Oldie for Ffffriday

Hello Everyone
Thank you coming to visit, and if you have time to leave a comment, I do appreciate it. If any of you have been wondering why I haven't commented on your blog, I apologise. Blogger wouldn't let me for some reason let me do so on my little iPod.
Thank you for your lovely comments about Thursday's offering - Jackie, I've seen the Minc machine and wonder if their foils would be suitable for the Patsy May machine. I must find that out! My laser printer only prints on paper and in black, but was very cheap, about £30-£40.
Today's oldie for Erika's inspiration where she invites you to post any crafty item here, is one I made  a few years ago in the days before I had a GC and dies! "she" was a real favourite of mine and I used this image a lot in various ways for that Christmas (2012 ish) I also made a gift of a tote bag bought from The Clever Baggers here. The photo of this particular image wasn't a very good photo, so the second photo is of another of the bags I "decorated" using transfer paper. So that year my Salsa Girlies all had a card and bag to match

Ingredients

6x6 card blank

Black bag

black cardstock for the matting

My Craft Studio Deco Follies Christmas cd-rom

Dancing was great fun last night and we may go somewhere to dance tonight where the the theme is white! It will give me a chance to wear a pair of white trousers which with this year's summer weather I haven't worn much. I have this "thang" that I can't wear a lot of white together if it's not bright sunshine! Daft I know but that's just me. My OH is working today and will be on Bank Holiday Monday, so it's an ordinary week end for me. What are you planning for the long week end!

See you Tuesday

Patsy May Foil It machine

 Hello All
Thank you for coming and if you have time to comment, then thank you I appreciate all of your feedback. This week has been quite busy so far and so will the next few days ahead. Tonight I have my fortnightly craft club and a couple of ladies were quite impressed with my humble book fold they have asked me to show them how to do it.
Tomorrow night my daughter is teaching a Rueda class and we always go to support her. 
Saturday, OH will be working and so I'll be catching up with housework (boring!) and Sunday we may go to an organised charity event at Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxbourne

So, today's card will be used at some point and I'll add an appropriate sentiment. I have had a Patsy May Foil it machine for ages and forget to use it! I have a very cheap black ink only laser printer that only accepts paper. So it does restrict what I'd like to do on occasions, hence it doesn't come out to play very often
Anyway, the paper and images are from a My Craft Studio cd-rom in the Anniversary collection called Serendipity NSR. It contains full colour images/backgrounds and black and white versions too. So the small tile is the one I printed on my laser printer and foiled it in gold. Next time I will decoupage the main image 

Ingredients

5x7 card blank

MCS cd-rom

Supersmooth white card and paper for printing

I'm going to enter it into the latest House of Cards latest challenge - Metallics here

Fuschia card

Hello Everyone
Thank you for popping by. the cards I needed to do are nearly all done! I must do one for my daughter's fiance. They have just had their postage stamp sized garden re done and he jokingly said that whilst they were plant shopping he saw a bonsai tree and fancied getting into that hobby. Sooo! guess what we've bought him as his birthday present. I've just got to keep it alive for the next week now! I think his birthday card will reflect that. It'll be a bit different from the usual football/Spurs cards I have made in the past.
Thank you for kind comments over the last week or so and value that you've taken the time to pop by. I've got another busy week for more cards to make but they'll be "tweaks" of ones I have made in the past, so I won't be spending tons of time wondering what to put/colours to use etc.
Today's card has been made for a friend that just loves fuchsias I don't have that lovely die set that Mrs Duck has showcased on her blog to create 3D versions but I found this lovely image and worked with that. The text etc was colour matched using Serif 

Ingredients

5x7 card blank

pink card from Lidll

background paper from a Serif digikit

Sue Wilson NY collection - Herald Square

Sue Wilson - Pierced Tags number 2 - no end cutting edge

Perfect Layers rulers for matting

P.S. Some dies I ordered on Saturday have arrived. Spellbinders Marissa's Bouquet and Poppystamps Forest Village as shown by Deb's here I'll be playing later! i just love the quirkiness (is that the word I'm looking for) of this die and can see me chopping and changing/paper piecing it for New Home cards as well as for Christmas cards

My Oldie for Ffffriday

Hello Everyone
Sorry I'm a bit late posting, I'm going to have my nails done this morning with my daughter. Our nail technician has been unwell, so we're both looking forward to having a little pampering and a catch-up
Today's card is inspired by Erika. It's a chance to post something old in whatever craft you do.
My oldie for today is one of my first cards I made without using a computer to create. When my computer geek (my daughter) moved out I thought, if I was asked to make/need a card, I needed to be able to do so without resorting to my pc. The dies are from a bundle of D-Lite dies I bought from Create and Craft a couple of years ago. I started by cutting the Filigree Vase using the inner die,  matting it onto several layers of black and white card placed on a DL card blank. I then placed black die cuts from Aster and Poppies D-Lite set. I think it needs a third flower in the middle of the vase now! 

