True Love

Hello Everyone.  Another week whizzed by - it's quite scary just how fast the time goes isn't it?  I have been busy with lots of little jobs that have needed doing so not a lot to show for time invested.  We finally got new towels for the bathroom, a toilet roll holder and a liquid soap dispenser so now we just need the blinds fixing (due next week) and that project can be signed off as complete.  On the other hand I came home from swimming last Monday and the men were here felling two trees that had to go in the garden restructure.  That changed the plans I had made for a few days!!  Yesterday we got the final landscape plan drawings so we can move on with the next phase which is getting quotes for the actual work.  One firm come today and another tomorrow.  It's getting quite exciting.  I spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon on the internet checking out what the different varieties of trees and plants look like.  Again it wasn't quite what I'd planned to do qith my afternoon but it was a very pleasant. So finally this morning I got around to finishing this wee card.  My friend Ellen's daughter gets married on Saturday to her childhood sweetheart - isn't that lovely?  They have been in love forever and I hope they will continue to be in love forever.  I don't have Tilda and Edwin as a bridal couple so used this one of them having a big hug.  Catherine is a very down to earth girl who has planned their wedding as a fun gathering of friends and family to celebrate their love, so I hope the dungarees and pinafore fit in with that idea.  It goes to them with all our good wishes and love of course.  Right onto the next job on the list.  Thanks for looking today.

For Mother's Day

Coming from the UK I was remimded by friends, that this last Sunday was Mother's Day in England.  This set me thinking that I could design a Mother's Day card for a class here and still have time to fit it in for our Mother's Day in May.  So with all that taken into account I have come up with this project.  Beautiful Kaisercraft papers just lend themselves so naturally to making beautiful things. I cut around the edge of the flower design which makes an interesting edge to the pocket for the tags. I had this lovely, soft coloured background paper and the script on it is all about family so that was JUST right so I cut a piece of that and used my sewing maching to sew the flower pocket to the script paper. Edged the top with a narrow strip of brown paper lace which was actually the cut off waste for the scrapbook paper. The base card is cream textured Bazill card.  Then I created the two computer generated sentiments and printed them onto off-cuts of the flower paper before mounting them onto cream tags cut out with Tim Holtz large tag die cut.  Finishing touch of ribbon seam binding which I wet and then coloured with different inks, scrunched up and dried to give the creased look.  Made two bows and stuck them onto the top of the tags before sliding the tags into the pocket.  Sadly I no longer have a Mum to make a card for but if you made this one for your Mum you could always pop a voucher for something nice in behind the tags.  It's been a dreadfull day here today - cold and rainy so just perfect for crafting in a warm room.  Thanks for looking today and I hope you liked what you saw.

Another Tilda Card

Hi Everyone.  What a fantastic weekend it's been for weather here in Upper Hutt.  Yet another beautiful sunny day with temperatures like summer rather than autumn.  I'm so pleased that those of you who have to work during the week to have a good dose of sunshine over the last two days.  Looks like it isn't going to continue into the week but hey - be grateful for what we have been given I say.  To my post - I made this wee cutie last night.  The seat is a stamp I have had for a wee while but this is the first time I have used it.  It took me a few tries to work out the best way to get it in EXACTLY the right position so that it looks like Tilda is sitting on it properly.  Got it sussed now so no more problems.  I haven't done any DI painting in a while so I really enjoyed doing this last night.  Card is for a young friend who will turn 15 in early April.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Paper Pieced Tilda

Hi Everyone.  I hope you are all enjoying your weekend.  Here in Upper  Hutt it is a glorious day - Beautiful sunshine and no wind.  We must make the most of it with Daylight Saving ending in a couple of weeks time.  We haven't had much of a summer but days like this make me feel wonderful.  Poor Tilda isn't enjoying the sunshine is she?  She's all kitted out for the rain but she is oh so cute.  For a change from painting with Distress Inks I paper pieced her and I am very pleased with the result.  I wasn't sure it would work out neat and tidy but it certainly did. I used my Promarkers for her face, hands, legs and hair. I used scraps to Cuttle Bug the letters as you see them.  Amber is our wee Great Niece who will turn 4 next week. Such an important age for a wee girl!!  Thanks to all of you who have been visiting my Blog in recent days.  My visits graph looks very healthy.  I hope you liked what you saw.  See you next time.

For Dear Aunty Yvonne

Hello again.  This lovely to make project is for our daughter's Aunt-in-Law who turns 90 on the 24th of this month.  I had the concertina book half made from last Saturday's class and so I just modified the text sections so that is is now suitable for a very dear lady who will really appreciate it.  Then of course I needed to make a box to put the card in.  I had just enough scraps of the pale paper to make a panel for the fromt and a narrow banner for the Happy Birthday sentiment.  I have loved making it over the last couple of days and I hope she has a lovely birthday with all her family and loved ones spoiling her. Thanks for stopping by today.  As always any comments will be very appreciated.

Decoupaged Toadstools

Told you I'd be back in a couple of ticks.  This little project takes time and patience.  It is a Barbara Grey and Clarity Stamps project so always expect something special when they are involved.  The time and effort are sooooooo worth the finished result - Believe me.  First picture shows the Clarity transparent stamp, on the unique Clarity acrylic handle, inked up and ready to go.  I can't recommend these handles enough.  They are SO comfortable to hold and I have NEVER dropped one over my work like I have with the regular acrylic blocks.  Go to http://www.claritystamp.co.uk/ and you will find a wonderful array of goodies there.  Back to the project.  Right  - inked up and ready to stamp.  Picture 2shows the image stamped 9 times because as you all know you need lots of layers for decoupage and a few extra in case of oopsies!  It also shows the Promarkers ready for colouring the images.  Have you tried Promarkers (or Copics)?  They are alcohol inks in marker form and are wonderful. The colours are kind of transparent and so it is possible to build up beautiful shading by overlaying one colour on top of another. (see the toadstool caps for a good example of that).  So I started colouring, and as I am hoping this will become a class, I wanted to make it clear and easy for participants to see just which bits to colour in and cut out for each layer of the decoupage. Hence picture 3 shows all seven layers and the complete image coloured.  It is certainly good brain exercise as well as a craft project!!  Having coloured in all the layers, cut out all the layers and mounted them one on top of the other you are ready to choose some yummy background paper and toning/contrasting cardstock  to create the finished card.  Do you recognise the style of card Ali?  Thanks for a geat idea. I love it.  Right that's me done for this afternoon.  Thanks for your regular visits even though there has been nothing to look at for quite some time.  Thanks for looking today and I hope you enjoyed your visit. 

Bathroom Before and After

Good Afternoon Everyone.  Well the bathroom in finished apart from a few little things we still need to get done - like a blind for the window and a nice soap dispenser.  We are really delighted with it and you can see for yourselves just what a difference in the room before and after.  The tradesmen were excellent and kept things as neat and tidy as they could but there was a lot of cleaning up to be done after they had finished.  Builders dust EVERYWHERE.  I also had my friend Ali down for a few days a couple of weeks ago, our daughter stayed for the week last week and then I taught two 3hour classes last Saturday.  Hence I am only just getting round to posting for the first time in what seems like forever.  I know you will be pleased Ali.  We had a great time when she was down (from Katikati) and we crafted 'til late.  The weather was great (if a little cool for her being from the winterless north) and we had a couple of lovely long walks.  I have been busy experimenting and have a craft post to show you so I'll sign off here and see you in a couple of ticks with that post.