Non-challenge Cards - June 2012

It is the last day of June 2012 and here is a post of the cards I created that don't fall into any challenges this month....

Beware, this is a picture heavy post - You have been warned!



Created using 2 stamps from a set of Meerkats by Designs by Tabby Cat



This card was created for a Less is More challenge of Red, White & Blue, however I did not get it uploaded before the deadline :(

This card was also for the Red, White & Blue challenge.  Using scraps of card I put them through a Cog embossing folder and then added a bit of colour with distresing ink.

The next four cards were created almost by accident, I had printed of some images from the Joanna Sheen ATC Assistant CD (the oval with script) and decided to use them in on 4 A6 card blanks that I had.  I also found a pack of Papermania buterflies which went really well with the colours.  Using up different scraps of card & a bit of left over ribbon I ended up with this set of cards.

A while ago I brought a Papermania Goodie Bag, in that bag were several sheets of decoupage paper featuring animals.  I hade a couple to use a toppers and then thay have just sat on the side.   The next couple of cards were created using those toppers.

This was another card that just happened.  I had found a pack of paper doilies that I had brought and used a bit of distress ink to take away the Whiteness.  I then found the image of the owls (part of a set of toppers from Design House) and stamped a sentiment.

On 23 June I celebrated my 1st Blogaversary, if you would like chance to win some Candy please go to my Blogaversary post HERE.

 

WOYWW 27 June 2010

This week I don't have a picture of my desk (it was too much of a mess) for Whats On You Work Desk Wednesday... but I do have a picture of a card that I finished last night.

A friend & his partner have their 1st Anniversary this weekend & I decided that I wanted to make a card.

As I could not be bothered to clear up my work desk to take the photo I put the card on the chair at the Computer Desk & took the photo there LOL - anything for an easy life :)

Created using a Little Claire Designs digital stamp (coloured with my ProMarkers), some left over ribbon & patterned paper. 

In addition I am also submitting this card into the following Challenges:

I Love ProMarkers - Anything Goes
Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Ribbon & Bows


On 23 June I celebrated my 1st Blogaversary, if you would like chance to win some Candy please go to my Blogaversary post HERE.

Happy Birthday

On this day ?? Number of years ago DH's Brother & oldest Sister were born.  They are not twins but share a birthday - exactly 1 year apart.

This year I am making cards of birthdays & anniversaries for all of our imediate family, so 2 more cards were required.

Created using the Changing Tree stamp set from Little Claire Designs

Created using of of the Cutie Patooties 'Bert' die cuts again from Little Clair Designs

On 23 June I celebrated my 1st Blogaversary, if you would like chance to win some Candy please go to my Blogaversary post HERE.

Black, White & Grey

Over on Ruby's Rainbow Challenge Blog the challenge has been issued...

Our theme for this fortnights challenge has been chosen by team mate Sandra and Sandra would like to see your project be Black, White + 1 other colour.

* BLACK, WHITE + 1 OTHER COLOUR ONLY *

Don't forget we are a multi craft challenge so you may make anything so long as it fits the theme.

Ok, the black & white part was easy, the next question was what other colour...

After some thinking I came up with the idea of stamping an image and then using shades of Grey to colour it.  Using My ProMarkers I picked out my Cool & Warm Grey shades and set to work.

I used the 'Big Present' stamp from Lili of the Valley and the sentiment stamp was from Papermania.  This was the first time I had ever tried to colour using shades of grey and I must admit I was very easy to do and I am even happy with the result!

On 23 June I celebrated my 1st Blogaversary, if you would like chance to win some Candy please go to my Blogaversary post HERE.

Less is More - Paper Piecing

On the Less is More challeng blog the task in hand this week is to use Designer Paper...

Our recipe this week will give you the opportunity to dig out some of those scraps of Designer paper that have been lurking around in your craft space, as our challenge is

'Paper Piecing'

So I found my 'Daydream' Stamps from Lili of the Valley and set to work...

What was left of the images after I had cut out the little girls trousers & top.

I coloured the rest of the image in using my ProMarkers & cut her out using a circle die.  After a bit of debate I decided to use the sentiment that comes with the stamp.

