RSVP. . . . . . . Hindu Stylie

Good morning chaps and chapesses. Hope you are well or as well as you can be. A mixed bag of weather eh? Still, our fabulous Scottish Posse will be leaving on a jet plane (but we do know when they're back again. . . . .if you get that, you're showing your age lol !!!) tomorrow to become bronzed, chilled Turkish Delights again. Safe travels my lovely friends and lets have no diplomatic incidents.

Now, today's card was made at Nesta's request, to send to her niece as an RSVP to her first wedding in August (this is the Hindu Blessing, the English legal one is in October. . . . .one to arrange was more than enough for me). Her niece has a purple and gold theme, hence the engagement card I made (click here to be reminded) and the 30th birthday card (click here).

The invite was very similar in style so I tried to keep it in the same vein.
Its a 6x6 cream card base topped with a gold mirror card layer. I then cut the largest of SB Captivating Squares from the centre of a slightly smaller piece of purple PMD card.
I ran this through the GC with a mask I had made using The Striplet, to emboss it and foam padded this to the gold layer.

Close up of the embossing. . . . . . . . .

For the centre, I cut a piece of purple card using The Striplet, as per below, and cut a circle from it (with scissors as I'm working on getting a set of plain circle nesties). . . . . . .

I have saved the frame portion to use on something else (coming to a Pond near you soon).

I then cut a small piece using one of the SB Blossom sets and drew Lord Ganesh on this in gold gel pen freehand (sorry, the gold looks more like silver on the photo).

I also went round the edge of the embossing with the pen too. Apparantly, its auspicious to have Lord Ganesh on cards for weddings.

I then foam padded this to the filigree circle and then glued this flat to the mirror card. A bit of purple bling added here and there and as Gordon Ramsay would say, "Done!"

Well that's me for today folks. Its my birthday so I've managed to get an earlier shift today (couldn't have the day off as its a busy week) so I can at least have the afternoon to eat cheesy poofs and have fun.

Hope you all have a great day too.

TTFN

Ang x

Recycling. . . . . . . . .

Good morning my blogging chums. Hope all is well with you and yours. Been a busy week at this end of The Pond, hence my tardiness. I'm sure next week won't be any better. . . . .Bank Holiday and Half Term, I can just imagine what state Arts and Crafts will be in lol!!!

Thank you for your super comments on my last two creations and thank you to Judy, Judith, Mrs B and Ruth for popping by. Hope you can visit again soon.

Jackie, hope you got your accounts done as I think I read you are off on your travels again. Sandy, in the UK, Harvesters are a chain of pub restaurants that have a rather nice salad cart. If you fancy popping over in Nov for the craft show, myself, Christine and the Scottish Posse will show you a good time. . . . . . .Hmmmm, that didn't come out quite right but I know what I meant lol!!!

Now, when we met at the NEC in March, Sue from Planet Susie (with the kaftan wearing cat with a substance abuse problem) kindly gave myself and Christine a bar of choccy each, as a gift, wrapped in this gorgeousness. . . . . . 

I didn't want to throw it away so I popped it into a drawer then saw that Christine had made a card with her wrapper, so I thought I would do the same.

I have no clue what papers Sue used. I just added the trimmed paper to an A5 base of teal PMD card and a few light embellishments.

Recycling or upcycling, never sure if they are different or the same but I'm sure that this card is one of em!!!

Have a wonderful weekend folks and spare a thought for those of us who are having to work - boo hoo!!!

TTFN 

Ang x

House of Cards May Challenge. . . . . .

Good afternoon Duckadees. Hope you are all well? 

Yes, back again with my DT offering for the House of Cards May Challenge which is based on this photo for inspiration. . . . . .

I concentrated on the purple, lilac and cream and of course, the birdies !!!

Now, the base card is 6x6 cream card which is topped with purple, then lilac, then purple card layers, which had the 2nd largest SB Scalloped Ovals cut from the centres of each.

