Busy, busy, busy . . .

May has been & gone & here I sit in June, trying desperately to play catch up - once again - with my challenge parcels.

Here on Planet PeaJayKay, I'm rushing around getting nowhere fast but trying to fit all sorts of things into a day :o) I hope, soon, to have something other than cards to blog about, but in the meantime, here are May's selection. 

This is the first from Liz's parcel. I just embossed some plain white card & then used the busy multicoloured paper for matting & layering. The little girl image was coloured with pro-markers & since I took the photo, I have added a small gold number 3 to the top right hand corner of the image. I think it's a lovely little girl card & just right for a lovely little girl who will be 3 later in the year.

This is the second card & I really do NOT like it AT ALL. I hate the subject matter & I hate the girly-ness of it !! :o) It just isn't me in any way, shape or form. Very simple to do - cover a plain white card with the busy paper, stick the handbag topper onto a piece of contrasting die cut card & add a small bit of ribbon & a card candi. Stamp the sentiment on a smaller bit of the same die cut cut, add ribbon & another card candi & that's it.

The third & last from Liz's parcel - her favourite butterfly die !! :o) Again, a simple card. I used the busy butterfly covered paper as a background, added the blue card which was virtually the same colour as some of the butterflies, stuck the large silver die cut butterfly on top, added a bit of silver glitter strip across the bottom right corner, stamped the sentiment, added 3 silver card candi & again, that was it :o)


Now on to Terri's parcel.

The busy paper was hearts, hearts & more hearts, so I thought it would make a good background for an anniversary card. Included in the parcel was  paper almost the same shade of the darker green hearts on the busy paper, so I die cut that with a heart die, used a Forever Friends stamp on white card & die cut that with the same heart die. Yet again I added a sentiment & little gold hearts & another busy paper is used up :o)

Number 2 - I call this card *A little Goth-in-Training :o)*

You can't really see the busy paper here, but it's the scalloped circle around the little girl image & the sentiment. The paper was awful !! I'm sorry Terri, but it was !! It was red, black & white with birds all over it & I could think of nothing to improve it, which is why I used as little as possible on the card !! :o)  Because of the colours - red, black & white - I decided to just use the same colours for the rest of the card. I know it looks pink, but in *real* life, it's red.

All I did was use the image included, colour it with pro markers, emboss black card that Terri had included, stamp the greeting & then plonk - that's a technical term -  it all together :o)  I added a black glitter strip, coloured the bottom of the card with the same pro marker I'd used on the image & added a card candi.

And lastly - card no. 3.
As you can see, the top left hand card was pretty busy :o) I loved the Autumnal colours & when I saw the house image, I thought they'd go well together. All I did was use a terracotta coloured pro marker on the roof & door, green for the bushes & a brown for the fence. I mounted the image on the lovely terracotta coloured card & as I didn't have terracotta coloured card candi, I just coloured white card candi with the  pro marker I'd used for the roof, added the sentiment & card no. 3 was finished.

The theme for June is animals, so I wonder what delights await me in
THE PARCELS OF DOOOOOOM !!!  :o)

However - things are afoot in my garden next week, so maybe I'll be able to blog about that first :o)

Christmas in April . . .

but cards shown in May :o)

April's challenge was to make Christmas cards to put in our stash, in the hopes that it would kick-start us into making them on a regular basis & save the usual last minute rush to get them done. 

NO CHANCE.

What is Christmas without that sinking/panicking feeling that you've forgotten to send a card to great Aunty Mabel or cousin Boris ? Not that I have either, but you know what I mean :o)

Anyhoo . . . I set to with the challenge parcels & here is what I came up with.

First up, Liz's parcel.

 Now, I've said it a million or more times - I'm a traditional red, gold & green gal when it comes to Christmas, but this card had me stumped. I LOVED the stripy paper - obviously :o) - but it was quite a subdued colour, not at all bright & cheery, so I decided to jazz it up a bit with glitter strips. Because there was no white in either background paper, I decided to experiment & stamped the image onto beige/cream paper.  I can't sy it was a 100% success, but it's OK :o)

The second card is partly recycled. I die cut the robin from an old card front that Liz had put in the parcel & then die cut a smaller circle from a plain area of the same card. I stuck the red & gold paper to a card, added 3 red glitter strips, stamped the greeting on the small circle & stuck both circles on. 