On 23 June I celebrated my 1st Blogaversary, if you would like chance to win some Candy please go to my Blogaversary post HERE.

My first ATC

As part of the WOYWW anniversary I created my first ever ATC.  I found it very difficult to know where to start...

A friend lent me a copy of Joanna Sheen's ATC Assistant CD.  So using the CD I printed out a template along with some of the images from the CD to create the following ATC...


The Front of my ATC

The information on the back of the card

I stamped this sentiment on the envelope of the ATC.

WOYWW - 20 June 2012

Once again it is Wednesday, and I nearly missed Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday!!

I have been on a 'Away Day' with work and although these days can be my worst nightmare (with no chocolate in site) this one was different.  Dare I say it... I even joyed the day!!!  As a bonus we had Chocolate Hobnobs with morning coffee break :)

Ok, back to the subject at hand...  My workdesk:

On my desk this week are the start of a couple of cards, well I had a few ideas and was just playing with them.

I have a set of Meerkat stamps from Designed by Tabbykat, I have used 2 of the stamps (coloured with my ProMarkers) I hope to use these as a topper on a Birthday Card. 

I also have stamped out one of the images from a set of stamps by Imagination Crafts featuring butterflies.  This stamp set is designed to be used for decoupage.  I have not decided what to use to colour the butterflies or the stamp in general - but the image is a lovely one.

Happy Wednesday :)

Time for a quick break...

At lunch today I decided that I would go and take a quick walk, normally this would be around the housing estate behind where I work.  However today with the amazing weather I decided to walk the opposite direction and go onto Lincoln Common.

The Common is a large area of land between the A57 & Long Leys Road in Lincoln and after talking a shortcut I was on the common, just taking a couple of minutes to walk a short section and watch the wildlife as I walked (and keeping an eye out for the piles of horse poo!!). 

I took a couple of photos as I walked along, the only problem was that if I had my way I would not have gone back to the office.

Reminder to self: I really must remember to visit the common more often.  I should also keep a pair of flat shoes under my desk - heals do not work well on grass :)

Father's Day Card - Number 2

As usual I send 2 Father's Day cards each year.  One to my Dad & one to DH... Yes I know that DH is not my Dad, but he is the 'Dad' of our 'Kids' (the feathered kind).

Every year the 'Kids' send their 'Dad', Birthday, Christmas & Father's Day cards (and sometimes presents too).

This year the Father's Day card may bring a tear to both our eyes as it will be the first one to only feature to names (Jumanji & Delta) as Ufo died last November - I know that it brought a lump to my throat when writing it.

However he is his card (commissioned by the Kids)...

The background paper & stamped car image came free with various magazines, the sentiment was printed using my computer & embossed with clear powder.

Fathers Day Card

I made this card during May, but did not want to post it until after Fathers Day... So here is the card I made for my Dad.

It was created while on a workshop at LLinda's Card & Craft shop in Laneham, Notts.  The card uses a cog embossing folder for the background (with co-ordination card which has been sanded).

The main element is the sentiment & motorbike, which was created using the 'out of the box' technique.  This is something I had seen, but never tried and was surprisingly easy to achieve (I can feel a How To... coming on LOL).

Well all that remains to be said is:

Happy Fathers Day

Cockpitfest Day 2

Well yesterday happened and most of the day was wet and the rain came down!

Overnight we have dried out and the day is looking good so far - I can even see a bit of blue sky!!!

I have taken a couple more photos this morning so have attached them to this post - 2 are of a couple of cockpits and one is of Jimmy with Delta :)

Cockpitfest Day 1

The Cockpitfest weekend has arrived!

Ok, first of all I can here you all asking what is Cockpitfest? It is a celebration of aviation history, as it is not always practicable to preserve the whole aircraft many people preserve just the Cockpit.

This weekend sees over 30 cockpits gathering at Newark Air Museum, Notts.

We attend with the owls as part of the 'family' attractions.

The weather for this weekend is forecast to be 'Unsettled' - so far this morning we have had rain & wind!!

