TEENY, TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday

I hope everyone's week is off to a good start .. .. .. and your cars have adequate supplies of fuel.  

Our weekend was brilliant with all the family home.  My little nest was full again .. .. just for a little while.

I was very good and shared the fun by calling round to my Sister (she was as excited as I was to see everyone) and we sat out in the sunshine with a cuppa, catching up on everyone's news.  We also visited Mum .. .. .. so I wasn't greedy!  I shared all the happy vibes that everyone was giving off. 

We fitted so much in that I can't believe it really.

So now all of us are back in our own homes, but with extra memories crammed into our hearts and brains.  

I promised myself that I wasn't going to sulk once it was all over, but was going to simply be super grateful that the London Kids were happy to travel all that way so we could all be together.

Back into the old routine now though and I have lots of cards and projects to work on. Never a dull moment here.

My day started with a little batch of teeny tiny thank you cards .. .. .. which for anyone new to my blog measure a whole 3.5 inches square:

These used:

Image and Backing Paper:  Whimsy Dreams Clipart "Blue Fairy Meadow"
Sentiment:  LOTV "Spring Mix "
Glitter Paper
My Trusty Sewing Machine

That just leaves me to make four teeny, tiny envelopes now.

So back to it now and hopefully this evening will see me start to catch up with my blog commenting again. 

THANKS

Hi Everyone

I hope you have enjoyed your day!

Before I headed off to Mum today I had a quick nip into my craft pod .. .. .. where all the supplies were still sitting on my desk from my snippet play yesterday.  

There was one box still on there that holds lots of narrow strips of paper (yes, I sadly save everything) and I used some of those strips to create this:

This used:

Spellbinders Borderabilities:  A2 Curved Borders One
MFT Dienamics Die "Thanks"
Snippet Strips
Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine

No need to put your specs on to find the heart today LOL!!!

So teeny tiny Tuesday tomorrow .. ..  and then we are round to September!   Yikes!!

LOADS OF LOVE

Hi Everyone

I hope your week has been a good one and that you are ready for your weekend.  Hope it is one filled with things you enjoy.

I needed to nip to the supermarket for some additional supplies for Mum today and I couldn't help but see what other folk were putting through the check-out!  Most folk appeared to be buying food that wasn't going to take much preparation to eat alongside the football on Sunday .. .. .. a few people even had bottles of bubbly so were clearly planning on having something to celebrate!  Oooooo .... ... wouldn't that be nice .. .. .. an England win .. .. .. in fact that would be very nice! 

Anyway, just a quick share from me tonight:

This used:

Image:  Julie Hickey "SKU: JH1043" Sweet Daisy Stamp Set
Sentiment:  Penny Black Clear Stamp Set "30-146" Loads of Love (Great to be able to curve clear sentiment stamps).
Backing Papers:  All from my snippet mountain
Distress Ink Pad:  Bundled Sage
ProMarkers
X-Cut Corner Rounding Punch

Ribbon
My Trusty Sewing Machine
and Sketch Number from Five from my Rectangular Sketch Library  (feel free to use it if you like the look of it).

Enjoy your weekend everyone .. .. .. whether you are a footie fan, a tennis fan or someone who isn't interested in either.  

Personally I don't have the foggiest idea how to follow the scoring with tennis .. .. .. but footie .. .. I will definitely be there for that!  Come on England!!!!

A CARD IN TEN MINUTES

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all been having a lovely weekend. 

We have spent quite a bit of ours gardening .. .. .. it feels so good when you can look out of your window and see where your time has gone!

Over at the As You See It Challenge it is time for another "Card in Under 10 Minutes" theme .. .. and I decided this morning that if I couldn't spare 10 minutes to make a quick card it was a poor show.  The theme being "fast foliage".

The only trouble was I ended up making two cards - because the first one went "over time" but the second one (with a few changes) came in at 9 minutes 38 seconds.  I still only just made it!

To play along you can design your card in your head or sketch it out first.  You can gather all your supplies ahead of time.  But once you start cutting/stamping/die cutting/embossing etc you must start your timer.

Anyway .. .. this is my final card:

This used:

Embossing Folder: Kaisercraft "Leaves"
Sentiment:  Wow! "StampSet33" Big Words
Distress Ink:  Bundled Sage
Sizzix Originals Die "655459" Frame Heart
Corner Rounding and Heart Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and this was my first attempt .. .. .. which came in at 10 minutes 58 seconds 

Cutting out one of the layers and trimming my sentiment so it didn't need to fit the card front so precisely made all the difference, and I must admit I think I prefer the less fussy version.

Hoping for fewer jobs around the house and more crafting this coming week.

Sadly my wedding couple who were supposed to have got married yesterday have had to defer for yet another year.  We are hoping for "third time lucky".

