A Summer of Sport

Our card challenge for July was sport, which was quite appropriate, given that we've had the footy world cup, the Commonwealth Games, Glorious Goodwood & Wimbledon this summer. 

I made 4 cards from Terri's parcel & three from Liz's. I probably could have made more, but things at home have been somewhat busy, what with Shaun's operation & recuperation, so finding time wasn't particularly easy :o)

Anyhoooo - here are the cards from Terri's parcel.

This is probably my favourite of the four. It strikes me as a typical English summer's afternoon - cricket on the village green. Rather like that Bank Holiday weekend 100 years ago, when life carried on as normal while the clouds of war were gathering pace.

Terri had included some nice images in her parcel, so I just cut them to size & embossed background card/paper to plonk them on. (Plonk - a technical term meaning to place !!)

I can never think of really fab layouts, so plain & simple is the way I tend to go. I decided to use card candi of the three main colours in this fisherman image, just to bring it all together.

This is my least favourite. I don't particularly like the colours together, but I do like a game of golf :o) Shaun & I used to play, way back in the mists of time. We still have our clubs & bags etc., even though we'll never play again. I'm hoping Grandsons 1a & 1b might decide to take it up & if they do, we'll have all they need :o)

Now onto Liz's parcel. She included three sporty images all by the same artist/cartoonist, so they're all very much of a muchness, just different sports & different colours :o)

I rather like this little fella :o) All I did here was cut two pieces of card into small squares & place them diagonally opposite to each other. I matt & layered the image, plonked it on top & that was that.

This image was a bit bigger than the other two, so all I could really do was matt & layer it & stick it on a card front. 

Lastly, another golfer & in pretty much the same colours :o)  I cuttlebugged the cardstock with a diamond type embossing folder that I thought was not only golfing attire shaped (think Argyll jumpers !!) but also matched his rather fetching socks !! :o)

As usual, I added greetings & card candi to them, but really, they were plain, simple & quick. Maybe I'll be a bit less boring in this months challenge, but don't hold your breath !! :o)

100 Years Ago

11pm tonight will mark the 100 year anniversary of Britain's declaration of war against Germany. It was supposed to be over by Christmas, it was supposed to be the war to end all wars. 

How wrong they were.

Looking around the world today, can we honestly say that we've learned anything in the last 100 years ? 

I'm not a political person, I don't pretend to understand what's going on & why one country wants to dominate another, but I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who believes that if our war dead could come back & look at what is happening today, they would shake their heads in dismay & wonder why on earth they sacrificed themselves for future generations.

Like so many families, mine lost a few young men between 1914-1918.

 Unfortunately, with it not being the war to end all wars, we also lost quite a few more during WW2 & in recent years, a distant cousin was killed in Afghanistan, aged 21.

As much as I believe that the Great War shouldn't be forgotten, that the future generations should be taught about it in school & at home, I also believe we need to ask why we, the human race, are so hell bent on destroying each other.

All change on the patch

Today, I am having a *me day* for the first time in years. Just me, on my own, with no one to look after.

So far, I've made a special anniversary card for a special couple, made a start on July's challenge cards, cut the grass, had a go at crocheting a snowflake - DISASTER - done some housework, sorted out photos,  eaten chocolate, I'm updating this blog, spoken to my Mum & Mother in law & also to 'imself who isn't actually here at the moment.

*So what have you done with him ?* I hear you cry :o)

WELL !!

I haven't actually done anything to him, but he's in hospital. He'll probably be home tomorrow, but minus a fairly large part of himself.

Unfortunately, he's been pretty poorly for quite a number of years & even though those in the know acknowledge that there is something neurologically wrong with him, they don't actually know what it is. This has lead to mobility problems because he's pretty much paralysed from the waist down & long story short, on Thursday afternoon, he had his right leg amputated below the knee.

We've known since Christmas that it might happen & so, with that in mind, decided to see if we could come up with something to make the garden more wheelchair friendly, especially for the first couple of months when he won't be able to go in the husband hut.

Various ideas were thought of, but in the end, we decided to get rid of all the grass closest to the house & have the whole area laid to patio.

We got three quotes & went for the middle one who I am going to advertise here cos we LOVE what they did:

D.B Garden Services

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone. Dan is the main man & Richard is his labourer. Dan was here the first day to help do all the digging out, but it was Richard who did the rest of the work & I was HIS labourer. I had a ball :o)  It was hard work & it was very hot, but I really enjoyed myself :o)

Anyhoo - here are the before, during & after pics. Click 'em to big 'em :o)

The slabs around the grass were all higgledy piggledy & Shaun had an awful job using his wheelchair or walker on them. You can see two large dark green conifers either side of the rockery. They had to come out, so he set himself up in his wheelchair & attacked them over a week or so & managed - with some help from me - to get them down, branch by branch :o) The stump on the left was dug out as part of the patio job but we wanted the larger one on the right kept so that we could put a large stone frog on it.  Why ? Just because we could !! :o)

This very wishy washy photo shows the conifers removed & the large right hand stump waiting to be cut to ground level.

