Wedding Card for Dawn and Steve..

Hello There

I have a hard day tomorrow so I thought I would share a little card I made towards the end of last year for a friend of mine who was getting married.  .........

I cut the top layer on my Silhouette before mounting it on the card base.  I had lent some stamps to Dawn for her (or should I say Steve) to stamp some images onto their place cards.  Dawn kindly gave me the stamp pads she used and so I knew the colours of her wedding which was the turquoise colour of the ribbon and background.

I decided the card needed some zing, so I spritzed it with Tattered Angels spray, thought the picture doesn't show the shimmer very well, possibly because it had not fully dried when I took the photo.  I forgot to photograph the inside - doh!!

Dawn and Steve loved the card (phew) and had a wonderful wedding day.

Thanks for calling by.

Hettie

Funkie Junkie - 12 Tags of Christmas - Tag 9

Hello there Peeps

I have now got up to no. 9 of the Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas - Hurrah!!  This Challenge is sponsored by Funkie Junkie Boutique.  Still three more and two bonus tags to do - eek!  Where did the time go?

Click HERE to see Linda's tag inspiration and here is mine......

From Linda's tag I took the colours, the stamping on the plain tag with a snowflake stamp (free from Craft Stamper some time ago) before adding a mix of distress inks (Chipped Sapphire, Broken China and Blue Jeans which I dabbed onto my craftsheet and then added water before dipping the tag in.  I didn't feel there was enough depth so I spritzed a little Stream Colourwash which I was happy with.  Whilst I had the Colourwash out I sprayed some Prima flowers (VOS) which were a wishy washy grey/lilac colour and then added some silver embossing powder and embossed them.  I wish you could see them IRL as they look better than the photographs.

I also took the Snowflake and Heart theme.  Anyone who knows me will know that I have a collection of hearts in my kitchen.  I cut some Spellbinders snowflakes in different sizes using white cardstock and silver glittered cardstock.  I also cut a silver heart using a Sizzix die.  I layered the snowflakes with blue twine (VOS) and added some TH leaves which I embossed with silver embossing powder in several layers before adding some MS glitter whilst the powder was still molten.

Sorry about the photography.  I had to use the flash as the mornings are too dark  The red background is the Christmas runner on the bay window.  Some of the snowflakes are looking a little pink because of red background.  I assure you they are white.

A silver star and diamante pins through the top of the heart snowflake, some Czech ribbon tied with sheer ribbon and blue twine and my tag was finished.  

I hope you like it.  I can see some of these ideas being transferred onto cards next Christmas.  

Thanks for calling by.  I am just going to pop this over to the Snippets Playground as the cardstock used for snowflakes, leaves and glitter stock were all from my Snippets Box.

Hettie

Scrapbook Tuesday - Oh Megan (or should that be Pig-pen)!

Hello Friends

Tuesday is here and so I am sharing my latest layout with you.  It is a photograph which I have been wanting to scrapbook for ages now but have never been quite sure how to do.  So I was wandering around Basic Grey's blog (well the cardstock is Basic Grey) and I came across a layout which they suggested you "scraplift".  I liked the concept so here is my version.....

Not content with cutting papers up from my stash I took one of my Snippets boxes and just kept pulling papers out until I found a piece that would tie in with the colours in the photo, then I ran them through my Big Shot using a Sizzix die.  Once I had cut about 40 hearts I took them over to my desk and sat down and procraftinated, using the camera to ensure I did not have too many darks/lights congregating together. (In case you don't know what I mean by "using the camera", if you point your camera at your work you can get a better idea of the depth of colour through either the viewfinder or on the screen on the camera.  A great tool for quilting too!)

The photo is of my youngest Niece at Llangranog Beach just weeks before she was to be my bridesmaid!  We refer to this photo as the Pig-Pen photo and it makes me smile every time I look at it.  She really does look "Pleased as Punch"!

As you can see I got my trusty sewing machine out (though the lines are not perfectly straight but neither is the beach!).  The hearts are not stuck down so that some of them have slightly curved which is what I wanted it to do.  I would hate to hazard a guess as to what makes of papers I have used, but they are all Snippets from past layouts and cards.  Even the distressed doily was cut for something else, not use, turned over as I had inked the other side and then used!  