The last card was the easiest of the lot :o) I just embossed the red card, stuck it on to a white card, then added the tag. I just used a small bit of silver glitter strip & a silver card candi to *hold* the tag in place.

Simples :o)

Now onto Terri's parcel.

I loved this little fluffy robin as soon as I saw it & as it was quite small, decided to use a smaller card. I embossed a piece of card with a snowflake folder, die cut the rectangle shape & plonked the robin on top. To finish, I just rounded off the two right hand corners of the card with a holly /corner punch & added the greeting. 

Terri had included this sweet image, so I die cut it smaller & stuck it to red card that I also die cut, using a bigger die the same shape. I folded the front of the card back on itself, & stuck the green mirror card on. Firstly though I used the holly/corner punch so that the white card would show through the green. I then just image on & added a greeting.

Last one - very simple :o) I stuck silver holographic mirror card to a plain white card, embossed red card with a snowflake folder, stuck the Father Christmas tag to that & stuck it onto the mirror card. I finished it off with 3 silver card candi, a small piece of ribbon & a greeting.

This month's challenge is to use those busy, patterned papers we all have but don't really like. 

GULP :o)

Not Vivaldi's, but mine :o)

 

The Four Seasons, that is :o)

 

March's card challenge was my choice & I chose - yep, you got it - The Four Seasons :o) We had to make one card for each season from each parcel. If we managed to make more, all well & good :o)

 

From Liz's parcel, I managed the following cards. They are all very plain & simple, which, given the small amount of time I seem to have to do things these days, are right up my street :o)

 

The first card is Spring & I made it for my sister in law who has an April birthday. I love the simplicity of this stamp, so I didn't want to add too much colour. I have to say, I really liked how it turned out & I hope my SiL liked it, too :o)

 

 

The second stamp is Summer. I know you can see poppies in Spring, Summer & Autumn, but I chose this for Summer. It's one of my favourite stamps & whenever Liz includes it in a parcel, I just can't wait to use it. All I did with this was colour it with Pro markers, mount it on black card & then onto white card stock. It needs nothing more, the beauty of the stamp speaks for itself. I haven't added a sentiment yet, because I'm not sure what occasion I'll use it for. It's one of those very versatile stamps that can be used for birthdays, anniversaries, get well, thinking of you, best wishes or sympathy.

 

Now, when I first saw this scarecrow, other than yelling *AUTUMN !!* at me,  I didn't have a clue what to do with him. But, I love the end result :o) I decided to keep it as simple as possible & just used 4 colours - orange, brown, green & a gold/yellow.  I must learn to double check the straightness of my card candi though - every time I use them, they end up on a wonk !! :o)

 



Lastly, my Winter card. It just had to be a Christmas card, really, didn't it ? :o) It also covered Liz's extra challenge of making a Christmas card a month :o) Another fairly quick & easy card -  Pro markers for colouring the image,  a Christmas bauble embossing folder for the background, card candi, a *splarky* greeting & to make it a bit different, I used a scalloped die to cut the image out & then cut that in half.  As you know, I like traditional colours, so the birds' envelopes are red, gold & green :o)

 



 

Now on to Terri's cards.  Hmmmm. I really do NOT like the Spring card :o(  I had in my head a vision of pale beauty, instead, I ended up with  plain & BORING !!!! :o)
I love the stamp & I love lemon & yellow, but this really did not work.

For my Summer card - poppies again :o) Although I don't like red, except at Christmas, flowers, & poppies in particular, are the exception :o) Terri included this image, which I cut to make smaller. I just cuttlebugged the green card, added a strip of yellow diagonally across the top corner, mounted the poppy image on a pale green background & stuck it in place. I added a suingle yellow card candi, stamped the sentiment & that was it.

