Busy Week

Sorry for the lack of posts this week but with hospital appointments, committee meetings, lunches, card classes etc. etc.. I don't seem to have had time to turn around. The lunches and the card classes were very enjoyable though. It was the WI group lunch at our local golf club and the food was excellent and very reasonably priced. But the after lunch entertainment was the highlight. Each institute did a little spot and it was hilarious. Our members told loads of jokes, read a passage about being a child in the 50's & 60's and finished off with the song Julie Andrews sang at her 70'th Birthday. Lorna, one of my card ladies, sang this to us at our Card class Christmas lunch and had the whole restaurant laughing. She had to go around and sing to the other tables. 

Anyway I did have time to fit a card in all that and here it is

I've used the Everyday Enchantment DSP and the Fresh Vintage Stamps from the Sale a Bration Freebies.

The sentiment is from Petit Pairs and the ink is Soft Suede. The cardstock is Whisper White and Soft Suede, I used the Decorative Label Punch on Whisper White and sponged with Soft Suede before Stamping. The ribbon is Soft Suede.

Hope you like it, and hopefully back soon. 

Sale a Bration

Well everyone's been waiting for today, Sale a Bration starts and I've had a few ladies hanging on to their orders so that they can get the freebies. For every £45 spent you get one of these freedbies from the Sale a Bration leaflet

I've just put in 3 orders so looking forward to next week when they arrive, it'll be just like Christmas again. I haven't ordered for a few weeks as we have been waiting for this and I've really missed the boxes arriving.

Here's a couple of cards I've made over the weekend

I've used Everything Eleanor and Tiny Tags Stamps, Wisteria Wonder and Old Olive Ink, Elegant Eggplant Marker, Very Vanilla, Elegant Eggplant and Wisteria Wonder Cardstock, Wisteria Wonder DSP, Scallop Edge Border Punch, the label for the sentiment uses Decorative Label Punch, punching then turning the label and punching again, to create a smaller label. A technique I saw on another blog, sorry can't remember who's. I ran the stamped image through with the Square Lattice Emb Folder. The card size is 141/2cm sq.

This one is a smaller sq.10c.m. Melon Mambo Cardstock, Beau Chateau DSP, Tiny Tags Stamps, again, Soft Suede Ink, Corner Rounder,Tiny Tag and 5 petal flower Punches, Melon Mambo Scallop Dots Ribbon and a Pearl.

Hope you like them

Back Soon.

Everything Eleanor

Today's card is one I made when the new catalogue appeared. It uses the Everything Eleanor and Happpiest Birthdays Stamp Sets,  Soft Suede, Crumb Cake and Chocolate Chip Inks, Soft Suede Cardstock and Ribbon and the Mocha Morning DSP. I can't wait for Tuesday when the Sale a Bration Starts, there are quite a few orders pending which I will get off first thing Tuesday morning. Don't forget if you want to come to the all day Workshop let me know by then please as I will be sending for the materials we will be using.

Hope you all have a good weekend, back soon.

Jo's Cards

Mum and baby both doing well, he is very hungry so Liz isn't getting much sleep, 7 hours in 3 days. Poor girl is shattered.

The workshops yesterday were taken by Jo, we take turns and do alternate weeks.  We made three lovely cards. The cardstock is Stampin Up but I'm not sure what the Designer Paper is, the stamps are Lily of the Valley.

I had a great time, it's lovely to be able to "play" along with the friends that come. 

And the third one

We are having an All Day Workshop on 18th February, it will be at Shirland Miners Welfare Centre, Shirland, Alfreton, Derbyshire, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cost is £30 and all materials are provided. It also includes Steak Pie, Chips and Peas lunch (the steak pies are great I'm sure some of the ladies only come for these).

We have a few places left so if anyone is interested then contact me at annwall@shearwatercairnterriers.co.uk  By 24 January.

That's all for today back soon. 

New Grandson

Exciting news - our new grandson, Nelson, was born yesterday. He weighed in a t 8lb 10 oz.

Here he is just after he was born, with a worn out Mum and proud Dad. He is their second son and both were born at home in the birthing pool. Liz says it's relaxing but this one was much more hard work than his brother Winston. 

And this is him this morning looking  very contented. He makes up our 5 a side team, yes 5 grandsons ranging from 16yrs to 1 day. I'll have to get them all together for a team photograph to show you.