Now for another photo of Amsterdam.....what Holland is most famous for....tulips!!

Beautiful colours on a quite dull day.  It is interesting to see the price of them there €12.50 for 50 tulips - that would be about £12.50 for 20 here!  The exchange rate is currently around €1 = £1!!

Thanks for calling by.  Please leave me a comment so I know you have been.  Hope you like my layout today!  Off to show my layout to the girls in the Playground!  Anyone got any flumps today?

Hettie

Scrapbook Tuesday - Anyone need a Hug?

Hello Friends

Brrr!  Mr Jack has sure been around this morning!  Wrap up warm is definitely the order of the day today!

Well, today is Tuesday so as is customary on my little blog I would like to share with you a layout which I have created recently (last night in fact!).

This is another photograph which has been hanging around on my computer desk waiting to be scrapbooked so here it is.....hope you like it.....

This is Hironomous.  A Blenheim Cavalier  King Charles Spaniel who was quite literally "dumped" on us.  We were asked to "foster" him for a short period and the owner never came back to collect him.  It is a very long and suspicious story which I won't bore you with here, only to tell you that he was one beautiful and loveable dog with a big heart, and was a wonderful addition to our family.  He was very cuddly too and here he is cuddling with a sweatshirt of mine.

I had been pondering how I was going to scrapbook this photo when in the middle of the night I thought to use the Boofle papers again and create a quilting theme using my Sizzix quilting die.  However, when I laid them out on the background, I needed something more than just a plain blue background.   

So I got my hexagon mask out, and sponged some white acrylic paint through the mask to create a quilted look. The photo has had a little white Sharpies added to the outer edge.  The stickers are from a pack of Boofle goodies which I was given for Christmas. The title was cut using my Cricut and some card which started life as invitations to a Hunt Club Dinner.  Well it was a shame to bin them as it is such nice card.

I faux stitched around the edges of all the hexagons and using my Boofle stamps I stamped a few without embossing them. All the wooden buttons were threaded with bakers twine from Papermania and I used some variegated thread to stitch around the outer edge of the layout.

A few hearts, again faux stitched and layered on to a rosette which was in the Snippets tin.  A little Snippet of Stampin Up ribbon which my lovely friend sent to me.  I shall be running over to the Playground with this as there are lots of Snippets used!  Is the brazier running yet?

And for those of you who wanted to see some shots of Amsterdam, here is one which I took from the boat when we went on the (expensive) canal trip!  Yes it was snowing but looked very pretty!

Have a great Tuesday.  

Hettie

Funkie Junkie Tag 3 - Hey Mr Frosty

On the Third Day of Christmas I will bring to you........

                                                                        .........Tag No. 3 of the Funkie Junkie Challenge......

Sorry I could not resist that!  I am indeed bringing you the Third Tag of the Funkie Junkie Challenge which is being hosted by Linda and sponsored by thefunkiejunkie.com

As usual I will show you Linda's tag first......

Now I have had to think a little laterally on this tag (big word I know) as I do not have the Pewter Distress Stain so I put my finkin' cap on and had a eureka moment!  I placed Picket Fence DS and Chipped Sapphire on my craft mat.  Then I sprinkled some Pewter Perfect Pearls into the mixture and then swooshed my tag made with the TH tag die and SU Vanilla cardstock.  Here is the effect I got which I love and can see me using again!  Whilst the ink was on the craft mat I also swooshed Mr Frosty and the snowflakes through too.

So a little jiggery pokery with the background and Mr Frosty next by stamping TH snowflakes using Ranger Medium and added more Pewter PP.  At the top right of the tag I placed a new mask and swooshed some silver Treasure Gold wax and then buffed it (love this stuff!).  

Mr Frosty and the snowflakes were die cuts that a friend of mine had given to me - Thank You! I cut a flourish out of a Snippet of kraft cardstock and I painted one of the wooden hearts with Liquid Pearls and when dry I adhered a Chit Chat word.  Mr Frosty had a smoosh of Rock Candy Distress Crackle paint.

I then added a little Tissue Tape, Making Memories Embellishment, snowflake charm and sparkles in the heart centres all topped of with some ribbon and fluffy fibres.  