They could have got married .. .. with reduced numbers .. .. no dancing, no group photographs and masks to be worn at the reception.  But I am not surprised they have decided to wait until next year in the hope that things are much more improved.

So no wedding .. .. .. but they could have travelled to the Euro games and stood side by side alongside hundreds of total strangers with not a mask in sight!!  Where is the sense in that?!?!?!

A CARD IN UNDER TEN MINUTES

Hi Everyone

I hope you have been having a good weekend.

We have had very mixed weather that has included sunshine and the occasional snow flurry! 

I came across a new challenge yesterday thanks to Fiona's lovely blog here.

The challenge is the "As You See It" Challenge .. .. .. .. and the theme is to make a card in under 10 minutes using the word "blossoms" for inspiration.. .. .. I thought it sounded fun and decided to have a go.

I knew exactly what I was doing before I started and had everything set out on my desk ready for action,  (taking my inspiration from a lovely birthday card I received).

Pressing the stopwatch on my phone, this is what I achieved in 8 minutes 53 seconds.

This used:

Image:  Penny Black Stencil "25-013" Luster
Sentiment:  Wow!  "STAMPSET33" Big Words

Distress Ink Pads:  Worn Lipstick, Bundled Sage and Shabby Shutters

Clear Embossing Powder

X-Cut Corner Rounding Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I really had fun with this challenge .. .. perhaps I should set myself a time limit on every card I make to speed me along and stop me faffing!!!  LOL!!!

Enjoy what is left of the weekend and I hope the new week is kind to you .. .. .. anyone booked in for a haircut this week (besides Boris)?

ALWAYS WITH A HEART - OR THREE

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday!

Thank you so much for your lovely comments on Monday's post - we had a lovely evening celebrating our anniversary.  

Another bright and sunny day here today .. .. .. oh I hope this is a sign of things to come and the weather is going to spoil us again .. .. just like it did this time last year.

As I am super happy to have been able to add another tab to the top of my blog I have added another rectangular sketch today.  It looks like this:

and once put to work  .. .. .. it finished up looking like this using a pale cream card that looks a little bit darker in this picture than it is in real life.

This used:

Images and Sentiment: WOW! Stamps "Gratitude"  (Not on their website)
Backing Papers:  "Lilac Bouquet" This is an old download designed by Doreen Stoltz and sold through Aimee Asher (not sure what happened to them but it used to be a great place to find lovely design papers back in the day).
Spellbinder Circle and Scallop Circle Die Sets
Nail Head
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Amongst lots of other things, I have been trying to do some housekeeping on my laptop and part of this housekeeping led me to a collection of old download files (hence today's ancient papers).  I am trying to get them all a bit better organised and some of the file names re-worded so I know exactly what they are .. .. rather than a row of initials and numbers .. .. .. .. which is how quite a few of my downloads have arrived over the years.

It will be nice to remind myself of some of the goodies that will be stored away .. .. .. but I must admit I have already come across some that have made me think "why on earth did I buy that!!"  LOL!!

Enjoy what is left of the evening folks and I will catch you again soon.

THANKS

Hi Everyone

Thursday again already and I am flying by quickly with a card I made first thing this morning before taking my Auntie and Uncle for their Covid Vaccinations. Then this afternoon I headed off to Mum's laden with her shopping for the week and to make her one of her favourite dinners .. .. stew and dumplings.  

Home again now though so a quick post with my share for today.  Only two pictures today .. .. as I am rubbish at trying to take pictures of tent style cards "face on".  I don't know why I even bother trying as they never turn out successfully LOL!!!

This used:

Sizzix 3-D Embossing Folder "662716" Botanical
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set "664163" Wildflower Stems #1
Sentiment:  A magazine cover gift from ages ago
Vellum
Gold Embossing Powder
Distress Ink Pad:  "Speckled Egg"
Ribbon
Nail Heads
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

Thank you for popping by and also for your lovely comments on my Teeny, Tiny Tuesday card.  I had to smile when people made reference to it looking "retro", because funnily enough, as I was posting up the photographs the background reminded me of the wallpaper my late Mum in Law used to have on her kitchen wall back in the 70's.  

Hopefully I will catch you tomorrow.

TEENY TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday .. .. I hope your week is going as well as it can in light of the new national lockdown.

Here tonight with my first teeny, tiny card for 2021  (yay!!  I got the year right this time .. .. I had a blast from the past and called it 2012 in my last post!! I typed the year lots of times that day and everytime I put 2012!  LOL!!). 

For anyone new to my blog my teeny tiny makes are a whole 3.5 inches square and they are great for using up those small pieces of card and design paper that we all stash away.

Of course a teeny, tiny card doesn't use many snippets .. .. but every little helps.