Terri didn't include an image/topper that I wanted to use for my Autumn card, so I rootled around in my digital stamp folder & found this image of a scarecrow, which I've had for ages but never had the opportunity to use. I have to say here though - I actually did Terri's parcel first so didn't know until after I'd made these cards, that Liz had included a scarecrow image in hers :o)
Anyhoo - using the fab brown card in Terri's parcel for background, I just added an orange glitter strip, coloured the image with Pro markers, tore the edge & wiped a light brown ink pad around it. A sentiment bunged across the corner & another one was done :o) I like this card, it's just so cheery, I think :o)

Last one - Winter & another Christmas card. Terri is probably the best recycler amongst us & she always includes an old card front, some wrapping paper or an image from a magazine. This time, she included the Forever Friend's image from an old Christmas card, so I thought I'd reuse it for the same purpose. Yet again, I die cut the original image, die cut a scalloped circle from the gold star & white paper to mount the image on & used the rest of it for the bottom of the card. I added gold mirror card on the top & then added the greeting & a glitter strip. Another card for the Christmas challenge & for my card stash :o)

April's challenge was Christmas cards & I managed 4 from each parcel. I'll be blogging those in a few days time.

However. 

 

 May's challenge is to use those busy, unuseable patterned papers we have. Colours that we don't normally use, bold, flowery patterns, that sort of thing.

Can't wait . . . . gulp !! :o)

 

 

The Big Garden Clear Up

 

March has been a particularly busy month for us, but over the past few weeks, we've managed to give the garden a good sort out.

 

Unlike other parts of the UK, we've been fairly lucky & although we have had wind damage, it's been confined to the garden. Other parts of the country have not been so fortunate -  Mother Nature will always have the upper hand though, no matter what we do.

 

Thankfully, we've had no flooding, although, on our jaunts to Canterbury hospital, we've seen houses with hose pipes hanging out of cellar doors, basement windows & letter boxes. We've seen village greens looking more like village ponds & we've seen swans & ducks making themselves at home in front gardens :o)

 

The wind has been pretty damaging & in my garden, the fruit & veg cage are no more :o( The fruit cage will be replaced, but as I no longer have as much time to tend to my veggies as I used to, I've decided that I will grow a few things in large pots & turn the veg patch into a large flower bed :o)

 

 

With this in mind, we set to & started clearing the fallen branches & dismantling the cages. Luckily, 'imself's foster brother was able to give us a hand.

 

 

This pic shows part of a branch that fell on the fruit cage.

 

My poor veg cage :o(

 



When the branch came down, it managed to move the bench & the arbour thingy by about 3 feet & somehow wedged it b etween the path & Kit's Korner, my little memorial garden. It took quite a bit of shifting to get it back into place.

 



 

The veg cage from the front. Well & truly mangled.

 

Colin & Shaun trying to hack their way through all the fallen bits & bobs.

 

We couldn't get Shaun's wheelchair up to where he needed to be, but he managed to get his walker there, so made himself as comfy as possible on the seat & Colin & I did all the running around, while he was Foreman :o)

 



 

The pea shingle area was in desperate need of a good weeding. When we did that part of the garden, we put down weed suppressing material, but it seems it doesn't last for more than a year or two.

We're trying to come up with something else to put in this part of the garden now - unfortunately, nothing much grows here because of the hedge roots & because it's a very shaded area.

 

The fruit & veg cages - GONE !!!

 



 

 I dug the veg plot over, weeded it & then plonked Morty the ghost in place :o) The large black tub has rhubarb in it & has now been moved elsewhere. Grandson 1a's little blue garden is falling apart & still needs to be disposed of. He was upset about that at first, but now he's quite happy because I've given him a rhubarb crown of his own & two pots to grow white flowers in for his Mum :o)

 

With the help of some fab friends, who decided to take over & rearrange my garden, the little house that Grandsons 1a & 1b use to keep their outdoor toys in & the bench & arbour thingy, were moved further up the garden, allowing me to utilise the areas they came from.

 

The beginings of the new flower bed :o) I've planted over 300 bulbs, transplanted a couple of hemerocallis & about 8 hyacinths. In the greenhouse are seed trays of sunflowers, lupins, larkspur, poppies, cornflowers, aquilegia & others that I've forgotten :o) I think I'm going to be very busy over the next couple of months, so fingers crossed the weather is nice.



