Sunshine on a Cooler Day

Well, Bank Holiday is over and the weather has reverted to how it was prior to the weekend - it is cold and a bit on the dull side.  Thought I would brighten my blog with a picture of my favourite rhododendron.  We have two bushes which herald these gorgeous flower heads and my photograph does not do them justice.  They are the most beautiful ones I have seen.  Totally white with deep purple centres, each floret looked almost like an orchid.

This is a closeup of one of the heads.  Can you see why I think each floret is like an orchid?

Not being a day for sitting out in the garden, much as I like to look at the rhododendrons, I went to the podiatrist (he prefers the term chiropodist) so life is much better today.  

I finally finished off my other card with the alcohol ink image and here it is.
As it was a 'pinky' background that I had created with the inks, over stamped in black Archival ink and clear embossed I first mounted it on some silver cardstock which I had embossed with one of my Cuttlebug folders.  Then I mounted on some pink cardstock and finally on a brown background (which look dusky pink in the photograph).  I am hopeless at getting things centred and so for this one I decided to mount in one corner - this left a fairly wide gap and I used one of my Grungeboard flourishes, coloured with a black Dabber to tie in with the image).  

Hope you like it.

Messing About

The weather has been kinder over the Bank Holiday weekend and so Chas decided to do some much needed weeding in the front garden.  Because my feet were playing up (Podiatry tomorrow - yipee) I decided to attack the Utility Room.  This was really in order for me to hopefully make some more room in the cupboard (overspill from my stamp room) for the clay work materials I seem to be accumulating.

The weeding carried over to today and so, once again in order not to feel too guilty, I began cleaning out the two tall glass cupboards in the kitchen.  Because most of the glasses in those two cupboards are either 'delicate' or 'crystal' I had to do handwashing.  It took ages.

By mid afternoon we had both had enough, Chas relaxing with the football and me disappearing into my stamp room.

In an attempt to find my mojo I began with a simple card using a Magnolia image and came up with this.  Not finished as it has to have some flowers on to create a bit of interest in the top left hand corner (forgot - should have done this before I began my blog).

The other day I had been playing with Alcohol Inks in an attempt to make a birthday card for a friend on one of the card making groups.  This was what I came up with.  It uses a stamp from Crafty Individuals for the main image.  There is a pale blue ribbon down the right hand side (hardly shows) and I used one of the bird charms my friend, Jo, gave me which I have coloured blue with Alcohol Inks.  As per usual it did not get posted so I have had to apologise and it is now in the post for her.

This is a card I made for another friend, using the images which I bought at the Harrogate show.  This one is for overseas so it must go in the post tomorrow.

My final card is using a Lost Coast image which I have had for simply ages and hardly used (must get these out more as I do like them) of the Oracle of the Seven Enigmas.  I then used a piece of torn cardstock and used a Paper Artsy stamp for down the side.  The colour does not show up that well as it is quite a bright card - if anyone gets it they are going to gasp at the bright colour of the final mount card.
My back and neck are aching like crazy so I will leave it there - would have loved to get my final Alcohol Ink card uploaded but I could not sit any longer to complete it.  Maybe I can sit and think what to do with the image and come up with something great - don't hold your breath.

Busy Busy Busy

Today I have been busy making clay beads for a swap I am doing next week so I have not been doing anything else as they have taken me simply ages.  They are only simple beads (all 62 of them) but are more of a "focal" bead than anything and I am sorely tempted to make some more and use them with some smaller bicones (using my bead roller) to make into a necklace.  In fact I think they might be something I will teach at my next clay workshop.

In the meantime I thought I would upload my box I made a short while ago which initially was a box containing miniature perfumes.

First of all I painted it with Lumieres and then I used some utee for the coloured patterned parts on the box which were stamped into whilst still hot.  

It has two glass slides, the left one showing my mum (the youngest one on the right) with her older sister Caroline, the centre one is a studio photograph she must have once had taken and the round watch case contains a photograph of her when she was at her sister, Ruth's, wedding. Love the hat!

I used some flower heads I had and a piece of wire with gemstones attached to create some interest and then cut the letters out to spell "mum" with a Spellbinders' die.

Hope you like it - why not do something similar with an old box you have?

Thinking about it, I have a lovely photograph of 'fil' sitting on his mother's knee - I love that photograph as I think she is such a beautiful woman.  I have used it on a canvas but I am sure I could do something else with it - hmm ... now what can I use it on next?