After all the excitement I got into Cilla's and made a couple of cards

The first one is a small card, just 31/2"x 4", I made it from scraps that were left ove from something else. I used Beau Chateau DSP, Early Espresso CS, Daisies 2 Die, Just Believe Stamp Set, Early Espresso ink, Eyelet  Border, Dotted Scallop Border, the flower from Itty Bitty Shapes, and the Modern Label punches. Plus a pearl.

This one I used Early Espresso, Always Artichoke and Whisper White CS, River Rock DSP, Easter Blossoms stamp set from the new mini, and Outlined Occasions from the Sale a Bration which fitted in really well as I could fill in the word with the white gel pen I'd used on the Blossoms. The in was Always Artichoke.

Well no more news today, can't wait till we can get down to see Nelson and I can have a cuddle.

Back Soon

Where does the time go?

It definitley doesn't seem 3 days ago since I last posted, the time just seems to fly by. Friday I had a busy day shopping etc. Yesterday after walking Bo the youngest Cairn boy, he has to go on his own with me as he isn't allowed off his lead since he disappeared for 24hrs a couple of years ago. The other 3 go with my husband and have a free run in the fields. Anyway back to what I was saying, after our walk it was such a lovely morning I decided that I would comb all 4 dogs outside. This takes quite a while, Bo and Sonny have really good coats and the comb runs through theirs very easily. Then we come onto Jim who absolutely hates being groomed so he lies down and shivers the whole time. I have to hold him up with one hand and comb with the other. Crezi, the girl, has completely the wrong type of coat for a Cairn, it is greasy, to start with, and it mats, so it takes ages to get the comb through, I have to take it very slowly so as not to pull the "lugs" too hard. By the time I had finished it was lunch time. I spent the afternoon in Cilla's, there was football on the TV so I wasn't missed!!!!! . Here are a couple of the cards I created. Both use Nursery Nest DSP and the Aviary Stamp Set.

For this one I have used Melon Mambo, Blushing Bride, Bashful Blue and Whisper White CS. Blushing Bride DSP, The sprig is from Tiny Tags Stamp set. Inks were Melon Mambo, Bashful Blue, Blushing Bride, Old Olive, Perfect Plum, and I also used the Elegant Border Punch of the 2 flaps.

On this one I used Pink Pirouette, Basic Grey, and Whisper White CS. Happiest Birthday Wishes Stamp Set ,2 Tags Die, the 13/4" scalloped circle punch which fits the sentiment perfectly and matches the top of the die cut. 13/4" circle punch, corner rounder and some diamantes. I was really pleased with how both of these turned out.

Back soon, hopefully quicker than 3 days.

Wednesday workshops

Yesterday was our first day back after the Christmas break. We last met on Dec 7 when we all went out for lunch. Everyone pays 50p per week and we have a Midsummer Lunch and Christmas Lunch. We also pay 50p per week for Birthdays and everyone receives £25 on the Wednesday nearest to their Birthday. We decided on this rather than buy each other presents.

Anyway, back to yesterday, it was lovely to see everyone again and hear about their Christmases and catch up on news etc. We were 2 short May couldn't make it and Margaret 2 is away on a cruise, lucky girl. As you may have guessed we have 2 Margarets. There are 2 sessions afternoon and evening and we made these cards and a brooch.

The hat idea came from a swap I received at Convention, it was from a French lady. I ran it through the Square Lattice embossing folder after putting the black faux stitching around the edges. It's made from the 13/8 and 3/4 inch circle punches. I used Basic Black and Very Vanilla, The Dotted Scalloped Border, and Scallop Trim Border punches, and the sentiment is from the hostess set Happiest Birthday Wishes.

I can't remember the name of the DSP I used on this card, it was from the last catalogue, I used Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla and Whisper White, for the sentiment under the flap, which was from Curvy Verses.

The leaves are with the Little Leaves Sizzlet Die and the Circles are the 13/8 and 1 inch punches, Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon finishes it off.

The last card we made  is Beau Chateaux DSP, Soft Suede and Pink Pirouhette CS. Stamps were Everything Eleanor,Just Believe and Raining Flowers, which is from the new Mini Catalogue. I think I will be using this one quite a lot there are a lot of elements to it. Ink and ribbon were Soft Suede. The flower behind the embellishment is made from the 5 petal flower punch, stamped with the swirls from Everything Eleanor, and the smallest flower on the Fun Flowers die. I layered them then cut them in half befor sticking them between the soft suede and pink layers.

And finally this is the brooch, the idea for the brooch came from another SU demonstrator, Helen Read who has very kindly adopted me into her team as my upline is a couple of hundred miles away and I can't get to her trainings, so Helen invited me to hers and for that I am very grateful, I went to Convention with her and 4 members of her team and we had a whale of a time.