Another chit chat word and some more sparkles on the flourish and now I have finished.  

If you wish to join in with this Challenge you have until 17th December so 14 days (yikes!).  There is a fabulous prize on offer and I know that this week's tag (the last one) is absolutely wonderful.  Click HERE to see it.

Thanks for popping by and please leave me a comment so I know you have been.

TTFN

Hettie

Funkie Junkie Tag 1 - SSS

Hello Friends

Do you remember a short while ago I told you about a challenge I had discovered by the lovely Linda Coughlin over at the Funkie Junkie Blog (click HERE for more deets)?  Well if you recall Linda was already up to Tag 9 so I had some catching up to do.  So where better to start but at Tag 1?  (Linda is up to Tag 11 so I need to get on with them!)  So here goes....

Here is Linda's piece first (a stunner if I might say so Linda!)...

Well here is my take on Linda's tag....

As I have mentioned before I don't do Stars but I do do Hearts.  

Some close ups and some details.  Tag was cut with SU Vanilla cardstock using my TH die.  The tag was swooshed with Picket Fence and Bronze Distress Stains.  I stamped my TH flourish stamp on the top right using some Ferro paint mixed with some puff paint, however, I think my stamp had mostly Ferro paint on it! Love the shimmer on it though.  

The Angel wings I have had for years and years and.....(you get the idea), the button came from a button stall at the NEC (I have the card somewhere if you really want to know the supplier.  Just add it in the comments and I will dig it out for you).  I could have spent hours and a small fortune at that stall as they were all wooden and in any shape or form you could think of.  Expect to see a few more as this wasn't the only one I bought!  The Burlap (string in the UK) came from Funkie Junkie shop (love it).  The "25" and the two larger hearts were cut using Sizzix and TH dies using a wrap from Coffee 1.   The two smaller hearts were cut from Snippets of card and covered with TH Tissue Tape. 

At the bottom left of the tag I used a stencil and the puffed paint and Ferro mixture, heated it with the heat gun, painted over the top with Fresco paint (Vintage Lace), then I stamped over the top with the bronze DS using my TH flourish stamp again, and I stamped over the two smaller hearts at the same time.  I got my Treasured Gold wax and brushed over the top of the raised parts as well as the 25 and hearts.  I distressed the edges, wrote out the sentiment on Snippets and added the lace, bells and burlap.

You have until 17th December to catch up with all 12 tags and there is a chance to win a prize  from the sponsor Funkie Junkie  Love their goodies and to be honest, postage was not an awful lot in the context of things and pretty quick to the UK (8 days from order to parcel!).

Hope you like!

I am now entering this into the following challenges:-

Funkie Junkie - Tag 1

Simon Says Stamp - Project with a Heart

Rudolph Day - Christmas 

Snippets - Using Snippets

Thanks for calling by and please leave me a comment.  Don't forget it is not too late to join in with these 12 Tags of Christmas with Linda.  There is a prize too, as well as some beautiful tags to look at.  Click HERE to get to Tag 1, from where you can view the others.

Hugs

Hettie

How did I miss this Challenge - Tag 9 - But I will catch UP!

Hello Friends

I was wandering around on the blogasphere recently and I came across THIS wonderful Blog which is Linda Coughlin's of The Funkie Junkie!  Wow!  I was blown away by all the loveliness on her blog and discovered that Linda hosts "The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas" which if you click HERE you will be taken to Tag One which has all the deets on.  It is worth just going to see all nine tags, they are gorgeous.

I know Linda is currently on Tag 9 and there are only three more to go but there is still a while to go until the Big Day itself so I guess I can give it a go.  They are sooo scrummilicious I just have to join in!  There is also a chance to win a shopping spree as these challenges are sponsored by The Funkie Junkie shop.  Let me tell you, having had a peruse and a little shop there, having recently won the CC2C Challenge, it is worth the chance to win! 

So here is Linda's tag......

Didn't I tell you it was scrummy!

Now here is my take on Linda's tag.......