(Please note all photographs are copies, not the actual ones)

Demo'ing Nestabilities Again

I was asked to demonstrate Nestabilities again by another vendor so last Sunday saw me heading off to yet another show.  I really enjoyed myself using them again and the show was in a lovely venue, with lots of open space, a demo area (where I was) with seating for the visitors and a huge eating area by the refreshments.  I hope this show goes from strength to strength.

I used the round and the rectangle Nestabilities (plain and scalloped) to produce a 'place card' which would be suitable for a wedding.  The cardstock I used was cream (embossed with a Cuttlebug folder) and the surround was gold although it does not show up in the photograph below.  A very simple but elegant idea which anyone can use and it is so quick to do - would be good for a wedding.

I am only showing one card (there are so many) and the one below uses the plain and scalloped square and the plain and scalloped circle Nestabilities.  The triangular pieces are simply the square ones cut from corner to corner.
The pansies are also using Spellbilnder's dies but without permission from Jeanette Stumpfell, who perfected them, I will not tell you how they were done.  Sorry - and they are so realistic looking.
The last item I have to show you is a little box (Paddy calls me her "paper engineer") which uses the plain heart and the scalloped squares with the small circle cutter making a tiny hole in the box part which has a piece of acetate behnd it and when open has also got a scalloped square to cover the acetate edges.
This could be used to house some tiny sweets or even an expensive piece of jewellery.  My friend, Paul (theartsiders.blogspot.com) was quite taken by it and said he is going to copy the idea.  It is so easy to place the aperture where you want it with Nestabilities.
I will leave it there for today as I have lots of beads to make for a "swap" I am taking part in so it is off to the polymer clay again - hope I don't get side-tracked when I get the clay out as so often happens.  Think I am becoming a clay addict once more.

Port Sunny

A couple of weeks ago, on the 9th May, I was working for Paddy's Stamping Place (Prestwich) at Port Sunlight.  As usual it was a good show and nice to see so many of my friends who really supported me in my demonstration using clay.

Below is a picture of some of the items from my display which I took with me.  I had done several clay workshops for Paddy so it was easy for me to gather some items to show people what they could do with the air dry clay.

The handbag (made of wood) was something I did several years ago and has various items stuck on the clay surface such as a microscope slide, a fob watch case, a Spellbinders dragonfly cut from metal and some silk flowers.

I had made some tiles during the week using StyleStones to imprint a design on and these were used to decorate two little papier mache boxes.  One had a seaside theme and held some shells and a starfish made from one of the moulds Paddy sells.

These are some of the beads I had made - the triangular ones and the oval flat ones (decorated with Tandy stamps) are from my workshop but the others were done with the various bead rollers Paddy now has in stock.  The bottom necklace is all joined together with wire but the upper one is strung.
This was my bottle from my workshop.  No end of wine has been drunk by those attending the workshops (LOL) as they needed to bring their own bottle in.  Imagine if Paddy and I had had to drink enough for all the people who attended.
This was a photograph frame which will be one of the things we will be doing in my next workshop for Paddy (0161 798 5115 in case anyone wants to attend).  Again using Tandy stamps to decorate - they are very deeply etched and you can get some fabulous results when using them, especially with the pasta machine.
I also had a cuff bracelet with me which Paddy wore - sadly I have given it to her as she really liked it so I cannot put a picture of it on this blog.  Not to worry, I can soon do another one.

Hopefully, Back Blogging

It is ages since I last blogged but sadly Chas's mother died on the 20th April so we have been involved in lots of paperwork and organising since then.

Prior to her death we were busy trying to find a suitable nursing home for her to receive 24 hour care.  That meant us looking at seven nursing homes before deciding on two that we felt were where she would be happiest.  We took her to see our "top two" and she chose 'Farnworth Care Home' which is a lovely place with very caring staff so we moved her in on the 9th April but sadly she did not spend long in there.

We take comfort in knowing that she did not suffer any great pain and is now reunited with the love of her life, her husband, who had been greatly missed for a very long time.

She loved our garden and below are two pictures of the bluebells which form the dividing section between our two lawned areas.

Because we were so physically and mentally exhausted with all that had happened we took ourselves off to a caravan site just south of Blackpool for a couple of days.  Imagine my surprise when I saw these two ducks outside our caravan (bottom picture).  Chas did not believe that they were real at first as they were both fast asleep.  That was until he saw the male one opening his eye.
One day I saw the male one wandering about like a lost soul.  he seemed to be looking everywhere for his "wife".  Thankfully he must have found her because later on they both came waddling over and I got some bread and began to feed them - what a lovely male duck - he let her eat most of it.  
Well, that's all for now.  Hopefully I will post again tomorrow and play catch up with a bit of crafting.  Must get on and do some card making as I am way behind with birthday cards for friends.