I was made to buy this stamp...

Hello there

The weather outside is not good today.  Who has stolen our summer?  I reckon it has gone on its summer holidays!

The title to this post is true...really!  A Playground Buddy sent me an email with a link to a well known auction site and I just had to click on the "buy now" button didn't I!!

So when it arrived I moved things onto the crapalanch pile and set about stamping some images, colouring them and then raided the Snippets box.

I die cut the coloured images with Sizzix oval dies.  I raided the white and cream drawer and cut some background pieces and embossed them using my friend's embossing folder that she had kindly lent me. 

I then grabbed the VOS DCWV cards and then set about looking for some coloured cardstock in the snippets cardstock box.

Some washi tape and I pulled out my SU stamps that a very good Playground friend bought me for my birthday.

And before I knew it I had eight snippets cards made.

Some to send to a few buddies and some to go in my spares box.

I left the insides plain so I can stamp them when I need them!

And there you have it chook!  

Off to take these to the Snippets Playground as only the stamped sheet didn't start the day as a Snippet!  I am also going to join in with Penny Black Saturday Challenge as they are asking for flowers.  Well the frog is holding some isn't he ribbitt ribbitt!  And on Penny Black Allsorts Anything Goes! 

Thanks for calling by.  I hope these images have made you smile!

Hettie

Scrapbook Tuesday...Tea on Tuesday...T stands for Top Dog!

Hello There

Is it me or are Tuesdays coming round awful quick these days? In fact all days are coming round awful quick to me nowadays!  Does that mean I am getting old I wonder?  Don't answer that if you value our friendship!!

As usual on a Tuesday I am going to share a cuppa with you along with my friend from over the water Elizabeth and her cat Bleubeard.  I am sharing with you a cat mug in fact.  Now anyone who knows me knows that I am not a cat kinda gal.  I am more of a dog lover...careful!   But this mug is kinda special as it was bought for me by Hubby's Aunt who seemed to think I like cats.  It even has my name on it just inside the rim.  Now the desk you can see is in work, as this is my work mug.  However, I have used it for so long I have noticed the glaze is starting to go a little crazy inside so before anything bad happens I thought I should share it with you.  In it is some gorgeous Blackberry and Nettle tea by Twinings.  I don't drink many fruity teas as they tend to smell better than they taste but this one is different.  

Now whilst I may not actually scrapbook at this desk, I quite often doodle scrapbook layouts when I am sitting typing.  It is amazing that sometimes when on a long typing job your mind can wander and think of something else whilst you are typing something work related.  Honest Gov!  So here is the layout I kinda planned out in work...

The little dog is our Sputnik.  She was found in a skip in Cardiff on 30th December 1989.  She was taken to an animal sanctuary where my MIL used to make donations of food.  Hubby and I had collected some too with our shopping so I got coaxed into helping MIL take some over.  And Sputnik came home!

The Christmas season was still with us and we used to call her our little "Christmas Cracker".  She really did rule the roost!  The letters have been cut out of Bazzill using my Cricut.  They were then stamped with Hero Arts holly stamp and embossed with VOS embossing powder...in fact the first one I ever bought!  The rosettes were made using TH dies, and again the spots in the centres were embossed.

The surrounding pieces were from a snippet which I just managed to squeeze all of them out, before deciding to cut into a fresh sheet for the rosettes and letters!  The hearts at the top and bottom are EKSuccess punch.  All inking is DI Gathered Twigs.

The journal says "You came in our lives on 30th December 1989 and left your paw prints on our hearts forever".  The background paper and journal card were MME.  They were an absolute bargain at Hobbycraft...not very often you hear that!  There was no price marked on there so the assistant said name a price.  I said £5 and she agreed it!  It was worth at least double that as there were 12 sheets of pp and a sheet of die cut embellishments!  I have previously paid £1.50 for each sheet!  Shhhhh!  Our secret right?

We should have known here how forceful she would be as she would never look at the camera for you!  The paper for these stars were snippets too from my Christmas album from a year or so ago.  Nearly time to start this year's album!

Well.  That is enough of this layout for you.  My tea is now cold.  Time to think about getting back to working on my desk instead of gassing with you all.

Just enough time to link this post with Elizabeth and the Snippets Playground.  I hope you like the mug Bleubeard.

Thanks for calling by and see ya all later.

Hettie

The Mayflower...Mini Album...

Hello there

Well that weekend went like a flash and ended with a crash bang wallop didn't it?  We had beautiful weather yesterday and Hubby and I were able to do a little more work on my little Trabbi called Hilda before it absolutely tipped it down and has remained so most of today.   Never mind ey!  It gave me chance to have a play in my Craft Room today.

Now some of you know from a previous post that myself, Sandra, Debs and Miss had a meet up in Southampton for lunch.  We all had to be on our best behaviour!  Debs kindly volunteered to pick myself and Sandra up from the train station, however there was an hour between our trains so Debs offered to take me to the Mayflower monument whilst we waited for Sandra's train.  Whilst there we met a gentleman and his wife, and he told us that he was a direct descendant of one of the people named on the monument.  

Of course I had my trusty camera with me and snapped some shots.

Debs had made is all a little W or M (depending what hemisphere you reside in) mini album and I decided I would print my photos out on my Pogo printer (a bit like the old instamatic photos which measure about 2x3") and put them into this album.  The little anchor on the front is my addition.

On the left is the main plaque on the monument which is on the right. Surprisingly there are no signs to let people know this monument is here.

Some close ups of the monument.  The little words are from some VOS K&Co paper which I have cut from a Snippet.

The photo on the left is the view over Southampton from the monument.  I suspect that this looks very much different from that day in 1620 when they embarked on the journey.  The tall ship on the right was passing just as we were walking back to Debs' car.  

