Red, silver & blooooo . . . not red, gold & greeeeeen . . .

 

 

Terri challenged me to do something other than my traditional red, gold & green Christmas cards for this month's parcel swap. This is what I came up with. The greeting, the blue spotty background & the blue mirror card were from my stash, but the red corrugated card & the little snowman topper were from her parcel. I didn't like the card being all white, so I just ran a blue ink pad over it.

 

There's a tiny amount of red, gold & green on the topper, but as Terri supplied it, she can't really blame me, can she ? :o)

 

By the skin of my teeth, I'm entering it into this week's challenge, set by Hazel - use the word Christmas & also her monthly Anything Goes challenge.

 

 

Crafty Catchings Up :o)

 

It's been a bit of hectic week this week, what with hospital appointments & a daughter having the audacity to have a birthday, but here we are on Thursday, with only one appointment left before the week end. I've still got to make a card from Terri's April parcel & enter it into Hazel's blog challenge, but I'm hoping to get that done either tonight or tomorrow afternoon & get it entered by the skin of my teeth :o)

 

In the meantime, though, as I'm trying to catch up with cards I've made, other than Christmas cards,  here are 3 Mother's Day cards, 2 birthday cards & 1 tea cosy :o) All made wiv me own fair 'ands, Guv. Honest :o) 

 

 This was my Mum's card.

I tend to get a bit stuck in a rut when making a few cards at a time. For some reason, the same style & colours always hit me & stay with me. It's almost as though I can't think of any other colour while I'm doing them, which is why my Mum & Mother in law's cards are the same colour & have the same toppers.

 

 This was my Mother in law's card.

 

My MiL & her sister live together, so I can't leave Aunt in law out, can I ? Not that I would, because she's lovely, just like MiL. Anyway - yet again, the same colours. Why am I so boring ??!! :o)

 

This was Aunt in law's card.

 

My daughter's birthday was yesterday & the strangest thing is, she is now at the age that I can clearly remember my Mum being when I was a little girl & whereas, back then, I thought it was very old, now, with my daughter, I think it's quite young :o) Funny how your take on things changes as you grow up, doesn't it ? Of course, my daughter IS young, because I am also young. It stands to reason, really.

 

Yes, I know, who am I kidding ? I'm a Grandma so I can't be THAT young !! :o)

 

 Anyway, this is her card. She likes pink & black, so I decided to stamp an art deco frame & figure, colour it pink & emboss black card with my divine swirls cuttlebug folder. The *daughter* bit is also a stamp.

 

Now, while I was making this card, I did something rather silly. I wanted to decoupage the figure, so I stamped it out 3 or 4 times, coloured it in & then decided that as it was a black image on white card, it would look better if I touched up the white edges with my black ink pad. So, there I was, merrily dabbing away & coming to realise that for some strange reason, the ink pad wasn't inking the edges very well. I tried again & then it dawned on me why it wasn't working. I wasn't using my black ink pad, oh no. I was using my black computer mouse !! :o)  OOPS !! Still, it was easily rectified :o)

 

 

 This sweet little teddy card was for a friend's 4 year old grandaughter. Little girl's can get away with cakes, balloons & teddies, can't they ? It's just us big girls that get frowned upon :o)

 

And lastly, a tea cosy :o) I just love, love,love this pattern :o)

 

My daughter doesn't drink tea, but she collects tea pots, so when I saw this gorgeous pattern, designed by Jenny Stacey , I knew I had to buy a little 2/3 cup tea pot & knit it for her birthday.

 

She absolutely loved it & I believe it's now in pride of place next to her chicken egg bowl thingy :o)

 

Jen has a fair few tea cosy patterns on her blog, all designed by her. Some are knitted, some are crocheted, some are free, some you pay for, but they are all just amazingly fantabulous :o)

 

And just in case you're wondering - no, I am not getting paid for saying this !! I just happen to love her designs & think anyone who wants a tea cosy pattern should check out her blog before going anywhere else :o)

 

Now, I'm off to sort through Terri's April parcel & see if I can come up with a card to go in Hazel's challenge. Wish me luck :o)

 

 

 

What to call this blog post

 

So many song titles come to mind with this post, including *It's a beautiful day*, *Sunday, Sunday*, & *Oh, what a beautiful morning*, that it's hard to know what to call it, so I'll leave it & let whoever reads this choose for themseleves :o)

 

We woke up yesterday to a most beautiful day. Jack Frost had been playing in the early hours & the garden was all frosticated :o)

 

 I had to take a photo because I thought it looked beautiful, almost as though the sun had fingers that  were reaching out across the fence & creeping across the garden.