Instead of stars I have used hearts made from Snippets of SU Vanilla cardstock, die cut with a Sizzix die and stamped in Barn Door with my new Wendy Vecchi stamp (in love with these and they were a steal so it would have been rude not to have bought them!).  The burlap pieces were also Snippets from my Christmas Album project.  The key was out of my jar of odd keys and watch bits (I have been told by a high authority - Mr Hettie - that it was the old key for the shed) which I coloured with black alcoholic ink, along with the mini bells hanging on the mini hearts of course!

The Holly leaves were cut out of another Snippet of SU Vanilla cardstock (I keep every piece of the SU Vanilla cardstock in a separate bag as it is great to work with), inked with Pine Needles DI, a little Fresco Snowflake paint topped with glossy accents and some Hampton Art fine glitter sprinkled over the top.  Once dried I added a little more Pine Needles around the edges.

These mini hearts were die cut with chipboard then some Ferro and Puffed Paint were smooshed over and heated with the heat gun.  Love this Ferro.  It is soo schparkly in the natural light. I crimped some wire through the crimping tool and added the bells to the hearts and wired them to the key.  I also popped two star pins into the bow, which is a Snippet of fabric my quilting friend gave to me.

The base of the tag is Kraft cardstock which I ran through the TH woodgrain embossing folder.  I painted this with the Snowflake Fresco paint and once dried added a layer of TH Rock Candy Crackle paint and once that was dried I added some Black Soot DI.

A little TH ticket and some gingham ribbon and hey presto, my tag was finished.  Now then, which one shall I do next?

You have until 17th December to catch up with all 12 tags and there is a chance to win a prize  from the sponsor Funkie Junkie  Love their goodies and to be honest, postage was not an awful lot in the context of things and pretty quick to the UK (8 days from order to parcel!).

As there are a few Snippets on this I will be linking it up to my Buddie at the Playground.

Thanks for popping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.  Gotta love comments. And finally, thank you Linda for such a wonderful Challenge, I have enjoyed making this no end, and think it will live in my kitchen.  Anyone who has been in my kitchen will know there are a collection of hearts in there!

TTFN

Hettie

Who's That Girl...Layout & Kinda Funny Tale..

Hello Friends

I know, I know, I have been such a ba-a-a-d blogger this last week!  Apologies for that and I will try better this week.  OK?!  To be honest I haven't had much opportunity to do much crafting this last week.  I went to Lesley's to do some crafting on Tuesday, however, I left the cutting mat on my Cricut behind so couldn't finish it off, nor could I let Lesley have a play with my Cricut.  Wednesday I was up extra early to go to London, and Fergus came too, there will be pictures just as soon as I find Hubby's camera, Thursday I was sooo tired as we didn't get back from London until 11.45pm, so I had to play catch up with housie things, and Friday night I spent working on my quilt.  More about that on Wednesday.

I did finish off my layout on Thursday night and I thought I would share it with you......

Have you guessed who it is yet......?!  Not the normal kind of "photo" but this silhouette has been in a frame, in a box for some years now, not really having anywhere to hang it.  So I decided why not give it a new lease of life and put it somewhere where it will be seen.  It does have memories attached to it.  The papers were from a kit, and though I have used some of the elements, it has been substantially altered.  It was the papers I really liked, hence why I chose to use them. 

I was on holiday with my parents in France (my last holiday with my parents too) and Dad had taken ill when we got to Vannes. So instead of watching Dad be unwell all day, Mum and I took a taxi ride into Vannes, Brittany for a wander round. It was a lovely typical French town, with lots of narrow cobbled streets and a beautiful Church.  There was a man cutting out silhouettes of buildings, doggies and people,  and Mum and I were fascinated with how he worked with just a piece of paper and a small pair of scissors.  Mum asked him to do my silhouette.  

Now here is the "kinda funny tale".

