Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore. It is a real favourite of mine and I have used it for star books before and split the poem into 14 so that each of the 7 sections of the star are filled. This time I split the poem into 4 and put them into the first 2 sections and then I really had fun. Barbara Gray from Clarity Stamps is working her way through the poem drawing and making the poem into stamps in this beautiful way. She has been doing it since her children were little (they are now both at uni!!) and she is still only part way through (10 so far). So I stamped the 10 onto water colour paper, coloured them with water colour pencils, added glitter where necessary and then cut them out with one of my Nesties. This filled 5 of my sections and the other 2 were filled with the printed poem as I said earlier. The book pages are cut from 7 different, double sided, 12x12 scrapbook papers. The cover is bookboard covered with single sided scrapbook paper. The letters are Hippy Chic font cut through my Cuttlebug and a 3D St Nick to finish off the front. I opted for two lots of tying ribbons as I have found in the past the strain of tying the book open is a bit much for one. I am well pleased with the finished item and I hope the ladies who take my class will be pleased too. Thanks for looking today. It's back to household chores now I'm afraid :=(

Could I be on a roll???

Early Wednesday morning here and I have another busy day ahead so I thought I'd quickly post these three I made last night before I get into it. The first two are made with new stamps by Sir Tim (cross yourself when you mention his name please!!!) and although I've had them for a few weeks it is the first time I've used them. I have to say I do love them. I sponged the backgrounds (again like Sir Tim does on his tag art) and then stamped the images over the top using Timber Brown Stazon ink. I like this as it is just a bit softer than black but is still very dark. The flower on the first card is cut with a DooHickey die from Magnolia (maker and designer of the Tilda stamps) You get two sizes of flower in the packet and I have used the smaller one here. Again I love it. This card is a Thank-you card for the friends we visited in Melbourne recently. The second is a birthday card for my Great Nephew who is about to turn 16 and the third one is for Harold's Great Niece who is turning 10. How exciting is that for a wee girl? Right I'm off to do some sewing. I am recovering the foam squabs of our daughter's caravan - 3 down and 2 to go. Then as it's Wednesday it must be lunch time swim day with Harold. Then back to the craft desk to continue with samples and instructions. So - go to it Elaine. Have a good day Everyone and I'll speak to you all again soon (promise!!)

School Holiday Activities

Hello Everyone long time no Blog!!! April 1 the last time so where did April go to??? Some excuses - we went away to Melbourne for a few days and then my two favourite Little People arrived the day we got back and stayed for the whole 2 weeks of the school holidays. We had a ball together and I have Blogged a few photos of different things we/they did. Tayla , with her 'Girls Can Do Anything' attitude built herself a Lego helicopter - all by herself - and then made a jet pack for her little Lego man. Grandad helped them to build a racing track for Trent's Mighty Beanz (any of you in contact with a boy aged about 10 will know what these are) and we all had lots of fun racing our chosen Mighty Bean down the track and into an empty ice cream pot at the end. Next picture shows 3 of the said Mighty Beanz which Tayla managed to balance one on top of the other, first try, much to the annoyance of her older brother who had been trying to do 3 for several days.!! The last photo is my Knight and Knightess in shining armour and helmet. We made these at the library program one day. We went to the library program every day the library was open. I can't praise the children's librarians enough. They did a stirling job with stories and a craft activity each day and a movie bonanza one day. Excellent. We had 2 visits to the movie theatre to see Mars Needs Moms and Rio, both 3D movies. So perhaps I can be excused a little bit for not Blogging for the last few weeks. I am a bit like a lost soul this week without the constant chatter and laughter. A little bit of therapy on Thursday when they are coming here whilst their parents go to a wedding so I have that to look forward to. I'm not sure I'll have much to Blog in the next little while either as I have 3 lots of class instructions to write which always take a while but I'll do my best. I'm off out to do a bit of garden tidying now while the sun is shining. It will be a bit soggy though because it rained overnight. Anyway someones got to do it and I guess it better be me as Harold is out at golf until mid afternoon. Bye and thanks for still looking in after all this time.