This week end I don't have very much planned. I'm sitting here looking at all of the housework I should be doing but it's getting too hot to contemplate getting the hoover out! I don't know if it's this urticaria pigmentosa thingy but I am constantly tired and lethargic but then I don't sleep well at night, so that obviously plays a apart. I have a few cards to make for birthdays this week and my mojo has definitely gone for a walk. OH working late, so I don't even have to think about cooking! Tomorrow he'll probably "crash out" So, another relaxing day, I can hardly get the hoover out and disturb him, can I? Well, that's a good enough excuse for me. Enjoy the sun if you have it and that any aches and pains are easing. See you Tuesday. Thank you for visiting

First Christmas card of 2015!

Hello
Thank you for popping by and if you're able to leave a comment, thank you.
You were all very kind about your comments about the dress. As you've mentioned, the next one will be easier to do. I do have other sewing projects in mind too. Now, when I bought the dress fabric I thought I was getting a bargain at approx £6 a metre (my local John Lewis was anything between £12 and £14) but a friend of mine buys hers at Walthamstow market/shops for anything between £2 and £4 a metre. So I'm going to go with her and stock up!

Today's make is my first card for 2015. I always make a sample in some random colours in case I want to "tweak it". For instance I added some die cuts to the corners because I felt that there was too much white showing BUT next time I will place the corners flush with the black mat.if you look closely you can see the side edges poking out, which i think spoil it slightly. I also trimmed away the red backing of the baubles because I didn't want the huge border this die set created. I cut out the black bauble twice. and folded in half to "decoupage it"   This will probably be the main stay of this years cards in blues, Kraft card, may do silver, gold etc. I also, shadowed the sentiment and could probably have made the shadow slightly bigger

Ingredients

6x6 card blank

black and red card - Llidl and The Range

Sue Wilson  - Adorned Noble Squares

Sue Wilson - Pierced Noble Squares

Sue Wilson - New York Collection - Times Square

Sue Wilson - Merry Christmas

Spellbinders - Heirloom Reflections

Red bling and embroidery thread

Nothing much planned for the rest of the week, dreaded hair cut tomorrow (I'm not very confident on what to ask for etc) Hope to go shopping after that for my daughter's fiance's birthday - ooh heck I need to make him a card!

May go dancing in the evening and then Saturday and Sunday a little bit of housework and craft!

The dress...!

Hello Everyone

Thank you for calling and if you have time to leave a comment - then thank you. I do appreciate it and if you have a blog, please let me know so that I can return the favour. Thank you for your recent comments about this urticaria thingy. I'm coming to terms with it. I am seeing my GP later this week to find out about what to expect symptom wise if ever I have the misfortune to need to use an Epipen. I will still be paddling Mrs Duck, might need to heat the pond up a fraction for me though

The infamous dress is finished - Yay!

After the issues with my (new!) sewing machine, messing about with the pattern, lengthening waist, and length of dress, altering the size, adding pockets,putting the buttonholes on the wrong piece of pocket, first time of doing a princess seam, taking away the pleats etc I am quite pleased with the result. I did enjoy doing it and have learnt a lot of lessons, so I will carry on.

I made it because I wanted a floor length dress for work that had pockets to accommodate my insulin pump - hence the pockets with a buttonhole to feed the tubing through. All of the dresses I'd seen in the shops were bandeau style with spaghetti straps - not suitable for work or were made from stretchy fabric that clung too much around the lumpy bits. I wore it to work today and had a couple of very nice comments so it couldn't have looked too bad. I just don't like my photograph being taken. It looks quite full in the photo which I think is down to the fabric, the way I'm standing, my bad body shape I dunno, I will look out for a softer fabric next time 

Anyway, back to card making over the next few days I really must make a start on some Christmas cards! See you Thursday

Oldie for Fffriday

Hello Everyone
If' you're visiting for the first time, welcome. If you have the time and can leave a comment, please do. I love to see the feedback - good or bad (hopefully it's all good!) 
I had a little bit of upsetting news yesterday, I got the results of my skin biopsies. I do have urticaria pimentosa. It's something i have to live with, never mind, but it now means I have to be extra careful - no insect bites/stings, no swimming in open water and to stress the fact that I have it if ever I need general anaesthetic. I have to take anti histamine every day and carry an Epipen. Ho hum! as my mum would say (bless her) worse things happen at sea. Have any of you heard that saying?