The decorative top paper is a sheet from the First Edtion New Bloom 6x6 pad as it has the purple, lilac and cream leaves.

I cut the oval from the centre of this too and put the oval cut out to one side. The other piece, I put through the SB M-Bossibilities Patchwork embossing folder and popped it on top of the other layers.

I then put the unembossed oval piece through the gap and stuck it to the base and added two purple and lilac heat embossed Hobbycutz birdies onto the branches of the design.

I made a frame with the scalloped ovals from lilac card and foam padded this over the aperture (sorry, I seem to have done quite a few of these framed aperture cards lately).

Bling, organza bow and sentiment added and voila!!!

Hope that you like my interpretation of the photo and that you will pop over to HoC to see what my team mates have come up with and, of course, to join in yourself.

Have a great week folks.

TTFN

Ang x

New Baby. . . . . . . .Don't Panic Mr Mainwaring, Not Me! (I could but I won't)

Good morning my paddling chums. What a fabulous day yesterday. Its so good to feel the Sun on the old feathers and we have been enjoying salads for tea ( with rather yummy home made carrot, radish, apple and walnut coleslaw. . . . . Mmmmmm).
The wisteria and lilac smell sweet outside the kitchen and last years geraniums and begonias, that survived the winter, are already in flower.
Mr and Mrs B, the resident blackbirds, have had their first brood and yesterday, Mr B came into the kitchen and sang through the living room door to get Mr Duck's attention for more grapes. No mean feat as he hopped about 12ft across the kitchen. When Mr Duck went to sort him, he just turned tail and hopped to the back door, left a present on the floor and hopped out again and waited for his grapes! The joys of wildlife eh?
Before any further ado, I'd like to welcome Lorraine Taylor to The Pond. Hope you may like to jump in and comment sometime but thank you so much for following.

Thank you all again for your kind comments as usual. Well Jackie, the Mercedes boys did have it all their own way last week. Seems to set the scene for the rest of the season methinks. Val, my commiserations for Liverpool but good to see them on the rise to former glories. And how exciting, the Scottish Posse will be winging their way south in November for the NEC again, yay! Hopefully, the Harvester won't recognise us from last year. I think the staff may be out of therapy by now lol!

Now, today's card I made some weeks ago for a colleague who was leaving to have a baby (its due in a couple of weeks). I downloaded the pics and forgot about it with all the both bits and bobs going on. Hope you don't mind me showing it now.

A list of ingredients, as I'm sure you can see how its put together. . . . . . . . 

White card (base A5 in size)

Baby blue card

Docrafts New Arrival topper

Crafts Too Baby embossing folder

SB Scalloped Ovals die set

X-Cut Alphabet die

Tumbled Glass DI

John's Pearls, coloured with Metallic Blue Promarker.

Simple but sweet I hope. I wasn't in for Lauren's leaving but I did have a few colleagues come up to me and said she was thrilled with the card and pressie (2 pairs of Mickey Mouse jim jams for the little fella) and they loved the card too. Its nice to have ones efforts appreciated.
Now, I have to get stuck into several cards for the coming couple of weeks; both design teams, 3 birthday cards, a diamond anniversary (the one I did the acceptance card for last week) and a ruby anniversary too. . . . . phew!

Hope you all get some time out to enjoy the good weather. Just makes ya smile to feel the Sun on your cheeks. . . . . . . the ones on your face, hahaha!

Be good.

TTFN
Ang x

Green Pearls. . . . . . . .Rise of The Striplet

Good morning my paddling chums. Hope you are all being good and enjoying this duck weather lol. Can't seem to make its mind up here. . . . .throwing it down one minute, sunny the next. Feel like I should be on a bit of elastic between the house and the washing line!

Been a bit of a grrr week. First, my oven has gone on the blink (won't get above about GM4), then my printer decided to spit its dummy out of the pram (and its paper all over the floor) and then Mr D's printer decided to throw a wobbly in sympathy with its friend!!! (I know it probably seems strange that we were a 2 printer family but I had one when I was doing my OU courses a few years ago and Mr D had one for when he was teaching as we had separate studies to work in).