 

We'd promised ourselves a walk into town & back if it was a nice day, so as it was still rather cold, we wrapped up warm & left home at 8:45am, me on Shank's pony as usual & Shaun on his chariot. Or should that be IN his chariot ?

 We walked all along the west cliff & I took this photo of the harbour from the end of Prospect Terrace, just before turning into Rose Hill. The bridge was up, so I assume something was either coming in or going out of the harbour.

 

 I've always loved this view - in the background you can see Albion House where Queen Victoria used to stay with her mother, the Duchess of Kent, when she was a Princess; the Royal Pavilion, built in 1903/1904 I believe & opened by Princess Louise - still empty & up for sale; the *Royal Toothpick* - the obelisk, built in 1820 to mark King George IV's visits to the town & the honour he bestowed by making the harbour the only Royal harbour in the country  - so many royals for one small area, eh ? And, of course,  the Maritime Museum - I wonder if it'll be open this year ? Such an interesting little museum, complete with our very own  Meridian line running through it :o) Ramsgate is the only town in the country that's ahead of Greenwich Mean Time by just over 5 minutes :o)

 

We carried on past the harbour & I sat for 5 minutes watching the waves crash onto the beach. There were people walking their dogs, taking advantage of the last few weeks before the annual dog ban comes into force on the main sands for the summer months. There are, or will be, signs up, telling people that dogs are banned from 1 May till 30 September, but to be honest, there are some people who ignore it.

 

 There were also a couple of jet skiers, zooming up & down. It looked like a lot of fun, but it's amazing how loud those things are, even when a fair way off the shore.

 

 At the bend on the west pier, there were a few fishermen, hoping to get lucky. If you click on this photo, it'll enlarge & you might be able to see a sail boat that started to make it's way out of the harbour & into the open water. It was a perfect day for sailing, I think. Shame I get so sea sick, really, or I might have been tempted to hitch a ride :o) Or should that be hitch a sail ?

 

And lastly - one of the most beautiful sights, in my opinion, you will ever see. The early Spring sun shining on the sea. One of the most relaxing things to do is to close your eyes, feel the warmth of the sun on your face & listen to the waves coming into shore & the seagulls crying overhead.

 

One of Mother Nature's most successful ideas, I think :o)

 

And now, it's Monday. Back to the daily grind !! :o)

 

 

 

Oh, Christmas Tree . . . Oh, Christmas Tree . . .

 

Here I am, back to making Christmas cards. Unfortunately, the weather is still cold & wintry - it snowed a bit this morning while we were in Canterbury for a hospital appointment, but it didn't last & as it was only flurries, didn't lay. However, the fact that it's still cold enough to snow in April, is a bit depressing. I love Winter, I really do, but I'm just about all wintered out - where is the sun ? A bright sunny day here & there is not enough. I want to get in my garden & hack through the weeds. I want to get my seeds sown, my veggies planted & have a good general tidy up, but it's so cold, I don't feel inclined to go out unless I really have to. After all, there's  more of me to get cold than there is of other people !! :o)

 

I just want to feel the sun on my face, watch the birds in the birdbath, play with grandsons 1a & 1b & just have some brighter, warmer days. It's not much to ask for, really, is it ? And I know I'm not the only one wanting Spring to hurry up & arrive :o)

 

Anyway - Hazel's challenge 118 is to make a card with a Christmas carol or song theme. I made a start on one the other day, but suddenly realised that *The Night Before Christmas* was a story/poem, not a carol/song, so I had to start all over again. I really am a PeaJayKay of little brain these days :o) 

 

 I decided to go with the song *Oh, Christmas Tree* & here it is.

 

 

The background card is quite sparkly, but it doesn't show up very well here & it also looks a bit darker than it is in *real life* :o)

 

I'm also going to enter it in Hazel's Anything Goes for April Challenge.

 

Now I have to get on with a couple of birthday cards, so TTFN !! :o)

 

 

What to do, what to do . . . plus an update :o)

 

My garden is in dire need of a good sort out & I hoped that I'd at least be able to get the grass cut on Friday. Mostly because it really needs it, but also because grandson 1a informed me that if the grass was too long, the Easter bunny would get lost hiding the eggs & they would all be eaten by the ants & spiders before he & his little brother could find them :o)

 

 As you can see, the grass in the middle of the garden is all tufty & really does need a good cut.

