Not a Bad Effort

 I hope those of you who have kept checking my Blog every once in a while will be pleased to see this post.  It represents SO much for me I can't even begin to tell you.  Ten days ago I tried to stamp an image and couldn't control the stamp enough to get a clear, clean impression.  Since then things have begun to improve slowly. So last night I gave it another try and managed to get a few decent impressions.  Pushing my luck I then tried painting the image with DI colours.  Even though I do say so myself I think I made very passable job of it.  It took lots of concentration but I did it.  This morning I drew around it and then cut it out - with scissors!!!  Next challenge was to make it into a card and as you can see from  the picture I managed that too.  There have been times in the last 11 weeks when I thought I would NEVER craft again so this is massive for me.  I feel quite emotional about it as I sit here typing this.  Still a long way to go but long may the improvement continue.  Thanks to those of you who stopped by today 'just in case'.  I hope it was a nice surprise to find a new post after all this time.
PS  Please excuse any typos as my hands and fingers are sill very clumsy.

Hello Everyone
I'm sorry for my absence but since Easter I have been unwell.  I am afraid I will be out of action for some time to come.  Sadly I have lost the use of my hands so as you can imagine crafting is out of vthe question. I can manage to type with one  finger which is something at least.  I am awaiting an MRI scan which will hopefullyt shed some light on the mystery.  I will post as soon as there is any improvement.  Until then take  care and thanks for yor understanding and support.

School Holidays

Hi Everyone and I hope youy all enjoyed your Easter break.  The weather here in New Zealand was just AMAZING!!!  We had beautiful blue skies, lots of sunshine and high temperatures.  It was so enjoyable especially as we have had such a poor summer.  As it is school holidays now, following on from Easter I have my two favouriute Little People staying, so not much spare time at the monent.  Their big sister (22) stayed last night too.  It is her last chance as she is moving over to Australia, on Sunday, for a while.  The start of a big adventure for her and although I will miss her beautiful, smiling face and sunny personality I know she will have a wonderful time over there and it will be SO good for her growth as a person.  In the meantime I am trying to get class instructions written, future class projects researched and samples made as well as keeping up to date with upcoming birthdays.  Which brings me to today's post - another Stampscape.  This is both the next class I teach and as the next birthday I have is for a nephew I thought I would combine the two.  I think you have seen this before but is was chance to have another practise ready for the class and produce the card for Peter at the same time.  I do love doing these cards with brayered background.  The rainbow pads give such lovely, vibrant colours.  This one is Sea Breeze by Kaleidacolour.  They really do end up looking like a photograph when they are finished.  Right I have a game of Happy Families awaiting me, along with two eager Little People.  Catch you next time and thanks for visiting today.

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.