Pink Lilies!

Hello Everyone, hope today sees you well and managing to cope with the snow and bitter cold weather that the country is experiencing just now.  Thankfully, Inverness hasn't too much snow, most of it having disappeared but, it is perishing cold. So make sure you are being safe and keep warm.

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my last card, I do appreciate each and everyone of them.

I've got one of my Crafty Individual GDT cards today;

Using stamp CI-149 which you can find here, I stamped on to black card and heat embossed with CE white powder. I also stamped twice in order to cut out a couple of the flowers and decoupaged on to the little panel. The background paper is also from CI, Travels in Italy paper pad and that can be found here. The card base is  a lovely grey one from Dovecraft.  Watercolours are the medium of choice and SN sparkle pen to give a bit of shimmer, then a few pearl hearts to finish off.

It's a short post this time, hoping to get round to visiting your blogs before Shetland comes on. I was all set to watch it last night, to find that it had been changed to put football on. I get so angry at that, quite spoiled my night it did, anyway unless there is a power cut, I'll be watching it tonight.

So till next time, take care of yourselves,

Two Playful Kitties!

Hello All, I hope you are well and have had a good day.
Can you believe it's the beginning of another weekend!! Time slow down please!!

We have had some gorgeous weather over the last few days, bright sunny days, albeit very cold and it was a day for getting out for a walk this morning. We went up Ord Hill which is a hill with an old Pictish fort at the top of it. Dating from 83-84 AD and built in defence against General Agricola who was the Roman governor, in the Battle of Mons Graupius.  Obviously the Romans won the battle. Anyway, it was a lovely walk and the views over the Moray Firth are stupendous, and not too taxing for yours truly and as usual we stopped half way round to have a coffee and a biscuit.

Anyway, here is my card for today;

I received these two lovely kitten stamps from my lovely friend Mr.s Duck and I thought they were perfect to send to her on the occasion of  her adoption of two little kitties, who apparently are hooligans. The stamps are by Creative Expressions and I've used watercolours, the grasses around them are by CB and the sentiment is from JND.

I've been rather busy over the last few days so a quiet weekend is called for. We went to the cinema on Wednesday morning..... Senior Citizens morning, got in for a fiver, brilliant, anyhow the film was Journey's End, a really powerful film that had originally been a book and play back in the 1920s . The action all takes place during WW1 in one of the British trenches. Well worth going to see, sad thing is the powers that be have never learnt from awfulness of that war.
The book was one that I had to read and interpret for Higher English back in the day, and after all these years, my views have not changed.

Here are the views from our walk, we really do live in a beautiful part of the world.

That's me for now,  enjoy your weekend whatever you are doing, and thank you all so much for the lovely comments on my previous card, take care of yourselves,

Summer Time!

Hello Everyone, how are you all doing today?? I hope you are well, but sending kind thoughts out to those who are not so good.
Our friend Dougie is going through an operation today in Aberdeen, it's on his spine, and there is a chance that it may not work for him and leave him worse off. The whole condition is quite complicated, but for several years now he has been in awful pain, it's arthritis, and it also affects his eyes. He has had to give up mountain climbing, and music to an extent, he was part of the little music group that Alistair is in. So we are really sending out healing thoughts to him.

Thank you all for your visits and he lovely comments you leave, I appreciated it all.

I've got another one of my Crafty Individuals creations to show you today;

 I've used CI-368 and watercolours  and you can find the stamp  here with a SB die behind it. CI beautiful paper with a selection of ticket and postage images that are also from CI. Sentiment stamped on to velum is from CI.

Well that's me for now folks, hopefully I can get around to visit your blogs later, enjoy the rest of your day,

Deer of Friends for CCC!

Hello Everyone, I hope your weekend is going well and you are enjoying yourselves.
We've had a bitter cold day, but with sun shining. We went to Aviemore to have a walk around Loch An Eilein, it's a beautiful place and we braved the cold to sit at the head of the Loch to have a coffee and a biscuit. Lots of history to it as there is a castle in the middle of the Loch which was once the stronghold of the Wolf of Badennoch, a really badddd man around the time of Robert the Bruce, anyway there was no sign of him today.

So, it's time once again for the CCC ladies to show off their creations. We are a small group of ladies wanting to get ahead of the Christmas card rush and so we make them throughout the year, each taking turns in choosing a theme and this time it is our lovely Zoe who has chosen Deer or Friends, here is my offering,

I decided to create my card with the lovely Card-io stamps and I've used stamps from various sets and a sentiment from JND. My take on the theme is the deer with their woodland friends, Hope this will do Zoe.

