Bah humbug!

This poor dog with his Christmas hat seems to me to be thinking 'Bah Humbug' and wishing it was all over.  

It's a lovely image from the Furry Friends cd by Joanna Sheen with artwork by Rachel Hale.
I've used a complimentary paw print backer from the same cd. The main image has been set at an angle with an added holographic snowflake in the top corner.









 

Cheating already

I've not done any cardmaking today so i've bent the rules of Kathy's challenge a little and am showing not a card but something made from card.

I needed something on which to display any necklaces that I make so searched and came up with this little stand. The necklace on it is not one of my creations I hasten to add.
The template came from boo-jewellery and is very easy to download and make.
I've used quite thick card and brads in the folded areas at the bottom to make it sturdier. It's all explained on the website, there's even a smaller one for earrings although it does say on this that holes can be punched to display earrings as well. I've just got to round off the edges a bit to take the sharpness away on the 'shoulders'. 2 of these can be made from 1 A4 sheet of card.

Finished a couple

Day 2 of the Card a Day blogging and i've got 2 finished Christmas cards to show.
My daughter went to the craft show at Donnington in the summer and received a goodie bag for her troubles. Her partner went also so I had his bag. In it were several sheets of Christmas decoupage from Hunkydory (I think), not my usual style of choice but they make up quite well.

I added a couple of flower heads to each and layered them up with a bit of foliage onto A5 cards. Quick and easy but isn't that what we all need to do at this time of year.

Kathy's facebook Challenge

Kathy has set up a group on fb to get us to make and blog a card a day, since my blog has been neglected for well over a month I decided to join in with her.
I've assembled quite a few cards today but left it too late to photograph them before the light went.
So here are the two I made for my Grandaughters' birthdays last month. One 8 years old and the other 11 years old.

This is an image a friend stamped and sent to me ages ago, i've used Promarkers to colour it and added die cuts and a doily as well as a few well stuck down seed beads.

This is a Kanban stamp which i've used again today. I used the same die cut and a circular greetings stamp, again coloured using Promarkers with addition of a bit of glitter glue.
Looking at it now i'm not sure about the flowers added onto the washi tape but it must have seemed ok at the time.










Tomorrow I will make an effort to take some pics while the light is good so I can show more recent cards.

Sue xx

It's Official!

As from the end of last month I can now say I am retired not a housewife as I hit the age of 60 and am now officially retired.

I had a super day for my birthday, relaxing by the swimming pool in sunny Tenerife, followed in the evening by a special meal at our favourite restaurant where the Manager had a table waiting for us. He even gave us complimentary champagne cocktails and an extremely large piece of chocolate cream cake complete with candle.

We managed to get a photo with Yussef the restaurant manager who remembers us from previous years. Of course one of the regular friendly waiters managed to sneak in as well.   

I was very spoilt with my pressies as Mick gave me a voucher for a helicopter flight, something which has been on my 'wish list' for many years. I'm not sure when we will make the flight but we'll be going from Cardiff airport hopefully so we can see more of the area wher we live.

Before we were married he bought me a pair of ear-rings to match my engagement ring but i'd not worn them more than a handful of times so I suggested having them made into a pendant. He collected it before the holiday but i'd not seen it so it was a lovely surprise for my birthday.

Before

After

It's much more practical for me now and will get worn more i'm certain.

He also bought me a Wales Rugby shirt, not that i'm particularly interested in the sport, I just fancied having the shirt and it's proven to be really warm in the cooler evenings since we've been home.

Sallie came to stay the weekend we got home and amongst other things gave me a voucher for a spa day. We're hoping to use this at the end of the month and have a relaxing massage as well as a gym and swim session together.

We went into Cardiff yesterday and I collected my bus pass for free travel within Wales, makes me feel really old but at least it's a decent photo ;-)

I'm not sure how this post will turn out as i'm using the very slow old pc as my laptop won't access the internet since we've been back home, not sure why but it's very annoying.

Sue xx

Cards for Mum

It's Mum's birthday this month and a couple of days later the annniversary of her marriage. This will be the 3rd anniversary she's been alone but I still send a card to recognise the day and let her know we are thinking about her.

 Simpy stamped and coloured with Promarkers this cute little lady is layered up onto mustard coloured card with 2 strips of toning ribbon.

This is still one of my favourite stamps and since owning my own i've used it in many colourways.

Much more challenging is this Michael Powell stamp, again coloured with promarkers but in softer shades vaguely following the colour on the front of the stamp as a guide to shading etc.

 I think the pale green border just brings out the colours a bit more.

The photos look a bit washed out due to the poor light today but I wanted to get some cards on here as opposed to all the knitting and beading.

Quick Knit - finished.