So new printer purchased and now on the hunt for a new cooker/oven.

Thank you for all your kind words about Dad. Its not a recent bereavement but I think because I was still in my twentys and lost both Mum and Dad within 3 years of each other, it makes me sad. Still, enough of the sad bit and on to happier things.

Now, today's card was born out of the piece of card I had left from this card here. I liked the look so thought I would make another bi-fold card, 14cm x14cm.

Now, what die could I use? Hmmmm? What about. . . . .nah, not that one. Or I could use. . . . . . .maybe not. 

I'm sorry, it was calling to me. I tried to tell myself "walk away from The Striplet" but to no avail.

I Hougied the base card into thirds and then cut The Striplet as a border along the entire bottom edge so I had a card like so. . . . . . 

The Striplet does not match up to the exact length so I had to hang the end off the cutting plate of the GC so it left a border at the end rather than cutting through.

On the front page, I used a piece of paper from the First Edition Hideaway pad to pop above the border and cut through the centre of this with the outer edge of the SB Medallion One.

I then stuck the FE paper to the page with some white 3mm satin ribbon along the bottom and stuck the cut out of this onto the page below, lined up with the aperture.

I cut three of the daisy shaped flowers from the SB Bitty Blossoms set and inked through the die with Spun Sugar DI. I then shaped the flowers with my Hougie scorer and stuck them together, slightly offsetting each. I then stuck this to the cut out piece as per above photo. I then added a ring of John's pearls around the centre.

I thought the front needed a frame so I cut the second largest SB Blossom Three die from cream card and then cut the SB Medallion One out of the centre. I then foam padded this, lining it up with the aperture, onto the front.

For the last page, I cut one of the SB Fancy Tags Two and topped it with my sentiment, stamped with Shabby Shutters onto the centre of a SB Fancy  Framed Tags One.

I finished off with a teeny bow and some more of John's pearls, coloured with a green Sharpie. . . . . anyone who read John's blog the other day will have seen that a few of us use white pearls as they can be coloured with a variety of permanent markers to any colour you like.

And that, as they say, is that. I think its quite pretty (hence all the photos, sorry) and hope you like it too.

Barcelona GP today so glad I don't work Sundays. . . . . . hope you enjoy it too Jackie D. Lewis in pole again, getting to be a habit. Sad remembering Ayrton Senna last week too.

Oooh, and Tina, I try and get around the blogs as and when I can (sometimes late) as I try and make time for "visiting" my chums. I've made and met some fabulous friends through the blog so its nice to keep in touch and see their amazing creations too.

Finally, congratulations to our Lydia who has won a card from Sue Wilson. I'm lucky enough to have won a couple from emailing C&C so I'm sure you'll be thrilled with your prize.

 Have a happy day wherever you are paddling today.

TTFN

Ang x

Green Pearls Next Time John. . . . . .

Good morning Duckadees. How's it hanging? Been busy at this end of The Pond again but hey ho. Does tend to cause bouts of Craftus Interruptus but a quick rub of The Striplet usually takes the edge off.

Hello to Lis who kindly left a comment on my last card. You are more than welcome to come and paddle anytime, there's room for plenty. In fact, thanks to you all for leaving such lovely comments. It really didn't take too long to punch out the flowers and Lesley, I hope the reply I left to your question made sense.

Welcome home Patricia. Sounds like The Pond is dryer than your hols. Hope that next months visit is better.

Ooh, before I forget, glad to see Sue (Snowqueen62) commenting on John's blog. I'm hoping that this means that her son is better. Sue, if you're reading, I'm sure I read, maybe on Sue Wilson's, that your son was in hospital? (I may be completely wrong, if so, shoot me now!) Hope all is now well.

