Autumn Sunset and a Little Candy!

Hello to Everyone, I hope you are all well and have had a good weekend. Gosh they go so fast, I feel so lucky that really everyday can be a weekend for me now that I've retired.
I remember lying in bed on a Sunday night worrying about going back to work on the Monday, horrible times, glad to be out of them.

Thank you so much for your lovely comments  on my last card, you are so very kind.

We had a lovely drive out to Dornoch yesterday and the weather held, which was good as there was two weddings at the Dornoch Cathedral, which is a beautiful little church and very popular for weddings..... well it was where Madonna got married to Guy Richie a number of years ago, although that has gone by the way now.  We had a a lovely spot of lunch and a walk on the beach. Quiet day today, the usual food shopping, which I hate but even more hate putting it all away when we get it home.

Here is my card;

Sorry about the photo, didn't matter which way I turned it, I still got this sort of flash on it.
I've used another of John Next Door stamps sets and this one is the Autumn Flowers.
I inked up some Silk Art Card with Oxides using the Ink Dusters then make some hills with the Inkylicious mountains and hills stencil. I then stamped the flower images with Black Archival Ink. To finish off added a few drops of  Liquid Pearls.
Loved using these stamps and of course I used my favourite colours. Quite pleased with the result. I'll not bother with a sentiment until needed. I also thin this could do for a male card too. John's stamps are so very versatile and stand alone or with other stamps that you might have in your stash. Super for creating scenes too.

Now I did say that I would have a little give a way as I had reached to grand number of 120 Followers. Always amazes me that people like what I do and want to visit, so as a wee thank you, here is what I have put together;

I will post world wide as I have some lovely Followers in far off Lands. So, if you would like these bits and pieces all you have to do is leave a comment on this post, you don't need to put it on your side bar, and my random machine..... the lovely Alistair will pick a number out of  his hat next Sunday. That gives everyone a week to visit and leave a comment.
But pleased be a Follower, that is the only stipulation to win the candy.

I was looking through my Follower list and couldn't help wondering where some folk have gone to. I have quite a few who seem to have dropped of the blogging scene altogether, not seen for years really, I do hope they are well. Of course there are many reasons why people come and go, and life moves on for people in one way or another, nevertheless, it's lovely that I have many of you still with me from my beginnings in Blogland and and so many new people, and everyone so very talented.

That's me for now, so take care everyone and see you soon,

 

Dandelion Wishes!

Good Evening Everyone, I hope you've all had a pleasant day. 
Friday's come around again so quickly, it all goes too fast for me, time that is. We are hoping for some good weather tomorrow and we will go a run up to Dornoch where there is a lovely beach and some good coffee shops. If it's raining it might well be a crafting day, we'll see.

Thank you all for the lovely comments on my last card, I appreciate all of them.

I've a card to share with you;

I was watching Sheena Douglass the other day and she was creating a background with SN Aqua Pens and a little bit of glycerin, and I thought that looks good, so I bought some glycerin and and had a go and I'm really pleased with the effect. I next used this beautiful Crafty Individual's stamp of the little girl, and then framed here with one of John Next Door Dandelion stamps from the Summer Flowers set. I heat embossed them with White EP. 
The Sentiment is from CB's McIntosh Words set.
The card has been edged with Hickory Smoke DI, then a few sequins added to finish it off.

I think the stamps go really well together, and if I say so myself I am rather pleased with how this has turned out, I hope you like it too.  Another card for my box, it's a card that would do any occasion I think.

Well it's almost time to hit the hay, it's been a long day as I was up very early to let Teallach in, he seemed a bit distressed, so I think something or someone must have spooked him, he is an awfully scardy cat, as he is a wee rescue cat I don't know about his early life as he came to use when he was one year.  He settled down once he was indoors.

So, I hope you all have a lovely weekend whatever you are doing, see you soon,

Dandelions and a Winter Tree!

Hello  Everyone, hoping all is well with you, but if not I hope you feel better soon, sending kind thoughts out to you.