This building is where the voyagers would have passed through in order to board the ships.  Yes, there were two....The Mayflower and The Speedwell.  Unfortunately The Speedwell didn't get any further than Plymouth.

The little tags in the album I have used to put factoids on including the date, crew and cargo as well as the firstborn on American soil.

If you are interested about the voyage of The Mayflower there is a book available on Kindle HERE which I very much enjoyed. 

Hopefully the next time I share this little album I will have completed an item on my bucket list which has been near the top for a very long time.  I have wanted to see Plymouth Rock and surrounding area since we studied the Mayflower when I were a lass!  

I am off to take this down to the Snippets Playground as I have been using lots of little Snippets in this book.  I hear Debs is poorly so hopefully knowing I have used her little book may cheer her up a little.

Have a great week.  I am hoping that BT will have sorted our t'internet out so I can visit blogs better this week.

Hettie

Friday Funny

---

A wife asks her husband, "Could you please go shopping for me and buy

one carton of milk and if they have avocados, get 6.

A short time later the husband comes back with 6 cartons of milk.

The wife asks him, "Why did you buy 6 cartons of milk?"

He replied, "They had avocados."

If you're a woman, I'm sure you're going back to read it again! Men

will get it the first time.

My work is done here.

===========================================

Water in the carburetor

WIFE: "There is trouble with the car. It has water in the carburetor."

HUSBAND: "Water in the carburetor? That's ridiculous "

WIFE: "I tell you the car has water in the carburetor."

HUSBAND: "You don't even know what a carburetor is. I'll check it out.

Where's the car?

WIFE: "In the pool"

===========================================

THIS IS A FRIGHTENING STATISTIC, PROBABLY ONE OF THE MOST WORRYSOME IN

RECENT YEARS.

25% of the women in this country are on medication for mental illness.

That's scary.

It means 75% are running around untreated.

===========================================

HE MUST PAY

Husband and wife had a tiff. Wife called up her mom and said, "He

fought with me again, I am coming to live with you."

Mom said, "No darling, he must pay for his mistake. I am coming to

live with you.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Today's Short Reading from the Bible...

From Genesis: "And God promised men that good and obedient wives would

be found in all corners of the earth."

Then He made the earth round...and He laughed and laughed and laughed!

====================================

Scrapbook Tuesday...Tea on Tuesday...T is for Awesome!

Hello there

It is Tuesday and time to share a cuppa with you at Elizabeth and Bleubeard's as well as a scrapbook page which I did on the weekend.

Now just to prove that I do own cups and saucers...

Isn't this cup and saucer just adorable?  It is bone china and quintessentially British in design and make.  It was part of a set which we had for a wedding present from a friend of my FIL's called Fritz.  He was a very gentle and quietly spoken Austrian gentleman.  I only ever met him twice and he bought us this set of cups, saucers, tea plate and cream & sugar bowl!  A few years later, quite by chance, we managed to buy the teapot too in Hereford.  As soon as I saw it I had to have it.  It shocked Hubby yesterday to see me having my morning brew in it!

And on to my layout...

I joined a Facebook Scrapbook group and they had set a sketch.  I still had some pieces of paper out from my Journal, which I have only just finished so yet to share with you, and so I just set too and used those...well it beats putting them away.  Sorry I just realised the flash was on.

I could not get over the sheer size of the Colosseum when we were there.  The films don't do it justice.

I cut the letters and numbers on the trusty Cricut.  The little "spot" (NBUS - technique) is actually a disc from my medication that I covered in card then sanded down the edges before placing a Cavallini sticker on.  The main paper is MME.

An arrow from the Tin of Shame over some Tim Holtz filmstrip held down by some VOS brads.

Here it is again without the flash.  The papers are a mix of Tim Holtz, Papermania and K&Co, all pretty old.

The letters and other elements have had a brush (my finger actually) of Treasure Gold in Pewter rubbed over them.  I spent a little while looking for a Romanesque quote to add in, just printed out and then stamped over with TH stamp.

And here is my little journalling card.  I actually made it for my Journal but decided I needed more space on the card so discarded this one and made one with a narrower edging.  However, it is just right for this project.

So off to join some friends having a Tea on Tuesday as well as the Snippets Playground, only the 12x12 piece isn't a Snippet!

Thanks for calling by.  I shall pop along and see you this evening after I finish work.

Hettie

Sympathy cards...

Hello there

I recently had the very sad task of creating a Sympathy card for a friend of mine and so I put my creativity head on to make these...

I made a spare and unfortunately I had to use that one very recently too!  

I really don't like making Sympathy cards but neither do I like to buy them.  I think handmade ones are far more personal, especially when they know I make cards.  

The stamped images are Penny Black stamped with DI, the butterflies were cut using Memory Box dies and Snippets and the little sparklies were VOS.  

Off to join the Playground Snippets gang for some cheering up now.  It is Monday after all!

Thanks for calling by.

Hettie

Friday Funny

I recently changed GP.   


After two visits and exhaustive Lab tests, he said I was doing 'fairly well' for my age. 


A little concerned about that comment, I couldn't resist asking him, 'Do you think I'll live to be 80?'


He asked, 'Do you smoke tobacco, or drink beer, wine or hard liquor?'


'Oh no,' I replied. 'I'm not doing drugs, either!'


Then he asked, 'Do you eat rib-eye steaks and barbecued Ribs?'


'I said, 'Not much... my former doctor said that all red meat is very unhealthy!'


'Do you spend a lot of time in the sun, like playing golf, boating, sailing, hiking, or bicycling?' 


'No, I don't,' I said.


He asked, 'Do you gamble, drive fast cars, or have a lots of sex?'


'No,' I said...


He looked at me and said,.. 'Then, why the f.... do you want to live to 80?