I have attached a couple of photos of the kids (the feathered kind) & our stock table (with all the items I made this week).

WOYWW - 13 June 2012

Well it is Wednesday once again, and this week I have remembered!!!  Last week with the long weekend I really got my days in a muddle and did not realise that it was Wednesday until it was nearly over.

So onto the subject of WOYWW (Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday) it is time to join Julia over at Stamping Ground to look at workdesks around the country (& the world)...

As for mine, in this little corner of Lincolnshire, my desk upstairs is very quiet.  In fact it has been deserted!  the only thing sat on it at the moment is a Stampin Up catalogue (where I have just discovered that we don't get the new 2012-13 catalogue in the UK until September :( I already have my list of new products I HAVE to have made.), and this layout that was started at the Crop last week and is now finished...

So if I'm not working at my desk where am I working? Well on my Lap of course, with the help of a 'lap table' the last 2 evenings have been spent sat in the living room cutting out templates to be used in a variety of stock items. 

On Friday a big box of 'stuff' arrived and it needs to be ready for the Annual Cockpitfest celebration held at Newark Air Museum this weekend.  We will be taking the birds and staying overnight in our caravan on site. 

The box under the lap table is where all the stock that is completed lives, I hope to be able to get the last finished this evening & I then need to create some new price tags for items I have not sold before (yet another use for my Sizzix tag dies & my cuttlebug :) - it really is great how you can use them for anything LOL).

Some Good News At Last

Yesterday saw DH back at Louth Hospital for another attempt at shattering his Kidney stone using lithotripsy.

This has been going on a long, long time and there did not seem to be an end in site, however yesterday the news was better :)

What we thought was 1 big stone, is now lots of little ones (the largest is 7mm!!) and the lithotripsy was to shatter the largest stone.  DH is now waiting for a CT appointment (as his stones don't show on x-ray) to show the result of the latest lithotripsy.

Provided the consultant is happy that the stones are small enough the stent can come out and life can get back to normal (big cheer!!!). 

Please keep your fingers crossed that the stone has been shattered & the stent is removed sorted sooner rather than later. 

However, while I was waiting for DH to be zapped (our name for the lithotripsy), I went and sat in the car and settled down with my trusty ProMarkers to colour away the time...

The centre console was just the right size to place by box of ProMarkers :)

What Happend to Wednesday??

What with the long Jubilee weekend I have really lost track of this week.  It did not twig that it was Wednesday until just after lunch time, when I was catching up on reading various blogs. 

As once I got home from work I had enough time to eat & then run out again to the Crop in Lincoln I did not get chance to take a photo of my work desk.

However the evening crop was great fun & I even got 2 layouts completed (and a 3rd half done) :)

Sue F runs a crop from her house during the week & started  monthly challenges, although I don't attend her crops anyone can take part in the monthly challenge. For June the word is 'Waiting'... so I thought & thought and came up with a couple of idea that I could take a photo for & then enter.

However when I got out some photos to scrap with I thought that the title of 'Waiting' would fit really well.  This was one of those pages that I found the 12x12 paper quickly and just put the photos on top to see if they would work well together.  Not only did the paper work well I loved the way in which the photos landed, so I took a photo & added some glue & put it back together!

Journalling Reads: This Sliver Back gorilla was seen at Disney's Animal Kingdom - 27 Nov 2010.

I was now on a roll so I reached into my bag for more photos.  The next set were small ones and I then remembered that my Florida 2010 album was a 8x8 - Ohh No... I had just completed the 'Waiting' layout on 12x12 cardstock!!!!!  The solution - I think as I have photoed the page I will just print it out 8x8 and add it as a Digi Layout!

So onto my second layout (on 8x8 cardstock this time!), this was a simple one with not much in the way of embellishments, I used a Mask & Snorkel set that I picked up whilst in America & the title of 'Us' is a hologram alphabet set (showing either white flowers on black or black dots on white).