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my Bird of Joy card, I appreciate all your visits and comments.
Well you'll never guess, the concert I was going to last night was cancelled, the Conductor has been taking ill, so Sean phoned me late afternoon to let me know, we were both disappointed, but that's life, and I was thankful that he got in touch before I'd put my face on lol. So that was that , the theatre will reimburse the ticket money.  However, it must have been awful for the orchestra as they would have been up here in Inverness from perhaps the night before, as they would have had to rehearse, obviously their was no stand in Conductor, pity.

This is a scheduled post for tomorrow..Sunday.
That's me for now, enjoy the remainder of your weekend,

Bird of Joy!

Hello Everyone, I hope you are all tickity boo and looking forward to the weekend, which in my opinion has come around all too quickly. 
Thank you all so much for the kind comments on my last card and yes indeed Alistair loved it, and the  Thorntons Coffee Creams that went along with it, then we went out for a lovely lunch at the Priory Hotel in Beauly, lovely food and then sat in the lounge on some very comfy chairs to have our coffee and had a good read, talk about old fogies, but a most enjoyable day.

I have a card today using Chocolate Baroque stamps,

Another of the latest stamps sets and this one is called Bird of Joy, it's such a lovely image to colour, which I've done with Windsor and Newton water colours. The words are part of the stamp, but you could stamp them on their own if wanted.  I added some Sparkle Pen and a doodle border, finishing off with some sequins.

Well I'm of the the theatre tonight the hear the BBC Scottish National Orchestral, playing Elgar and Walton, including Elgar's Cello Concerto.  I've been invited by our friend Sean, who normally attends these concerts with a friend and this time she can't go, so I've been lucky to be invited to stand in. We are also going to a pre concert talk about the pieces that will be played.
What's Alistair doing..... going for a fish supper to treat himself, and quite right too.
So, that's a lovely way to start my weekend.

That's me for now, I'll be back at the weekend with the latest CCC card, so till then take care of yourselves and have a lovely weekend whatever you have planned,

  

Up,Up and Away!

Hello there Folks, are you well today? I certainly hope so, but sending kind thoughts just in case your'e not.

More snow for us this early morning, but much has melted away as the day 's gone on. I do believe that this Winter has been much colder than last one and with more snow, but Spring is around the corner.....we hope.

Thank you all so much for the lovely comments on my last post and for liking my card. I so appreciate  the time you take to visit and leave some encouraging words.

Now tomorrow as you all know is Valentine's Day, and I remember well when I was a school girl absolutely hating it as I never, ever received any cards, so as you can imagine on that morning it was rather difficult to admit that the postman hadn't left any, whilst a few of the girls received at least one card, and one in particular got loads, dashed if I can remember her name, although I can still see her...I wonder what became of her!

Anyway, I might not have had a Valentine all those years ago, but I certainly have a fabulous one now and here is the card I've made for him;

I've used Card-io Stamps for Alistair's card, the sentiment comes along with the images, and a little Valentine stamp from John Next Door and a heart gem finished it off.
Now why hot air balloons you might ask.. well Alistair pointed out an image in a magazine of the balloons one day and said why didn't I make cards  with them, Something about them must have taken his fancy, so I knew that I had this stamp set just waiting to be used. 
There's another reason too, there are just sometimes I wish he was up up and away, like now when he's fiddling ans stamping his feet to the beat, does my head in lol, but only sometimes. I'm sure he'll like it.

Last night when I reached home after Choral practice, I noticed something hanging from the front door handle, strange I thought, here is what it turned out t be;

A little bag with a tube of Love Hearts and a wee card, and this is what it says;
"In this world people rush everywhere,
And sometimes, it's hard to see the care,
So now a secret visit to share,
A bit of love, from the gift we bear,So please enjoy this little gift,
I hope it gives your heart a lift".
From 3rd Cradlehall Guides
Now isn't that just so lovely, I was really quite touched by this gesture. We have a few little girls in the street, but I don't know if any of them are in the Guides, in fact when I think of it they may be too young, but whoever left it I made our evening.  

So, that's me for today, I've got an evening to myself as Alistair is out at his music group so I can catch up with some of the TV I've missed.

Have a lovely day, keep cosy and well and I'll see you soon,

Kittens!