 

 We also hacked down this bush. Why ? For a couple of reasons, really. Firsdtly because every time I hung the washing on the line, it got caught in the bush & secondly, because we have plans to make this part of the garden more wheelchair friendly :o)

Now you see it, now you don't :o) It took a fair amount of getting out. Shaun sat in his wheelchair & cut it down in an afternoon, but the root had to be dug out & we had to wait for Colin to help again. Grandson 1a did his bit too - he sat on the edge of the hole & kicked at the root with all his 5 year old strength :o)

 



 

This photo just shows an uninterrupted view of the garden from the conservatory step, now that the bush has gone. It really opens up the garden, just as getting rid of the veg cage & the dead trees at the far end of the garden has :o)

 

 

The plans to make the garden more wheelchair friendly are to dig up the grass to the left of the dotted red line & lay slabs down. We would, ideally, like to put a slope in from the end of the slabbed area but that means digging up part of the rockery, where the bird bath is. If we ever manage to get that done, then I'll slab around the rose bush etc. & will then oput my veg pots on there.

 

But, in the meantime, the veggies will be grown here:

 

where the boys' little house used to be :o)

 

As you can see, the compost is ready to be put in the pots, but before I do that, I want to get the veggies under way in the greenhouse. I really don't want to fill the pots now because the local cats will think I've opened a public convenience just for them !! :o)

 

The large black pot in the middle is the one from the veg plot that has rhubarb in it. The two terracotta pots will have runner beans & the other two black pots will have courgettes. In the greenhouse, I have two troughs with Iceberg & Little Gem lettuces & two troughs with Moneymaker & Gardener's Delight tomatoes in.  I'm running a bit behind because I've still got to sow runner beans, courgettes, pepper & Dwarf beans, but with luck, if I sow them in the greenhouse, they won't be too far behind.

 



Since I took the photos, I've planted more plants & bulbs in the ex-veg patch & the blossom has started to appear on the pear & plum trees.  

 

All we need now is for Spring to start proper & the days to get longer & warmer :o)

 

 





Before The Big Garden Spring Clean . . .

. . . I thought I'd better quickly blog the cards I made from February's 1, 2, 3, challenge. I would have done it earlier, but the days have just flashed by & here we are, at the end of the month already.

 

This month's challenge was Liz's choice & I managed to make 6 cards from her parcel. I'm only showing 5 here because the 6th one is for Grandson 1a's birthday in September & as it has his name on it, I'd rather not blog it.

 

Anyhoooooooo - here we go.

The challenge was 1 piece of plain paper or card, 2 pieces of patterned paper or card & 3 embellishments.

 

These are from Liz's parcel.

 

 

The yellow card is mottled with pinky bits in it & the happy birthday card is well & truly patterned, so I just added the plain blue card, a car topper, the greeting & 3 blue card candi embellishments.

 

 

 

Now, I don't really like red except at Christmas, but I quite like this card & the next one :o) This has a plain strip of red on the left hand side, 3 silver card candi embellishments & a silver greeting. The red card was put through my cuttlebug & I cut the three flowers out of a card of four. The flowers & embossed card are the 2 patterned bits.

 

 

This card is a favourite. I got the agapanthus stamp for my birthday & I LOVE it. So much so, I've used on on most of Terri's cards :o) This is a simple card - red card with a stamped image as the topper, plain red strip across the card, patterned background paper, three green card candi embellishments & a mottled cream background card to mount the stamped image on.

 

 

 I don't like this one very much. It didn't turn out as I pictured it, unfortunately. Again, plain paper with a stamped image, mounted on patterned paper with another patterned paper as the background. A greeting was added & yet again, 3 card candi embellishments.

 

 

This is a fave, too :o) Just right for a little girl who's going to be 5 soon.  The lilac star is the plain card, the patterned is the happy birthday paper on the left & the main card background. The three embellishments this time are the three polka dot pink butterflies.

 

Now onto Terri's parcel.

 

 

 This is a favourite. Plain & simple, just like me :o) Plus it's green, my favourite colour :o)

My agapanthus stamp stamped onto patterned, textured paper which I think gives it a different look.

And I've just realised that I used the circle pattern paper TWICE !!! OOOPS !! Sorry, Terri :o(

 

 

 

Plain background, patterned card stamped with the agapanthus stamp again, patterned tartan type card & 3 different coloured card candi to pull all the colours together :o) This card is growing on me :o)

 

 

Apart from the stamped image, I really don't like this card at all. The patterned paper covers most of the card but there is a plain piece on either side. The three embellishments are the green jewel butterflies.