Journalling Reads:  Us on the boat looking for manatee. Florida Adventure - 23 Nov 2010

Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition is current on tour and in Lincoln.  We found out about it a couple of weeks ago and yesterday we visited the Usher Gallery in Lincoln.  The photos taken were amazing!!!!!!  As this exhibition was the only one in which you could use cameras, I took a number of photos of my favourites, however there were too many to add here - so here are a few of them:

Spirit of the Badlands - Joe Sulik (USA)
Specially Commended - 11-14 Years

Family Tree - Paul Goldstein
Highly Commended - Behaviour Mammals

Fading Beauty - David Maitland
Specially Commended - In Praise of Plants  Fungi

Trust - Klaus Echie
Runner Up - Animal Portraits

Territorial Strut - Ross Hoddinott
Highly Commended - Animal Portraits

Details of the photos & the locations where the tour is due to visit can be found on the Natural History Museum Web site.

Cards for Men Workshop

On Tuesday this week I went along to LLinda's Card & Crafts in Laneham, Notts for a all day workshop creating Cards for Men.

The whole idea was to buy and then use stamps from the 'Creative Stamping' (Issue 4) magazine to create cards using a selection of techniques. 

Here are the cards we created and a brief description of the techniques used:

Resist Technique - Using distress inks over the Boy & Football images which had been covered in Versa Mark ink & heat embossed.  We also used distress inks to create the effect around the Boy, using a brush as well as Cut & Dry Foam.

Partial Cut & Stamping onto Acetate - The drum set was stamped onto acetate and heat embossed with black powder & colour was added to the back of the image.  The aperture was cut and I slot crated at the back of the card, the drums are mounted to look as if they are sat on a stage.

Colouring with Distress Inks & Adding water - The card was stamped using distress inks and before the ink had dried we used a piece of kitchen roll to smudge the ink around the image.  For the background we stamped the script in Memento ink before screwing the paper into a ball and then flattening it out again.  The distress ink was added to the paper & wet with a spray, we then dried using a heat gun and added 'splats' of colour using the Distress Stains. 

I think this card is my favourite from all of those I created.

Brayer & embossing Powers - This card was another first for me, I had never used a Brayer before (but I don't think the background turned out too bad). The motorbike was embossed & coloured using distress ink & the embossing powers were used to create the 'road' & 'flowers' in the grass. 

Stepper Card & PVA glue with acrylic paint - This cracked technique was fun (and very messy) to create :)  we painted the mount board with a layer of acrylic paint (I used the light blue) once dry we covered with a layer of PVA glue and then while still wet added another layer of acrylic paint - we then dried with a heat gun.  According to Linda the crackle is due to the glue & paint drying at different speeds - but I think it looks great. 

This last card did not get finished as we ran out of time, however I now just have to find an image that would look good on the background - any ideas?????

Well I don't think we did bad for a day crafting LOL & I got to learn several new techniques, which is even better.

Month in Numbers - May 2012

As it is now the end of the month it is time to look back at May 2012, along with Julie over at the Notes on Paper Blog (If you want to view other Month In Numbers posts or find out how to take part take a look at Julie's blog).

4 Bags of Slate chips, This was used in the 'flower' border (not that there are many flowers at the moment), when we had the new fence put in at the end of last year we needed to add a couple more bags of slate to top up the level.

Over the next couple of months the fuchsias will start to grow & flower and we will have colour in the boarders once again.

5 Cards that I have made for specific people this month, this one is an image from the 'In the Heart of the Garden' CD

6 is the number of Birds of Prey seen on one trip home from Lincoln.  Between 9-10pm we saw:
4 Barn Owls (out hunting over fields)
1 Kestrel (hovering over a field hunting)
1 Short Eared Owl (just sitting on a post) - I know the photo is bad, but it was the best of those we took (well it was 9:50pm!!)




82 Eddie Stobart vehicles seen in just one weekend this month I think that my favourite photo is one featuring a 'Push-Me-Pull-You' Truck LOL

1012 On the Eddie Stobart League Table having now seen 301 individual vehicles.

 
1940's If you visited Bletchley Park this weekend you will have found that time had been turned back to the 1940's.  We ended up visiting both Saturday and Sunday - and we still have not seen all that there is to see!!!