After we had had some lunch, walked around the pretty church we eventually wandered back to the place where the taxi had dropped us off only to find there were no taxis waiting.  Me being my usual "magpie" self had taken a business card from the taxi and on it was the telephone number of the taxi firm.  As luck would have it there was a telephone box nearby.  So I proceeded to make a telephone call.  Now let me explain something. I had taken French at school and had a CSE exam coming up in French.  However, although I could quite competently write an essay in French.....I couldn't actually speak it very well.  The language booths at school were never in good working order and our French teacher didn't take the time to ensure that we could speak the language, only write it as that was all the CSE exams required.  So here Mum and I were in a phone booth, in the middle of France talking to a taxi man who could not speak English.  Not only that we had no idea what the name of the road was that we were on, nor did we know what that big building was that was in the middle of the square.  To say I was sweating profusely was an understatement.  However, struggle I did and I guessed that the building was a Town Hall and from my description of the building and the fact that it was on a square piece of ground, sure enough, a few minutes later a taxi turned up for "Mademoiselle Whyman"!!  Hurrah!  Thank goodness for Blackberry mobile phones these days ey!!

A few days later, Mum decided to test my French again by making me ask for three strawberry ice creams - I had absolutely no problem with that request!!  Funny that!!

Thanks for popping by.  I promise I will be a better blogger this week!  Pinky promise!

Please leave me a message so I know you have been by.

TTFN

Hettie

Mojo Monthly - Heartstrings - S is for Sewing

Ahoy Peeps

I am sure most of you are aware that I am a bit of a fan of Sarah of La-De-Dah and her Mojo Monthly and I think so far I have taken part in every Mojo Monthly and have indeed won twice.  I feel very honoured.   I have learnt a lot from Sarah and her guests and it is because of Sarah I found my new passion ATCs.  Thanks Sarah.  If you have not seen Mojo Monthly please click HERE to see what I am on about and why not join in.  If not this month, then a new one comes out on Thursday.  Yikes - the start of a new month AGAIN??!!

Well then.  Down to this post.  This month Sarah interviewed the lovely Tracey Evans and the challenge is entitled Heartstrings and Sarah asked us to "plunder the stash you DO have and also discover the potential in cheap, everyday materials".  So here is my take on the Challenge.  Hope you like it....

Yes it is a heart.  A cooking tin no less which measures about 3" x 3".  But it is a heart.  Next, what to do with it.  If you came into my kitchen you will see there are a lot of hearts hanging around in the kitchen, so when I saw this tin in my local Cook Shop I just had to buy it.  That was over a year ago!!  So Sarah thanks for making me do something with it.  

The tin has been sitting on my computer desk since before I went away on holiday (did I mention I have been to Prague recently?  No?  Where have you been?!!)  Anyways.  The other evening I had a brain fart  storm (maybe having looked up the definition it should read "brain storm"!) - again!!!  and a little thought came into being.  

Buttons.  They were in a tin bucket having been given them by someone in work.  Thimble.  It was either Hubby's Great Aunt's or his Grandmother's.  Too big for me to use but I could not throw it away so now it has been used.  The snippets of fabric were left over from the Sunbonnet Sue and Sam project before Christmas. Wooden Bobbins.  The one on the left is from a Dolly kit which is very old, and the dolly now has no legs, poor thing.  The one on the right (purple thread) I bought last year at the Tim Holtz/Paperartsy event.  One was recycled anyway.  Sewing bobbin (top right) was given to me by the lovely Kate recently.  I will post up what came with it in tomorrow's post.  Flower.  Prima and had it for ages.  Typewriter key.  Tim Holtz and had them for ages and not many left.

Feathers (on the left) I have had forever. Cotton reel paper (behind the sewing machine) was in amongst sewing ephemera I have from Hubby's Great Aunts. Sewing Machine. Was originally black and was sprayed silver to make a "tiara" for our Quilting Group's 25th Anniversary in 2009. Diamond pins. I bought recently from the flower arrangement section of the local garden centre. Measuring tape. Tim Holtz from stash. Paper lace. Snippet from a previous project. Background. Crowded Attic snippet from previous project. Silk ribbon. From stash and coloured with Mustard Seed and Dusty Concord distress stains.

So there you have it.  A heart with a mixture of old and new parts to make a sewing piece.  I do hope you like it and please leave me a comment, as well as pop over to see Sarah and other projects.

I am now thinking of taking the S out and replacing it with a B for my Mum for Mother's Day next month.  Or maybe I will pop back to the Cook Shop to see if I can make another one.  Any idea where I bought the sewing machine from?  Hmmn.  

TTFN 

Hettie