Take To The Bottle

Hi again Everyone I have a late night post for you. I have been working on this for a couple of days or so and have just finished it. It is inspired by a Debbie Dolphin idea (see my Blog list to visit her. You won't be dissappointed) I thought this would be a lovely gift for a friend who likes a glass of wine. Mine only contains juice but that's because I am looking to keep costs down for class materials. but an individual bottle of wine would be good. I have a little, empty Bailey's bottle which I am going to do the same thing with. Now that would be a nice gift thank-you. I made the organza flowers myself by running a gathering thread along one edge and pulling it up to rouche the ribbon. Then I began to roll it (tightly at first) stitching it at the bottom to hold in place. The further out I got the more loosely I rouched and rolled but always stitching in place. I just thought of how I could do them, tried it and it worked!! Don't ya just love that - when something works out well? Off to bed time so I'll say 'night 'night and sleep tight. TGIF tomorrow.

Secret Garden

Good Morning Everyone and welcome back to my Blog. This card makes me think of a secret garden and that takes me right back to my childhood. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgon-Burnett was the first 'chapter' book (as my grandchildren call them) I read. My eldest sister bought it for my birthday when I was 7 years old. That makes it a pretty old memory but it is certainly a lovely memory. Anyway this card is for our dear friend Len in the UK. Len and Harold started work together way back when..... Gosh I'm really going back today arn't I? I'll be time travelling next LOL!!! The tree trunk/root stamp, the stone path and the secret door are all new stamps from the lovely Lavinia range, the leafy tree branch is from I.S.C stamps and the little grasses along the bottom of the wall etc is from Clarity Stamps. All very favourite companies of mine. (I have three new stamps from I.S.C which I've had for a wee while but not had the right occasion to use them for yet). Hope you all have something nice to do at somepoint during the day today - me? I'm off for a swim this morning and walking with my friend Di this afternoon so I certainly have nice things to do. For those of you who are working people - hang on in there the weekend is only just around the corner and if you live in the Wellington province of NZ then you have a long weekend as Monday is Wellington Anniversary Day. Enjoy!! Thanks for visiting today.

Tri Shutter Card

Hello Everyone. It's a hot, humid and sticky day here in Upper Hutt. We have had black clouds all day but not much rain but I'm glad to say that in the last half hour it has started to rain quite steadily. We certainly need it as we have vitrually had none this month/year at all. I bet the poor people of Queensland wish that was the case for them. Anyway I was home by myself for most of the day and busied myself with this, my version of a tri shutter card. It is mark II as I wasn't happy with the way mark I was looking so I threw it in the bin and started over. This time I am much happier. I like the pink and brown together and I just had one of these pink flowers left and was glad I had bought the brown version as well. I was chuffed with myself for doing the sentiment on the computer. That's two in the last week (the Congratulations post had one as well) Young Rachel Critchley over at Critchley Creations has a great tutorial on how to do them. It takes a wee while but each time I try I get better and don't have to look at the instructions as much and they are SO worth it. I thought that this would be a nice project to teach to ease us back into classes gently. Hope your week is going well. Thanks for looking today.

Comin'Up Roses

Good Morning Everyone and what a good morning it is for me because I just went to check the mailbox and found a goodie parcel in there. The piccies show you what was inside the box!! How good is that on a Monday morning? I only ordered them (from the UK) last Tuesday so I call that excellent service. Picked, packed and delivered to the other side of the world in less than a week - fantastic - AND they deduct the VAT for customers (like me) who live outside of the EU. It just gets better. ALL the UK traders I buy from should do that but only a couple do!!! Makes a difference especially as the VAT rate has just gone up to 20 per cent. It helps to cover the postage costs. Anyway enough rambling - I am delighted with my goodies and can't wait to put them to good use. I will still make my larger flowers but have always wanted more layers in the small roses I make but if I try to add more they look a bit clumsy. If anyone is interested to site is www.wildorchidcrafts.co.uk It's such a lovely site to drool over so hop on over and enjoy. HAve a great day all of you and thanks for looking in today.

Here's a Coincidence

Hello Everyone and I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. It is my birthday today and the first fantastic card here is one I received from my friend Alison (you know the one who is moving away this week). Isn't it just gorgeous? I think it is the most beautiful one she has ever given to me. But here's the coincidence - I was already working on the second card for my friend Anne in the UK. Anne is a dancing teacher and this elegant lady just says DANCE to me. Now how spooky is that - that we should both choose the same stamp to create with. The lady if from an Aspects of Design sheet we both purchased from The Stampman in the UK. We ordered them on-line and I collected them whilst I was in the UK in July last year. If you enlarge Alison's card you will see the neat little clock embellishment in the top left corner. It goes so well with the background paper. I love it. Thanks Ali. I hope Anne likes hers as much as I like mine. Bed time again here. Thanks for stopping by.

Congratulations

Here is the other Special Project I have been secretly working on and I am REALLY pleased with it. Two young friends of ours announced their engagement at Christmas which we are all thrilled about. Susan is actually our Travel Agent and has been taking care of our travel arrangements for so many years now that we have become good friends. She is a Stampin' Up Demo and so we ALWAYS have LOTS to talk about when we see each other. I wanted to think about this one and take my time in putting it together and I'm glad I did because it evolved as I went along finishing up as you see it here. I have also made a box for the card to sit in and the verse inside the card is lovely too but Mr Blogger is restricting me to four photos again so I shall have to post those photos straight after this. If you are a regular visitor you will know that I usually post late at night but it's early morning here right now. The reason for that is that I couldn't sleep and so I got up at 4am and finished off my creation before returning to bed at 5.15am!! Anyway a new day lies ahead and I'm going to try a swim at the pool this morning. It will be the first time since the beginning of December when I injured my back. Hope it goes well. Enjoy your day Everyone and thanks so much for visiting today. Ooh! P.S. Alison loved her farewell card when I gave it to her yesterday! PPS I'm entering this in the Anything  Goes challenge over at http://toptiptuesday.blogspot.com/

Inside and The Box

Hi again and here are the photos of the lovely verse inside the card and the lid of the box to present the card in. I LOVE this project. Right I'm off to the pool now and I'll call in to give this to Susan on the way home again. Bye.