Today's Oldie for me, inspired by Erika at snappy crafts. I love her Saturday offerings too. they make me smile. This card is based on a Sue Wilson post. I wish I could remember when and link it. Before I discovered foundation card I used a lot of card from C&C and these two cards were made with their topsy turvy card - still do. So I got two for the price of one in a way

The daisies are Sue Wilson's Delicate Daisies, bothe the complete and open

The dress WILL be finished this week end! 

OH off to donate blood this morning and may go an watch our local team in the FA Cup later. So, perfect to have a few hours to myself for "playing" We may go dancing later. Tomorrow afternoon we are going to a tropical themed Salsa party and no my OH will not be donning a mankini BUT I know of somebody that may well appear in one for part of the day!

Enjoy whatever you are up to I have to say the moment we are enjoying some beautiful sunshine

  

Simple wedding card for my daughter's friend

Hello Everyone. Thank you for taking the time to call by and if you have the time to leave a comment I do value and appreciate the feedback. Before I forget, thank you Patricia on the note re a hem marker. After seeing a quick video on YouTube I am definitely going to invest in one.

This is a scheduled post because when this goes live (hopefully) I will be attending my local hospital to find out about ne insulin pumps that are offer. My current one's warranty runs out later in the year and in order to obtain a "holiday loan" pump I need a new pump! 

Today's card is a truly simple one. My daughter asked me to make a simple unfussy wedding card. usually I try and include colours of the theme but she didn't know and as it happened, the bridesmaids all wore different colours

Ingredients

6x6 card blank

Crafters Companion embossing folder

Topper from a My Craft Studio cdrom

Spellbinders Classic Large Squares

flat backed pearls

See you Saturday

xx

My first attempt...at book folding

Hello Everyone
Thank you for visiting. I had a fabulous day at my daughter's on Sunday. beautiful weather, lovely food and great company. Her "new" garden is lovely. It may be small but it's perfectly formed.
she did help me with my dress on Saturday, but I need to trim off a bit of the fabric first. So, I'll do that before Thursday and take it to my little craft group and get one of the ladies to pin it for me. It means I'll be able to stand on a table and get one of them to pin it. Talkng of which, have any of you used one one of those hem marker thingys that puffs chalk onto the fabric to mark the hem? I so want to do more dressmaking that I'm thinking of buying one. waiting for my daughter to have the time to help is a nightmare and our craft group only meet once a fortnight
Anyway
I thought I'd show my very first attempt at book folding. You ladies, Wendy, Mrs Duck to name a couple do some fantastic work. As you can see, it's not brilliant, the right hand edge is decidedly dodgy, but after getting the knack, the left hand side is so much better. I made the pattern myself using Serif (sorry ladies that don't do/like Serif). I thoroughly enjoyed having a go (at first I was going to throw it away) and will definitely do it again - I will buy some patterns - see the other ladies sites for details and I will try my own designs from Serif. The boo now needs decorating which again, I will use Serif to print some patterened papers and add a description/date/details for the back cover.

See you Thursday

My Oldie for Ffffriday

Hello Everyone
Thank you for visiting. I appreciate your time and if you can leave a comment I value every one. the weather here today is lovely and sunny. I hope it lasts because our daughter has invited the family around tomorrow for a BBQ to admire their new garden! She is coming over today to help me with the infamous dress! This project has turned into a real saga, what with having to change the size, adding length, adding pockets, not doing any dressmaking for about 30 years etc The latest problem being I wanted to add a buttonhole on the back of the pocket to thread the tubing of my insulin pump through (hence wanting pockets in the first place) I placed them on the wrong piece. Not a problem, but it meant unpicking the seam of the pocket and re-stitching. I just have two buttonholes now in each pocket. She's going to help me tweak the sizing and marking the hem - nearly there - Yay! I'm just a bit miffed with myself for getting rid of a beautiful dressmakers dummy thinking I'd never go back to dress making. If it's good enough when finished I may post a photo...
Thank you Hazel for the note about your beer cake - off to visit now

Today's oldie, inspired to post by Erika See here. 
A friend was giving an iPad (Family group present for a milestone birthday) and wanted an appropriate card.. I found an image on the internet of an iPad screen on the internet. I used matting basics rectangles to create a black frame which I backed with acetate. The envelope was made using a sample of black wallpaper that looked like leather

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I haven't got anything planned for today - just dressmaking I think. OH is on a late shift so it does mean that I am in charge of the tv remote!