So here it is:

This used:

Sentiment:  Wow!! Embossing Powder "STAMPSET2" Gratitude.
Lots of snippets
A piece of acetate
My Trusty Sewing Machine
We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board

This was inspired by a YouTube video I watched where all the strips are stuck to a piece of acetate and then die cut into shape .. .. .. but I can't find it again now to link to it.  Sorry.

THANKS SO MUCH

Hi Everyone

One very busy and hectic day at this end with no crafty playtime until far too late .. .. .. so to satisfy my crafty fingers I grabbed a blank scrapling card measuring 6.5 x 13.5cm and created this:

This used:
Image:  Penny Black "3867K" Constellations
Script Background:  Memory Box "G1838" Vintage Dreams (Stamped using London Fog Memento Ink)
Sentiment:  Woodware Clear Stamp Set "FRCL 154" Salutations
Distress Ink:  Bundled Sage
ProMarkers
Ribbon and Cord
Charm
A little fine Purple Glitter
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Hopefully tomorrow is going to be kind to me and I can have a little more playtime than I managed today.

Thanks for calling by folks.  Your company is very much appreciated.

THANK YOU

Hi Everyone

Very late posting today as it has been one very busy day and evening  .. ..  but I was determined to still have a quick play.

Whenever I am having a play session or trying a new technique nine times out of ten it will end up as a teeny tiny card .. .. which for anyone new to my blog measures a whole 3.5 inches square.

This is what I ended up with:

This used:  

Image Stampendous! Cling Stamp "CRP119" Dragonfly Vine
Sentiment:  Digistamp Boutique Clear Stamp Set (sadly no longer trading)
Brushos
LuminArte Twinkling H2Os  "Iridescent Blue"
Crystal Glamour Dust
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I decided to have a little session with my Brushos tonight and instead of just adding the colour and misting with water I wet my card first, added the Brushos, misted with more water until they puddled a little and then swiped the colour across the card using a tissue.  I was quite pleased with the result and decided to carry on and turn it into a card by stamping onto it once dried with a heat gun.

What I am not so pleased with are my actual photographs.  The wings of my dragonfly are not how they look in real life .. .. .. they actually have a lovely pearlised blue sheen from the H2O's which twinkles with the Glamour Dust I have added.

So that is me for today .. .. playtime over!

A THANK YOU SCRAPLING

Hi Everyone

I hope your day has gone well?  I thought today was supposed to be much cooler and with the possibility of mega rain and thunder storms.  Nothing yet here and definitely still very hot .. .. but there is still time for those thunder storms to kick in.

Much of my day has been taken up getting work finished and into the post .. .. so a few more "ticks" have appeared on that ever growing crafty "do list".

Then this evening I had a quick play and created this:

This used:

Background Stamp "Hero Arts" Background Thank You Dictionary Definition Stamp  (what a big title)

Sizzix Thinlits Die Set "664163" Wildflower Stems #1

LOTV Embossed Labels

Bleeding Tissue Paper

My Trusty Sewing Machine

These scrapling cards (which I trim down to measure 6.5 x 13.5cms) are building up rather quickly since I have been making my own base cards .. .. far more quickly than I am using them that's for sure.  I keep them all in a box at the back of my desk to remind me to use them .. .. even if it only for stamping small images or sentiments onto.

Tonight's card used bleeding tissue paper to create the background and once dry I stamped on it using the Hero Arts stamp.  Not sure whether that is still available, I bought it from Ebay last year.

So that is me for today.

Enjoy your weekend when it arrives .. .. .. and stay away from those beaches for a little while longer!!  I don't want to catch you sunbathing on the news reports tomorrow evening!!!  LOL!!!

FOR THE LOVE OF POPPIES

Hi Everyone

Happy Friday .. .. another weekend is nearly upon us and it looks like it might be a chilly one.  In fact I have even had to break out the "long sleeves" again this week!

A busy day here with quite a bit of it spent with my lovely Mum as today is her birthday.  She is now a whole 89 years young and this is the card I made for her which reflects the poppy flowers on her tea cup and lap tray .. ..

This used:

Image:   Penny Black "4065K" Bountiful
Sentiment:  Lili of the Valley "Sentiment Tags"
Backing Papers:  Frou Frou Craft "Red Poppies"
ProMarkers
Ribbon and metallic cord
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is it.

Many thanks for your lovely comments on my previous post .. .. I was asked how I made the jar look full of water.  To do this I stamped the jar twice and die cut them both.  Next I stuck stamped and coloured die cut flowers on top of the first jar, then trimmed an aperture into the centre of the second.  This was then glued on top of the first and then glossy accents was used to fill the aperture.  All you needed then was a barrow load of patience to leave it alone and not keep poking it to see if it was dried through.  Once it was it could be added to the card front.

So that is me for today.

Happy weekend everyone!  I am hoping for a super productive one!