Hello To You All, I hope all is well with you, but sending healing thoughts for those who are not so good.
I can hardly believe we are at the start of another weekend, where does  the time go, too fast for me.

We had a lovely day visiting our friends Peter and Jean yesterday. Peter was very ill last year with cancer of the tongue, and ha d treatment that was very punishing, a full week of radiotherapy, there might have been Chemo too, and although there have been other complications as he had to have the lymph nodes removed, the cancer is gone, and he is back to painting, he's the most wonderful artist.

They live in Strathdon and their home is also their Gallery...The Lost Gallery, and the location is absolutely beautiful in the Cairngorm National Park, so as you can imaging there was lots of snow, in fact they had been snowed in for three weeks.  Our little car couldn't make it up the track, so had to get Peter to come out and pick us up in his Range Rover. It was a lovely visit and good to see him looking well. There is so much wildlife to see, four raptors spotted, and when we were being taken back to the car, five young stags ran out in front of us into the woods, totally icing on the cake. Country living does have it's benefits, but can also be difficult too.

Well it was Moreen's birthday the other day, so here is the card I made, it's another that I made for Crafty Individuals;

Using Stamp CI-222, and you can find it here. I stamped in Sepia ink and coloured the flowers with watercolours. Matted on to a background made with Oxides and then on to brown card. The paper is also from CI, flowers, lace and little gems giving a bit of a vintage look. Thankfully Moreen loved it.

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

Nothing much planned for this weekend, weather forecast is snow again, so if that's the case I won't be venturing far from home.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend whatever you are planning and see you soon,

By the Sea!

Hello Everyone, I hope you are keeping cosy and well. Lots of places having snow, we've just had a shower like little polystyrene balls, but thankfully not lying, other than that it's a bright crisp sunny day.

Thank you everyone who visited and left such lovely comments on my last post, I appreciate each and everyone of them and the time it takes to visit.

I've a little piece of news that I can finally share with you....I have been invited by Crafty Individuals to be their Guest Designer for February. I was thrilled to be asked as their DT members do fabulous work. The post went live the other day, so I felt it's fine to tell you here and show one of the projects I made with CI stamps;

I found this little wooden shape in Hobbycraft and it reminded me of a beach hut and suit this set of stamps.... CI 454, find it here I painted the shape with acrylic paint in a lovely light blue, and stamped the words straight on to the wood, I coloured the deckchair and sign with watercolours and cut them out, The kite I stamped onto the wood and paper pieced it and added a some coloured twine. The sand is made by using Pebeo textured sand and colouring it with gold Starlight paints, then I've added a few shells.
I was really pleased how this little plaque turned out. I'm dipping my toe into mixed media and sometimes it works, at other times...well not so much.

I will be sharing my other CI makes later.

If you aren't familiar with Crafty Individuals you can find their blog here  and if you get a chance do pop in and have a look at the blog and see the fabulous work the DT create, and you can visit the shop and have a look at the amazing stamps here.

So just before I go, those of you lovely folks who have been visiting for a while will know that our Choral Society sing around Christmas in a Carolthon to raise money for our named charity of that year, which was Alzheimer Scotland, all our donations are now in and counted to the grand total of £5500, so we will be handing over the cheque to their fundraiser next week, a great effort for a well deserved charity. 

Well that's all from me for now, take care of yourselves and see you soon, 

Angel or Fairies for the CCC

Hello from a very dull and wet Inverness. I hope wherever you are your weather is better.

It's time once again for our little Christmas Card Club to show our creations. It's a fortnightly challenge just to get ahead with the making of the Christmas Cards and therefore avoid panic in December.  We each choose a couple of themes and if you can't meet that then it's anything goes.
We would love you to join us, and if you feel you would like to, just get in touch with any of the team, names on my side bar and we will tell you how.

So, this challenge seems to have come around very quickly, and it's been GranMargaret who chas chosen Angel or Fairies, here's what I've come up with;

Forgive the photography, it's so dull outside the light is hopeless. This is a Sue Wilson Angel die, a real b---er to cut out so it doesn't really see the light of day all that often. I cut two  of the images out in glitter paper to form a shadow. the dove, star and hear are all part of the same set.
The sentiment die is one from First Edition and cuts beautifully. Background is made with DI and then splattered with Silver Starlight paint to look like stars. I'm pleased with the overall card, just not the photo, so I hope it does Margaret.

Thank you all for the comments on my past post, especially about John's death, a sad time.
Scheduling this for tomorrow when the challenge goes live. 
Have a good weekend and take care,