 

 

Lastly, a card for any occasion :o) No greeting/sentiment yet, I'm waiting for the right time to use it. The green card is plain so I added the three flowers as embellishments & stuck them to the patterned purple strip of card. I then just stuck that onto the green & purple background card. Simples :o)

 

Next month is my choice - the Four Seasons. 

 

And talking of seasons - 'tis the season to start the garden clean up, and after the wind & rain we've had, it's going to be a big job, with lots of changes going on this  year.

 

Watch this space :o)

Another year of challenges begins :o)

 

Here we are again, Liz, Terri & I, with challenge parcels galore to get through :o) This month's choice was Terri's & she chose *Love & Hate*. She wanted us to send each other those background papers, toppers, embellishments etc. that we loved & hated, in the hopes that we'd find something to love about everything !!

 

Oh, how wrong she was . . .

 

I'm really sorry Terri, but I hated your love parcel & your hate parcel wasn't much better !! :o)

 

For her love parcel, Terri included fairies & butterflies, neither of which float my boat & she just HAD to include red, which she loves & knows I hate !! Apart from at Christmas, that is :o)

 

 For her hate parcel all she gave me was 4 pieces of  green card - which happenes to be my favourite colour - one piece of purple card & a picture of a dog. Yep. THAT was it. Now, as much as I love dogs, green & purple, I was at a complete loss as to how to use it, but after a good talking to from Liz,  I set to & I have to say, I'm quite pleased with what I came up with.

 

So. Here are my 4 cards from Terri's parcel:

 

 

This card is from the hate parcel.

I die cut the dog card & embossed the dark green card from the parcel. I then had a root about in my stash & came across the red & green tartan type card. So, I just die cut a piece to mount the dog pic on & used a strip of it on one side of the cardstock. I then added a plain green strip down where the green & patterned card met, stuck the dog pic on & that was it.

 

 

This card is from the love parcel.

Now, I love the colours, but I'm not particularly fond of butterflies, so I wasn't sure what to do. In the end, I die cut the silver glitter card, glued the butterfly on it & then mounted that on a piece of die cut purple card I found in my stash. The birthday greeting was also included in the parcel so I just added that & the card was finished. I have to say, I rather like it, more than I thought I would when I first saw the contents of the parcel.

 

This card is also from Terri's love parcel. Considering it's red, I like it. A lot :o)

She had included a piece of plain red card & I thought it would look good with the agapanthus stamp I'd been given for my birthday. I mounted it on a small piece of cream coloured card & then covered the cardstock with the flowery background paper, which was also in the parcel. From my stash, I added a plain red strip, the green card candi & the happy birthday sentiment.

 

 

This is the last from Terri's hate parcel.

It was just a plain piece of green card. That was it. So, I embossed it with my Christmas wreath folder, found a small topper left over from last Christmas & plonked that in the middle. I then added the glitter strip, greeting & holly & berry.

Plain and simple :o)

 

Now on to Liz's parcels.

 

 

This card is from her love parcel.

The butterfly die is one of her favourite things. As I said earlier, I'm not over fond of things like fairies & butterflies, but I do like the way this card turned out. All I did was cover a card with the blue background paper, mount the butterfly on a stamped piece of card, stuck the ribbon & card candi on & added the greeting. I had a small bit of ribbon left, so decided to add that to the greeting.Other than the greeting, everything came from the parcel.

 

 

 

This card is from her hate parcel & I have to say - I'm not keen on it, either !! I like the background paper, but that's it. I die cut some green card & white card that I had in my stash, stuck the flower sticker in the middle & then stuck it to the card. I added the sentiment & green bow & that was all I could think of.

Not one of my best, I'm afraid.

 

 

 

 This red card is also from Liz's hate parcel.

The red card I had in my stash, so I just embossed that & stuck it on a plain white card. From my stash, I  added the red strip, the greeting & silver card candi & then cut 3 flower toppers from a small square block of 4 that was in the parcel.

 

 

 

Lastly, another from the love parcel.

Yes, it's that butterfly again !! :o)

I just have NO idea when it comes to butterflies, so all I did was stick it on the netty type ribbon & then wrap it around the cardstock that was included in the parcel. I stuck the whole lot on a plain card & added the sentiment from my stash. Again, it's not a favourite of mine.

 

I now have a week or two off before attacking February's parcels, the topic being 1, 2, 3 & chosen by Liz.

 

GULP !! :o)