Wednesday already, mid week, boy does the time go fast!!  Poor day today, heavy rain and a lot cooler too. Sun is out now, but there's a dark sky. The Scottish weather fairly keep you on your toes.

I treated myself to John Next Door's new stamps, I think they are just lovely and the kind of images I like. Here is one of the dandelion stamps, the sentiment is also in the set. As I don't have his new Media Plates yet, I did my own version of using an Xcut die and inking up with TH Oxides then stamping the image in Versamark and clear EP, I carried on with the tiny wisps of the flower. My background is an Imagination Craft stencil and Starlight Paints, and I've edged the card with neutral charcoal pencil, I didn't think it needed any other adornment.  Here is another angle;

Now, just because I have another card to share;

So here is another of John's stamps from the set with trees and leaves. I started with Derwent Black card and scribbled Metallic Pencils on to it, in Gold, bronze and copper.  I then stamped one of the trees, there are three in the set and some leaves all in Gold Wow EP. Christmas Blessings is from the set and it's embossed in Wow Copper.  I faux stitched around the edge of the card with Sakura Gel Pen in Copper. The card blank is CE Graphite.

Another shot;

All the metallic shine makes it difficult to photograph.

I have to say I had such fun making these cards, they are fabulous to stamp with and the possibilities are endless, so expect more.  I hope you like these ones.

Just before I go, I want to thank you for the lovely comments on my last card, I do appreciate the time you all take to visit me and leave a comment, you are very kind.

Till next time, take care,

The Cottage!

Hello Everyone, are you well today, certainly hope so and that you've had a good day.

Our weather early this morning looked as if it was going to be a cloudy day, but lo and behold by lunch time the sun was out and it got steadily hotter.

Alistair has been away for a couple of days climbing in Glencoe with a friend, so it's been all quiet on the Western Front, so much so that I have feasted on watching Chocolate Baroque on Hochanda and managing to catch the shows live instead of catch up which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Lesley always shows brilliant techniques, I love watching her.

Anyway, the man who would be Boss will be home tonight, but I'm waiting to find out if I've to pick him up in Inverness or go down to Aviemore. The buses apparently weren't corresponding to when he would get down off the mountain.  Very remiss of the bus company I think. 

So here is my card for today, it's one that I bought whilst away last week. Now I don't know the make but it's a wood mounted stamp. I'm always on the lookout for images that would do a male card, all our male friends are outdoor types and it's not easy to find appropriate images for them.

I've coloured it all in shades of grey using various inks, strangely it's showing up almost blue, but it is grey. I found this embossed background with trees in my stash and swiped them once again with different shades of grey and silver, they look a bit like Silver Beeches to me. Then just added a simple birthday sentiment. going round the edges with grey charcoal. 
I think it's a lovely image and it reminds me of the a Lake District scene.

Thank you so much for all you lovely comments on my last card and a warm welcome to Scrapamondo who is my latest follower, I'm delighted that you have chosen to follow me and I hope you will pop in often.
Now, I have reach the heady heights of having 120 Followers, so I think it must be time for a wee bit of a Candy prize, so watch this space, and I'll get something together later in the week.

That's me for today, I'm off now to visit you lovely people on your blogs, I didn't get much of a chance yesterday so I'm a wee bit behind.
Take care of yourselves and enjoy your evening,

Jingle Bells for the Christmas Card Club!

Good Morning to You,  I hope all is well with you and that you are enjoying the day so far. I woke up to a harr and drizzly rain and it's gotten steadily worse, good job I wasn't intending to go out anywhere.

Time for the Christmas Card Club girls to show their creations once again. I really don't know why the time speeds by so fast, it seems only a few days ago I posted the previous cards for the challenge. Anyway, Margaret has chosen the theme this time around and she would like to see cards with bells on, here are mine, I got really carried away by this one;

Now I just happened to be given this love sentiment die by my lovely friend Mrs. Duck, so it was just perfect for this card. The bell dies are Tattered Lace.

All Hunkydory for this card, pleased to be able to use up some of this stash I've had since years ago.