I told you I do simple!

Hello Everyone
I'm recovering from the weekend's train run. I have to say, that it was funny, rather than a pain. I knew we wouldn't be getting a train until early morning and I was prepared for that. It was just a shame that we faffed about wondering which platform to go to. Our line is pretty reliable and trains quite frequent during the day From where I live into Kings Cross only takes 20 minutes or so. I just thought it was funny seeing all these people asleep in Starbucks and on benches. Most whom I assume were waiting for trains to France or Belgium. Out dancing tonight (not again I hear you moan! hee hee)
Here's another very simple but I think very effective card. I made it for a friend who is in hospital and of course no fresh flowers are allowed. I assume her diet is very restrictive too. I was going to send her an edible bouquet instead here which I have used a lot because they are close to where I live. They usually make the perfect gifts for somebody in hospital and are a bit different as fresh flowers are a no no
I started with a DL card and cut the floral pattern - Llidl to make a mat and then cut the Quilted Striplet and a frame with a 3cm border in white. I glued the Striplet flat onto the mat and the frame I foam mounted. The sentiment was printed and cut with the small die in the Becca Feakin Filigree Delights set.I also cut a second one in the floral print, cut it in half, to create a shadow Easy for batch making (not that I'm at that point in my card making journey) and for many occasions I think

Card using scraps...

Hello All
Thank you, once again for your kind comments. I hope you will try the furniture wax technique. It is certainly a nice way to use those pots of mica, which I must admit sit on my shelf and don't get used very often.
I had a great week end. The dancing on Saturday was.... shall I say.... different. It was advertised as "Three Voices from Los Van Van" Seemingly two of them couldn't get visas! So we got a bit of a refund. 
The train journey home was different too. We arrived at Kings Cross station to find that it didn't open until 5.30am. Our train was due to leave at 5.35am. We went back to St Pancras and found a bench to have a snooze. We could have had a coffee in Starbucks but found that all of the tables were occupied by people fast asleep! It was hilarious to see. We raced to Kings cross when it opened but couldn't see which platform it was leaving from, so went to the usual one. There was a train on the platform (ours) so we legged it. Got to the train as the doors were closing. I hit the "open" button but no luck and it pulled away. So, waited until 6.00am for a train home! it was an experience to say the least but I can't see me doing it again in a hurry
Today's card is another simple one and I took inspiration from a lady that sent Sandra from Cotswold Crafters a card. see here Thank you Saba. 
I had a small piece of card left over from a sheet of a Llidl card pack. The bird being a topper and I cut some daisies from the small pieces that were left to create a background. 

Ingredients

6x4 card blank

Supersmooth white card

Llidl card stock

Sue Wilson Complete Daisies

Nuvo Crystal Pearl drops - pink

Oldie for Ffffriday

Hello Everyone
I seriously cannot believe we're at Saturday again!
I had a brilliant day at the Victoria and Albert museum (the V&A dahling!) We spent 2 hours in just the Alexander McQueen exhibition. What an artist! The workmate (male) I went with couldn't believe he would be wowed by dresses! But they are works of art, not dresses. I hadn't realised that he had worked in Saville Row, so knew tailoring and also worked at Gieves & Hawkes where he learnt military tailoring. My friend wants to go back to the V&A and see more of the museum. I love it there. After all, it is the world's greatest museum of art and design. Entry to the museum is free - some exhibitions you do have to pay for and is worth booking in advance As a crafter it is well worth a visit http://www.vam.ac.uk 
Tonight I am going back into London - Camden to see the three voices of Los Van Van, a huge band from Cuba. I live about 30 minutes from Kings Cross. I should take advantage of going into London more often
Tomorrow afternoon (depending if I am still awake!) we will probably go to Rueda in the Park - Hyde Park or Salsa in Stevenage

Today's oldie is inspired by Erika here

It was my first "play" at making my own gilding wax. An Ali Reeve technique. You literally rub your finger in to furniture wax/polish (this was quite hard to source these days, everything is aerosol sprays!) and then gently dip finger into mica of choice. Pink was the first one I found! I was a bit heavy handed in places but you get the idea

The sun is shining and the wind has dropped. So a perfect day to craft! Hope the weather is being kind to you all and thank you for popping by