Here again

Hi Folks, sorry for the long delay again as usual cirumstances got the better of me. I've just got back from Stampin' Up Training day and had a great time so all fired up again, with lots of inspiration, there are a lot of very talented people out there.
I made some new SU friends as it was not at my usual place because that is next week and we are away for 2 weeks starting Tuesday. We are off to Alaska, not a sunbathing holiday methinks, but I bought a new swimsuit just in case!!! There should be some good pics when we get back.

I've got 2 Cards for you today, both birthday cards, one for Jackie and one for May one of our card class ladies who was 80 on Thursday. We had a "fuddle" on Wednesday evening for her instead of making cards. Just in case you are not from these parts and like me when I first heard the term have no idea what a "Fuddle" is, it's when you have a party and everyone brings something to eat. May had no idea and was really suprised, it was good just to sit and chat for a couple of hours as when we make cards the chat is a bit thin on the ground.

The first one is Jackie's, it was her birthday on Thursday too.

I used the front of a ready cut shaped card and stamped and scored it, before brushing with Soft Suede ink. Soft Suede and Whisper White CS, Soft Suede ink. The image is from the Ornate Flowers set, and Soft Suede Taffeta ribbon for the trim.

This is the one I made for May. I used Whisper White and Early Espresso CS, Cut a square of Whisper White, scored it again the Simply Scored Tool is great for this. This time I used the ridged side up, cut the edges with the scalloped edgelits die before brushing with Crumb Cake ink. The image and sentiment are from the Apothecary Art Stamps, stamped in Old Olive and coloured with marker pens, the sentiment in Early Espresso. The Apothercary Art Stamps fit the Framelits Dies beautifully, I cut the white border from around the image then cut the same size in Early Espresso so that I had a narrower border. The sentiment I stamped on a strip of Whisper white, cut a V out of one end and curled the other end around a cocktail stick before sticking onto the image with sticky pads. The Butterflies from the Beautiful Wings cut and emboss die, I used the 2 smallest sizes. The shape under her name is punched with the first of the Triple Doiley punch shapes. You can see some of the bakers twine the butterflies are holding. In the top left hand corner I pulled a thread in a piece of Soft Suede Taffeta ribbon to gather it up and stuck it with sticky dots, pleated a short length of Crochet lace, and put the 2 tiny butterflies on top. Finally I put a medium pearl where each of the lines cross and a tiny pearl on each butterfly. 

Hope you like them, wont be back for a while again, not going to try the scheduling as it didn't work last time and I need to look into it again to see where I went wrong!!!!!!

Can't wait for the holiday, will tell you all about it when I get back.

Sad Friday

Well Jackie is no longer coming every day and we were both a bit tearful at times but she loved her card and gift bag, I bought her a necklace with a small diamante "Cairn" to say thank you from the Cairns for looking after them. She was very touched and that's when the tears started. We went out for lunch and had a good talk about things that she had had to do whilst being here, so we laughed a lot. She's back next Friday but it feels like the end of an era.

The electrics are still playing up but the electrician has been today and isolated it to the garage so I had lights in Cillas, hooray!!!!. I made a start on my swaps for training next Sat. I am going to the one in Leamington Spa as we will be away for the Leeds day. I'll put one up when they're finished.

This card is one I made a couple of weeks ago, inspired by Barbara Gray. I used her technique of stamping on the reverse of acetate, then covering it with double sided sticky (seem to be using a lot of that recently after it being in the drawer for ages) and rubbing gilt flakes all over. The stamp I think is Personal Impressions, but not sure as all my old stamps are in cd cases as I said yesterday. When I started storing them like that I didn't know I was going to start a blog so there was no need to keep the packaging. The base card is Naturals Ivory, the image is mounted on Very Vanilla then Basic Black. The sentiment is from Curly Cute stamped and embossed with clear glitter embossing powder on to Basic Black mounted onto Very Vanilla then again onto Basic Black.

I've got a new computer screen and its fabulous, it is about 24" wide and I don't think I need new glasses anymore as I can see what I am doing without leaning right forward. I didn't know Norman had ordered it and when I came into the computer room after tea he was setting it up a great suprise. He has a big screen for his computer but mine is Bigger!!!!!!

A quick photo before I go

This is Dominic enjoying Cookies and a drink after school on his birthday, Wednesday, at a new cafe called the Street in Tralee.

That's all for today folks, thanks for looking in.

Back Soon.

Home

We had a great weekend. Harrogate was good we managed to miss the very heavy showers, we were either having coffee, lunch, chatting in a greenhouse to the salesman or just sitting inside each time there was one, so very lucky. We ordered a new greenhouse, amazingly from a firm in a village about 4 miles away from where we live. We also ordered a bench which turns into picnic table and 2 benches. The chap that makes them said he couldn't claim inventing them as they are known as Monk's Benches and have been used for centuries in monks cells as they have very little space.

Friday we were up a 5 and on the road at 6. Arrived in Ireland for lunch then met Dominic from school, he had no idea we were going so the look on his face was a picture when he saw us in the car. He wasn't quite sure what to say, which is amazing as he never stops talking usually, but he soon got back into his stride. The party wasn't until Sunday so Saturday was preperation day (after football practice, and that's Gaelic football!! It was good fun to watch all little ones, boys and girls, having a great time.) Jonathan, my son, had bought a marquee and had almost put it up so we had that to finish and some final preparations of food. No one else had had a party at home, they usually go to the play centre, so it was a novelty for them all. Luckily it didn't rain on Sunday, the sun shone but it was very windy and Jonathan was a bit worried about the marquee, but all went well.They have about an acre so the children had a great time running round, playing golf and football. They played pass the parcel but that and when they were eating were the only times they sat down.  None of them wanted to go home when their parents arrived and the parents had to chase around to catch them. One little girl came and sat beside me at the end and said "This is the best party ever" so I can imagine a few more wanting parties at home. We arrived home Monday absolutely shattered. I was in bed by 9.30.

I heard last night that the scheduled posts all came up on the last day, I don't know what I did wrong there, will have to have another go sometime to try and get it right.

We had a problem with the electrics tonight, all the sockets wouldn't work. Norman managed to get the ones in the house working but Cilla's was and still is without lights and sockets, so my time was cut short!! I needed to make a card and a gift bag as Jackie who looks after the dogs when we are away is not going to be doing that from tomorrow. So here they are.

I've used Pear Pizazz CS, a retired DSP, Lucky Limeade pleated ribbon (I love this) The thank you stamps are from the Thank You Kindly set with basic black ink. The 3 "Cairns" are a Little Clair Set, and the one on the Gift Bag, and the sentiment underhim are ones I've had for years the packaging has worn out and they are stored in cd cases so I don't know who made them. It's just the head and I stamped the sentiment underneath then cut it out as if he is leaning over.

I hope she likes them, it is going to be a very emotional day tomorrow as she has been with us for 15 yrs. She is still coming 2 days to help with the cleaning so the thank you's are from the dogs.

That's about all the news for now, hope you didn't get too bored reading it.

Thanks for looking in

Back soon.