Back to the brooch it is made from Timeless Portrait Fabric which I painted with a mix of PVA glue and water (Helen's tip as well) left to dry over night then cut out the largest and smallest of the flowers +  the small circle of the Fun Flowers die. It cuts brilliantly after the treatment. Then the red is some felt I had in, and the middle flower and plain circle are in this. I had a number of colours so everyone chose a colour to go with something they were wearing, they all looked great with the black and white fabric. The diamantee brads are some I already had.

As you can imagine we had two good sessions, though I had cut all the black and white bits beforehand to save time.

I really enjoyed being back in the swing of things, but I had got out of the routine and there were a few things I had forgotten and had to go running in to Cilla's for.

That's about it for now, back soon

Ann

Something masculine

I thought it was time I did a masculine style card, I don't seem to get much inspiration for the men's cards. Don't know why I did the golf theme, I don't know any golfers, but I saw the pennant punch lying sideways  and thought it looked like a flag, and this is what I came up with. Hope you like it.

I used Whisper White Cardstock, sponged the grass with Old Olive and the sky Bashful Blue. The trees are the small ones from the Lovely as A Tree group stamped with Soft Suede (did a bit of masking here and there), the flag is So Saffron DSP, punched with the pennant punch and stamped with sentiment from Petit Pairs (I find I'm using these a lot). A half inch black circle is the hole and the flag pole a cocktail stick with one pointy end snipped off.

That's all for today folks, hopefully another one tomorrow.

2 to make up for the one I missed.

Forgot I had a meeting on Wednesday night so didn't get round to posting. Sorry about that I've had quite a quiet day today so to make up for it here are 2 cards I've made recently. We will be making these in the next few weeks at my Wednesday classes. The first uses Beau Chateau DSP, Aviary Stamp Set, and some of the new Dotty Scalloped Ribbon. The colours are Marina Mist, Very Vanilla and Crumb Cake.

The second hasn't photographed very well (I'm still learning) I haven't got the lighting right.

The design is CASED from another blog some time ago and I can't find the name at the moment so I'm sorry if you see this . The cardstock is Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake and Whisper White, one of my favourite stamp sets, Lovely as a Tree, Top Note Die, Modern Lable and Word Windo Punch. The three dots were punched with a large hole punch. I used the stamping on acetate method to create the reflection.

Hope you like them, I'm off into Cilla's now to get some creative therapy.

No Card today

Just a quick note, had to go our today and I am out again this evening so no time to post a card, but will hopefully get one up tomorrow. Just got back before the rain set in again. Thanks for all you kind remarks girls !!! See you next week.

Wet and Windy

This morning was terrible, gale force winds and torrential rain, glad I didn't have to go out. I spent some time in Cilla's yesterday. Tidying up after Christmas, another thing we use it for is storing stuff we are not using, so there was lots of unused wrapping paper etc to be put away until next year. The problem is though that I always see something I like better that last years so end up with another lot to put away. This year I have thrown away quite a lot of very old stuff. I did manage to get this card made, I can't go in and not create!!!!

All products Stampin Up unless otherwise stated.

Card Stock          Soft Suede
DSP                     Beau Chateau
Stamps                 Four Frames, Just Believe, Spiced Paisley (From the new mini, orders from tomorrow)
Ink Pad                Soft Suede
Die                       Fun Flowers
Punches                Eyelet Border, Decorative Label,
Ribbon                 Soft Suede Taffeta
Antique Brad.

That's all for today, hope the wind dies down soon.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year everyone.Well I'm here again after 6 months of not blogging I will try this time to make regular posts and get some cards up on site. The weekly classes are still going strong, I now have an afternoon and an evening class on Wednesdays, as the numbers have increased. Life has been a bit hectic as DH had an emergency hernia op. in July and then a very bad fall at the end of October, whilst helping to paint at the new house our daughter is having built. He was in hospital for 2 weeks and is still recovering, but well on the way. I was away from cardmaking for about 7 weeks in all but am now back in the swing again. This is a card I made yesterday, I just dragged the colour over the flower using my Aqua Painter.

Hopefully back again soon with more cards.

I  used :-

Card Stock            Naturals Ivory

                              Basic Black

                             Very  Vanilla

 Stamps                 Every thing Eleanor 

                             Curly Cute

EB Folder              Designer Frames

Dies                       Nestabilities Oval & Scaloped Oval