 Digging the grass up & part of the rockery out, to make a slope going up to the middle of the garden so that Shaun can get up there. He can't get to the far end, but by getting to the middle, at least he can see the whole garden.

This pic shows the rough shape of the slope looking down towards the house.

 Two thirds of the rockery gone, all the grass gone & the slope dug out. The old slabs were dug up & eventually relaid, along with new ones used for the slope & main patio area.

The partly laid patio.
It was a GLORIOUS week, but really, it was far too hot for such heavy duty garden work.
Richard turned a lovely brown, but ME ? Being fair skinned, I just burned & all my freckles came out to play as usual !! :o)

We wanted to break up the light grey slabs a bit, so Shaun suggested a simple pattern of half slabs around one of the new light grey ones.

Because the slope bears round to the right, Richard had to cut some slabs to shape. He did a BRILLIANT job, they look really good.

All finished :o) Looking down the slope towards the house.
He even managed to put a hole through the patio for my washing line :o)

Looking up the garden from the bottom end.

The rockery is now a lot smaller & much easier to keep control of - I hope !! :o)
To the left of the slope is the bird bath that used to live in the rockery.
On the right is the sundial that also lived in the rockery but was hidden by all the weeds & the heather that had gone wild & straggly over the years.
The little ghost statue is Morty, who I have had for at least 10 years & he used to live at the far end of the garden.

The back end of the rockery. We bought a few plants to brighten it up a bit for this Summer, but come Autumn, I'll get some early Spring bulbs to plant in there to give us a splash of colour after the Winter.
Hows that ? All four seasons in one sentence !! :o)

 The rockery after I'd planted it up. You can see our collection of frogs, including the large one on the conifer stump. We've had them for more years than I care to remember :o) The stone statues of the old man & old lady sitting on benches used to belong to my MiL but she gave them to us when she moved 13 years ago. I named them Fred & Mabel after my paternal Nan & Grandad :o)

And finally - with the garden table & chairs all set out. Like the first pic, it was raining when I took this :o)
The washing line has been taken down to make way for the table etc., but it's no hardship just moving the chairs & turning the table sideways on so that I can pop the line in its hole.

When Shaun comes home, the idea is for him to relax & recuperate in the garden, maybe wheel himself up to the middle if he feels like like & just get better in the sunshine & fresh air. IF it stops raining, that is :o)

He can use his laptop out there to watch a DVD, do some lace making, some tapestry, read or just fall asleep in his wheelchair if he wants to. And when he feels ready, he can go back to the husband hut and get going on a project or two.

 Grandson 1a has already suggested he make himself a wooden leg so that he can be a pirate :o)

No topping that, is there ?! :o)

Animals in June

We have had a LOT going on this past month, what with various hospital appointments & workmen all over the house & garden - more about that in my next blog - & although I managed to get my June challenge cards all done during the first week of June, this is the first chance I've had to blog them. And it's July. Already. 

This month's topic was animals, chosen by Liz. Included in my parcel from Liz was a frog image. Now, I don't know if frogs are technically counted as animals, but as it was there, I used it :o)

I really liked the ivy patterned card & thought the frog image would go nicely with it. All I added was the stamped greeting & card candi, everything else came from the parcel.

I've had this little frog stamp for ages but hadn't used it. Because I'd already used the image of the frog Liz gave me, I decided this would be the ideal opportunity to use him. I just added the glitter strip & stamped greeting, the paper was from the parcel.

This dog image was made by Tagxedo. You choose a shape, add the words & create a topper. I've used it a few times, but this is one Liz made. All I did with this was mount it on red card & then onto the background paper & added the card candi. Plain & simple but with a nice effect, I think :o)

This is the last of Liz's. Again, plain & simple :o) The bear image wasn't central on the card so I had to cut it as best I could. It annoyed me not being centred, so I added the yellow card candi & made part of a paper strip into a ribbon type doobery, just to balance it. I die cut some yellow card, plonked the image on it & then stuck it to the background paper which I'd already stuck to a card. I didn't add a sentiment or greeting, simply because the background paper said it all :o)


Now for Terri's parcel :o)

I liked the background paper so decided to use a stamped image I had in my stamped image box :o)  I wanted it to be fairly plain, so just used the pink & yellow from the background. I die cut some pink card included in the parcel, for the stamped image & greeting to be mounted on & just coloured the image with pro markers.

Just recently, for some unknown reason,  I have started to use 2 circles on cards, one for the image & one for the greeting. When I saw this foxy fella, I just thought he would look good in that way. I quiite like the end result.

I've always loved this little image - another from my box - & decided to keep it plain & simple , using the colours of the papers Terri had included.

It seems I've got a thing for stamped images this month :o) I really liked this cheeky cat & when I saw it in my box, just knew it would go with the papers Terri gave me. I coloured it with pro markers, added a stamped sentiment & coloured plain white card candi a terracotta colour to match the plant pot.

Lastly - this lovely elephant & the two blue background papers were included in the parcel. All I did was die cut all three with the same die & attach them to a pearly blue card. Three blue gems & a silver greeting - also in the parcel - were added to finish it off.

All in all, I think I did quite well with our animal month :o)

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)