I quite often buy Creative Stamping Magazine, especially the Christmas issues as their stamps are brilliant and both the bells and the sentiment are from one of those mags. Coloured  with a mixture of DI and Starlight Paints. Wonderful Pixie Powders  as a background and embossed bells on the card blank, a few Liquid Pearls to finish.

Last but not least

These stamps are also from another stamp set from another Christmas issue of Creative Magazine, and I decided to just heat emboss on to the black card blank with WOW Silver embossing powder and add some silver dots, very simple but I thought it was very effective.

Well Margaret, you can see I thoroughly enjoyed this challenge, so thank you so much for choosing Christmas Bells.

Thank you all so much for your comments on my last card, I do appreciate them.

I'm off to make some soup, it's that kind of day, dark and miserable, oh well at least it is a day, have a good one yourselves and see you soon,

Floral card and Bunnies!

Hello Everyone and lovely to be back after little break away. We had a lovely time with our friends and at the jazz concerts and now we need a rest.  It's lovely to be away, but always brilliant to be back home, especially as I missed my lovely furry boy.

I hope you are all well, but a if not sending you kind thoughts and  gentle hugs.
Thank you one and all for all the lovely comments on my last card, you are so kind. I've not managed around everyone's blogs, but I have seen some wonderful creations on my reading list, so please forgive if I've not been able to keep up with you.

Whilst I was away I found a fabulous craft shop in Edinburgh, Stamper's Grove, a veritable Aladdin's cave, stacked from floor to ceiling with fabulous crafting products, so I bought rather a lot, but I was after the Crazy Cats and Dogs from Tim Holtz which they stocked, so I'm a happy bunny.

My card is not created with anything new, but another of the LOTV beautiful floral images;

I coloured the image with metallic watercolours from Kuretaki, and cut it out with a SB floral die.
Do you know for the life of me I can't remember  the type of flower this is.  Sorry the photo is a bit fuzzy.

Just before I go I wanted to show these furry chaps, and this is for you Cara,

These are rather huge bunnies, all three happily nibbling away on the grass. We visited a Natural Heritage centre and there was a petting zoo and I just fell in love with these guys. It's hard to see from the photos but they are really large.

Anyway, that's me done for now, I hope you all have a good weekend, I'm catching up on the washing and ironing, take care and see you soon,

Fressias

Hello Everyone, I hope all is good with you, it is Friday after all and almost the weekend.
I know that some of you are struggling a bit just now, so sending out kind and healing thoughts to you and I hope that life gets easier for you soon.

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last card and the commiserations regarding my needle.. well it's not turned up and I've had to order another set and was hoping they would arrive before we go off to our friends in Livingston which we are about to do after lunch time.  I wanted to take this particular knitting project with me in the hope that I would get the socks finished whilst away.

We are off to the Edinburgh Jazz Festival and so looking forward to not only that but visiting with Dale and Stewart as we haven't seen them in such a long while so there will be loads to catch up with.

My card today is a beautiful Freesia image drawn by Jane from Tidy Gardens, unfortunately Jane no longer has these digital images, I am lucky enough to have a few of them.

I've used one of the new Crafters Companion 3D embossing folders and and coloured it a bit with DI. The blooms themselves are coloured with SN Colourblend pencils and some Sparkle Pen. A wee bit matting and layering and job done.

Now as we will be away, I will be sporadic with my commenting,  but I will try and get to visit when I can.

Have a lovely weekend whatever you're doing and see you when I get back,

I would like to enter  this card into http://theflowerchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/the-flower-challenge-10-embossing.html

Sunflowers!

Good Evening Crafting Friends and Visitors, I hope you are having a lovely evening whatever you'er doing.  I seem to have lost one of my sock needles, most annoying as I don't have a spare, it's gone in to that black hole that hides in my house. These socks are for a friend and they appear to be fated as I've had to take almost a whole sock back as it looked as it would have been too large. Grrrrrr!! Not the end of the world though, just a sock delay.

thank you all so much for your lovely comments I do appreciate every one of them and your time in visiting my blog.