Now, I should explain the strange title to today's post. Our John asked on his blog the other day, if pearls came in another colour and a few of us responded by saying we colour the white ones with various pens to have whatever colour we like. I also said, my next post would show a card with green ones.

Well, Blogger had other ideas and I can't upload the pics for that card at the moment. I tell you, Blogger has been a little minx lately, not letting me comment sometimes, deciding what pics I can upload. If Blogger had a wrist, I would slap it!!!

So today's card is different and if you're reading this John, the green pearls will hopefully feature next time.

We have been invited to a Diamond Wedding do in June and I needed to make an acceptance card. I could have sworn I had an acceptance stamp but could I find it? No!!! So I improvised and turned it into a "thank you for the invite" card.

I cut a piece of 300gsm Limetree Crafts white card the same width as the SB Tapestry die and twice the length. I Hougied the card in half then ran it through the GC with the Tapestry die (just the front of the card).

I then cut the embossing die from the SB Botanical Swirls and Accents set out of silver satin card and also one of the SB Fancy Tags from white card (onto which I heat embossed the sentiment in silver)

.

I wrapped some silver Mei Flower satin ribbon around the centre, keeping the join to the front as I stuck the silver die cut on top of the join and then stuck the sentiment on top of that. Bit of AB bling added here and there completed the look.

Simple but fitted the bill (well, actually, Bill and June as its their party lol!!!)

Hope you all have a lovely day. Sad one for me as its a cemetery visit for the anniversary of my Dad's passing. . . . . Don't know where the time goes or why it doesn't get any easier but what's a duck to do? I usually pop into the craft shop near there on my way home as it makes me stop blubbing and think about something else.

See you all soon and be good.

TTFN

Ang x

Hobbycutz Challenge 46. . . . . . . The Striplet is Back

Good morning Duckadees. Hope you are warm and well. Still chasing my tail a bit with extra hours and long days but hoping for a quieter week ahead.
Firstly, a big welcome to The Pond to Debs Artliff. I have seen you over on Sue Wilson's so thanks for coming for a paddle over here. We're a nice bunch and usually well behaved.

Thank you for your super comments on my daffs. Marisa, I completely forgot that the Sunkissed Fleur was your baby. Did you ever imagine that someone would make daffodils with them lol!

Now today's card is my DT creation for the latest Hobbycutz Challenge which is sponsored by The Paper Shelter and features this sketch for your inspiration. . . . . 

I hope that you can pop over here to have a look at the fab cards my team mates have created and why not enter the challenge too?

I foccussed on the flowers and the purple, white and yellow.

The base card was a piece of A3 card which I cut down to 14cm x 42cm and then Hougied at 14cm and 28cm to give a bi-fold card (think that's the technical term).

Out of the front "page" I cut the largest of the SB Captivating Squares to make an aperture.

I then cut two pieces of purple PMD card to 13.8cm x13.8cm. One piece, I stuck to the middle "page" behind the aperture. On the second piece, I marked where the aperture was going to be cut and then cut around the edge with my beloved Striplet. There was a bit of tricksy manoevering went on, having to hang the last cut off the edge of the cutting plate but I got there. This is why I did not cut the aperture first so the piece of card would be easier to handle.

I then cut an aperture with the Captivating Square again from the centre so you end up with a piece like this. . . . . . 

This I then stuck over the aperture on the front and fortunately, it did line up!

I stuck the purple square I cut out, onto the back "page".

Then to the flower "page". The foliage piece is from Hobbycutz. I usually colour and emboss them but I left it au natural this time. I used a Tonic small flower punch to punch 3,000,000 (maybe a slight exaggeration) flowers from white card. Yellow felt tip squidged on the centres shaped the flowers and added colour too.

I foam padded the centre of the area for the flower to give a domed shape and stuck all the teeny flowers on and around it.

Sentiment hand written in white gel pen and that was that.

Have a super Sunday folks and hope you have a great week ahead.

TTFN

Ang x