I've just finished the little sweater I started at the beginning of the week.

I've done a 16 inch as it's for a baby due in September. I love the different look given by the textured stitching on the body, both back and front and the little fold over collar.

I added little blue check buttons in a heart shape.

I'm already planning to do it with pink buttons as I have plenty of yarn, all hidden from male eyes ;-)

A quick knit

Talking to my neighbour on Sunday I discovered her baby is due at the beginning of September.
As we are on holiday for the due date I wanted to make sure I had a gift ready but looking through my bag of already knit items I found that all the newborn things are in girly styles and colours. As they do not know the sex I decided i'd better get knitting something boyish. I was tempted to knit my 'old favourite' matinee jacket and even got the pattern and yarn ready but then decided to do something different. I found a lovely little sweater pattern in seed stitch and am using the white yarn to knit it in.

I sat out in the sun yesterday and soon got the back done and am halfway up the front. The sleeves are plain stocking stitch.

It looks far too warm and snuggly for the weather we are having now but i'm doing the 2nd size and September may be chillier.
I'll have to remember to photograph and blog the finished garment.

Waiting for the sun

Our garden is quite small and the patio doesn't get the sun at the right time of day for us to make full use of it so we decided to have decking constructed at the other side behind the garage where the afternoon sun appears.
(Sun - you know that bright globe that appears in the sky in some places.)

The actual decking was constructed in very damp weather, glad we weren't doing it ourselves, there would have been some swearing going on and it may not have been finished yet. The sun came out as the landscaper was clearing up.

It was his idea to put the railing on the end, but I suppose he knows his job because it really finishes it off.

We were told to get it stained/protected/whatever sooner rather than later. I ordered the required stain online and delivery was spot-on. Very good company to deal with, numerous e-mails and texts to inform me of delivery times etc. http://www.wood-finishes-direct.com/

On sunday the weather was perfect for the job of staining, staying dry for a good few hours after we had finished. Since then it has hardly stopped raining but we managed to get out there again yesterday and put the furniture in place and move a few plants.

 I love this angled bit at the end and that planter seems made for it.

Hopefully now we will get some sun and be able to get out and enjoy our new area, I do hope so. I can just imagine myself out there knitting.

Lime green

Commenting on a post on facebook this morning I was shamed (bullied) into finishing this lovely little cardigan. To be fair all I had to do was sew in the sleeves and put a button on but it had been lying for weeks waiting for me to do. I'd already sewn the sleeve seam and the body is all in one piece so it didn't take long to do.

I love the soft lime green yarn and bought it without knowing what I was going to use it for. I still have a bit left as it took less than 100grm to knit in this small size.

I think the little purple heart shaped button just finishes it off nicely. Ha ha my favourite papercrafting colours are coming through into my knitting now.

Illusion set.

Fed up with using silver plated findings all the time I bought some gold plated ones and some gold-tone tigertail wire to make this necklace and bracelet set for myself.

 I've used variagated large blue seed beads with gold plated crimp beads to make the spacing I needed for the necklace.

I used a double strand for the bracelet and put blue beads on each and held them in clusters by threading on crimp beads and putting both wires through.

This is something I will enjoy wearing in the summer as it's very light. While out shopping I popped into the library and found a book on ornamental knots for jewellery, so watch this space it has some very interesting things in it.

Just finished

I've just finished the book I showed yesterday, so here it is.

I used my Bind it all and originally punched just 6 holes but the weight of the covers and pages combined meant that it didn't hold together properly when opened. I was very brave and carefully lined it all up and punched 10 holes in all. Phew they all came out ok an every page! Why do I always count wrong though and cut one wire too many?

I added lengths of different blue ribbons to the wires, starting with wide ones at the top and narrow ones at the bottom.

The back cover with an enlarged version of the front picture and some lettering. I added a couple of self adhesive pearls just because they are the right colour.

A Big Adventure

I've been crafting - printing, cutting and gluing for the past 3 days and this is what I have come up with.
The pictures have been in my camera since August 2010 so before we go away again I thought i'd better do something with them.
Anybody who knows me knows that I have a Disney Stitch who goes everywhere with me, a 2 week holiday to Tenerife being no exception.

He popped up out of my bag in the toilets at the Airport.

I think this picture of him wearing my sunglasses as he lies on a towel is my favourite.

He even came out with us to the Chinese buffet one night.

I love the pic of him trying to eat that giant donut. :-)

Neither of us thought much of the meal on the way home but luckily had gooey chocolate cake to keep us going.

These pages have now been made up into a little book recording 'titch's adventure as he went on an aeroplane and a foreign country for the first time.
Thanks for looking and indulging me in with my addiction with my little fella.