I have a little floral card for you;

Sorry the photo  seems to be a bit fuzzy. One of the lovely LOTV floral images coloured with watercolours and cut out with an Xcut die. I've added DI to the background. Paper is from a Sara Davis beautiful Autumn pad. CB sentiment, WO sunflowers and Tattered Lace Ivy die, SN Sparkle Pen, Pearls and a Dazzler.

That's me for now, off to have a good search for my needle, take care everyone and see you all soon,

A Christmas/Snowy Scene for the CCC!

Well here we are once again and I nearly missed it... what you might ask, it's time for another Christmas Card Club post.  It's a fortnightly challenge by a bunch of us Gals wanting to get ahead with our cards for Christmas instead of the usual rush at the last minute. We each choose the themes, and although some of them can be quite challenging we always manage to create something.

If you would like to join us, please get in touch with any of us and we will point you in the direction of Margaret, know as Duchess, who will give you the information needed.

So Hello to Everyone, I hope you are well this fine Sunday. AS I mentioned I almost missed this post , the time has past so quickly, and if I hadn't been checking the date of a chicken when shopping this morning, I wouldn't have realised that it is indeed the 9th of July. Good thing I'm a wee bit ahead of my card making and had these ready.

Our theme this time around has been chosen by Shaz and she would like to see cards depicting, Christmas/Snowy Scene, here are mine;

A Hunkydory image and sentiment and some stamped and embossed branches around the card base, absolutely loads of glitter.

Now a fabulous Art Stamp from Imagination Crafts, embossed with white powder and as you can see it's just all black and white, which I quite like as a Christmas card. MB Frosty Border and corner and a freebie sentiment.

I just love this wonderful Hobby Art image that I'd purchased last year, and love using, wish I could remember who I sent last year's card to though, hope I don't send it to the same person this year.
Watercoloured and lots of sparkle. The background is a brilliant Crackle stamp from Crafty Individuals and it's embossed with Wow Silver Power. MB Frosty Border.

I loved making these Shaz, I do love a good Snowy Scene, and it allowed me to use some of the Hunkydory stash that I've had since Moses left Partick, so thank you for the challenge.

That's me for today, except to say thank you all for you lovely comments on my Butterfly Frame, and for your hints and tips regarding cutting dies, all very helpful.

Till next time, take care and have a lovely Sunday,

Butterfly Frame!

Good Morning Crafting Friends and Visitors, I hope you are , but sending kind thoughts to those of you who are struggling just now, and I know there are a few of you.

Well, it's an awfully wet day, fine smirry rain and dull, I think a day for indoors and a bit of crafting. I don't have the pups to mind as Damian is working from home, so I think we will have a little lunch out as a wee treat.

Second episode of Outlander last night, and the latest comment from Alistair, after having promised to keep quiet..., was.. they're not speaking Gaelic, if this is meant to be Inverness everyone would speak that. I went on to explain that, if that was the case only Gaelic speaking people would understand the dialogue and everyone else would would need subtitles.   I further explained that Jamie does use Gaelic when speaking endearments.  However, Alistair was so pleased when indeed  there was a scene where Gaelic was spoken.  He turned to me as asked, what are they saying. Honestly, I am sure he does it to wind me up. Neither he nor myself speak that language, though I would love to, and I think Alistair knows only swear words.  

Anyway, enough of all this, here is my project for today, it's a little frame and the inspiration is taken from the very talented Marianne Fisher  who creates the most beautiful little projects, along with wonderful cards and you can find Marianne's blog; here do pop in for a visit , you'll not be disppointed.

Frame from and fabric from Hobbycraft, Sizzix butterfly dies, little ones are Xcut and a beautiful crochet one from my stash. Starlight Paints for the butterflies and also the vine which is an Imagination Crafts stencil. I also cut the butterflies out with acetate, gosh that was a chore, and then added Sparkle Medium. That is unfortunately not showing up, finally some sequins.  This is for a gift, so wanted it to be good.