 

 However, Mother Nature decided it was a good day to send sleet, fine snow & hail. It was the sort of snow that doesn't lay but is enough to cause you botherations, even if all you wanted to do was

 CUT THE GRASS !!!

 

 

I also had a large pile of ironing that needed doing,

 

 

so it was a case of *what to do, what to do*.

 

Do I dash in & out between snow/sleet/hail showers or do I do the dreaded ironing ???

 

Well, the winner was:

 

Yep. The dreaded ironing.

 

I figured I could always cut the grass today, couldn't I ????

 

Well . . . . .

 

No :o( Yet again, Mother Nature decided to chuck fine snow at us.

 

Typically, the sun is now shining, but the grass is too wet to do anything with.

 

I think I'm going to have to leave a note for the Easter bunny, asking him to hide the eggs in the house. After all, I really don't want to blamed if he gets frost bite, do I ? I don't think grandsons 1a & 1b would ever forgive me  !! :o)

 

Have a lovely Easter, wherever you are & whatever you do :o) 

 

Update:  Well, I decided to bite the bullet, risk the freezing cold & go & cut the grass. It was hard going, especially the middle bit because that always grows clumpy & tufty, but I managed it. I also managed to wound the lawn mower. OOPS !!! I ran over a fallen twig & snapped one of the blades. Good job we had a spare, but now I've got to buy some more & keep them as spares.

The compost bin is full of grass & the council green bin is half full of twigs, leaves & other bits I pulled up. It was far too cold to spend more than a couple of hiours outside, but hopefully, the weather will soon improve & I'll be able to get the garden looking respectable once more :o)

It probably doesn't look that much different to it's un-mown state, but it is, in real life :o)

 

 

Three-threety-three :o)

 

 

Hazel's challenge this week is for a Christmas card with 3 of something & here is my effort.

 

It's made with 3 pieces of card - the red I embossed with my holly folder & Cuttlebug; the green already has Christmas greetings on it, so no need to add another & the white I used a stamp on.

 

The stamp is 3 animals - a cat, a dog & a mouse & I decoupaged it in 3 layers - the cat is as it was, the dog is made of 2 layers & the mouse is 3 layers :o)

 

I then added just 3 colours - red, green & brown, the brown being 3 different shades, one for each animal.

 

To finish it off, though you can't see it very well, I added Glossy Accents to the holly berries & the dog's nose.

 

 

As well as Hazel's weekly challenge, I'm going to be a devil & enter it in her monthly *Anything Goes* challenge as well :o)

 

 

 

 

 



Some you like, some you don't.

 

Cards, that is. I managed to get 2 more cards out of Terri's parcel - I'm sure I could do more, but to be honest, my brain is worn out & unless anyone can actually recycle it, then I think that's it for March. HOORAH !!! :o) This has been a challenge & a half for me, who, this month has felt more like Winnie the Pooh - a bear of little brain - than ever before.

 

Of course, it isn't ALL Terri's fault . . . .  or is it ?! :o)

 

Anyway, as I said, I set to last night & made two cards. I like the first one but don't like the second one.

 

 

Included in the parcel was this pic of two old fishermen mending nets & having a chat. I cut the surrounding frame bit off & mat & layered it on white glossy paper that I rubbed a green ink pad over, I then stuck that onto slightly darker green card, leaving the bottom bit longer to stick a greeting on. I used the rest of the ink-rubbed glossy paper to cover the cardstock & using the same green ink pad, stamped 3 fish at sort-of-jaunty-angles along the bottom just to give it a bit more . . . something :o)  They WERE supposed to be equal distance apart, but with my eyesight, I'm just grateful they ended up on the card at all :o) Everything was from the parcel apart from the greeting, the ink & the stamp.

 

This card I really don't like at all. Many moons ago, my daughter had wallpaper in her bedroom rather similar - Liz, Terri & I have a daughter - one each, that is, we don't share the same one & change her name when it's *our turn* to have her !! :o) - & Pierrot's were all the rage when they were little, so although this paper brought back memories, I'm afraid it didn't bring inspiration with it.

 

It's all just a bit too fussy for my liking. To give it some dimension, I cut out 4 of the cherry blossom flowers, inked the edges & then stuck them in opposite corners, using sticky pads to raise them off the card. I then cut out a group of flowers & did the same on the right hand side. It all seemed a bit too pink, so I stamped a greeting onto green card, trying to pick up the green of the leaves & added a flower brad. Apart from the stamped greeting, everything is from the recycled parcel. 

 

 

What does April's challenge hold for us ???? Yikes !! I can't wait to find out :o)