It's good to try something different, and I'm begining to like mixed media more and more, although, some of what I'm trying to do is really trial and error, for example I found it very difficult to cut out acetate and the main butterflies dies were meant to be cut out of the lovely fabric that I'd bought. I don't know if my die cutting machine is the problem, it's a Big Shot and had it a while, but I love it, but maybe the rollers become a bit loose over time.
  I've been looking at the Gemini and wondering if I should invest, but it's very expensive and I have to question if I would get a lot of use from it as I'm not really a die person, and although I do have EFs I don't use them all that often. 
  
 Before I go, just wanted to thank you all for the lovely comments on my last card, you are all so very  kind.

Have a lovely day doing whatever you do and see you all soon,

 

Another Breath of Spring!

Hello Everyone, how's your day been, good I hope.  I know some of you have sadness in your life just now, so sending kind thoughts out to you and hope life begins to get kinder to you.

Well the start on another week, and month, are they not just speeding ahead, I just want to put the breaks on.

Thank you all so much for the lovely comments on my last card, they are much appreciated.

We got our bedroom all painted and put back together again, thankfully with the help of Damian as we were whacked, we are so lucky that he live a few minutes from us and he had things in place in no time. It looks all lovely and fresh, and our Teallach has settled back down, poor wee guy was freaked out by it all.

Did anyone watch Outlander?  I sold it to Alistair saying the scenery was fantastic, which of course it is.  Now Alistair knows Scotland like the back of his hand, especially the Highlands having walked and climbed all over them.  I couldn't get him to shut up about the locations, it went something like this.... there's no Standing Stones near Culloden!.. that's a scene in Glencoe, they're supposed to be just above Inverness, the two places are not near one another.... on and on this commentary  kept going. It drove me mad, I commented that the Locations Manager unfortunately didn't consult him before the shooting of the film and that they don't take in to account know it alls who continually look for mistakes and can't use their imagination. He does the same with The Loch which is a drama that takes place around Loch Ness.  I'm watching it on my own next week.  Anyhow if you did watch it I hope you enjoyed it.

Here is my card for today;

Just for a change.. Chocolate Baroque from the Breath of Spring set of stamps, heat embossed and Derwent Coloursoft Pencils on a DI background.  I made this ages ago and just getting around now to posting it.

That's me for now, have a good evening and see you soon,

I would like to enter this card into:http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/july-anything-with-flowers.html

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

Hello Everyone and welcome to my blog,  it's always good to see you and a warm welcome to Mia, who is my latest Follower, I hope you visit often Mia and thank you for choosing to click the follow button.

Well we are up to our eyes in decorating the bedroom, I've been sent out of the way as it seems I was getting in the way.  It's always such a big deal as we have a very small house, in fact it's a glorified hen hutch... even some of them are bigger, so trying to clear the room of furniture is awful as there is really nowhere to put it.  I can't even get into the toilet as it's jammed packed with chests of drawers. Alistair thought he had left enough room for me to squeeze through, ha ha!! no way can I get through the space.  

As we have had to bring stuff downstairs, Teallach is freaking out and can't get to his hidy hole, and at the moment is sitting on top of the mattress which is on it's end.  Damian help Alistair to move the heavy things this  morning and will come back to help put the room back together when the painting is done, which will only take a couple of hours, that's not the hard part.  Do you ever wish you hadn't started something.   We won't be doing it again.

Anyway, enough of that. Here is my card for sharing today;

This is my first usage of the new Oxide Inks, which I've make my background with. I like them, and find them easy to blend. The image is the lovely cottage scene from Crafty Individuals, and lots of sparkle. Inkylicious deer and I've doodled a silver border around the background with Sakura Pen.

It's turned out alright I think.  

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my previous card, love to read what you say.

I hope you all have a good weekend with some good weather, it's not brilliant up here, but what can you do.

Take care of yourselves and see you soon,

I would like to enter my card into https://scrapsoflifebyscrappymo.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/june-rudolph-days-challenge.html