Special Scottish Friends. . . . . . . . .

Good morning one and all. Hope you're all ok.

Thank you so much for all your wonderful good wishes and for those of you who have kindly become customers at theducksdoodahs.com....... Your orders are in packages ready to go in the post Monday morning, one with a signed photo as requested lol!!! 

Lynda, I do accept PayPal on the website.

Yvonne, you don't get rid of me that easily. I shall still be blogging my creations and ramblings, even though it may be from a sun lounger in Penang in 6 months time when I have made a million hahaha!!! 

Our Mr Lockwood is on Hochanda today at 8am and 12pm and will be featuring his fabulous new embossing folders and some beautiful dies. All of the embossing folders are available on my website and also most of the dies John will be showcasing. They will be as bundles on the show, I believe, but I am selling them all individually.

Now, today I am showing a card that was given to some very special friends. I had made it as a sample for John's last shows with someone in mind. Maybe you can guess it was for a Scottish chum with tartan embossed tartan paper and the thistle stamp lol!!!

Ingredients

Cream, green and black card

Tartan paper from First Edition A Christmas Story 8 x 8 pad

SB Art DecoTags dies

John Next Door Butterfly Frames stamp

Presscut Rectangle dies

The lovely Kate (Cuilliesocks) came down to Coventry with equally lovely hubby Alistair for a few days and it was fantastic to see her again. I gave this card to them as a thank you for coming to see us. I did have to add an "s" to Friend as I wouldn't miss out Alistair.

I was really touched (well, most of you knew that eh?....... thought I'd say it before Maureen lol!!!) that they came all that way to see us.

Monday was a catch up and a meal out at a local pub after their 9.5 hour train journey (yes, that was 9.5 hours bless em)

We met up with Nursey Harrop and John for lunch on Tuesday after Kate and Alistair visited our local Art Gallery and Museum and the old cathedral. A lovely time was had by all (and lovely food too).

That's Mr D's arm in shot next to Kate but he was muttering about having his photo taken and pulled a face, so I have cropped him out. As I was taking the photo (on my phone so sorry about quality) I'm not on it either but I have a feeling Kate will be showing snaps on her blog so that's my Duck Protection Programme compromised lol!!!

We went to The Range in the afternoon as Kate does not have one near to her and then back to The Pond for a light buffet tea and blether, as Kate would put it.

Wednesday was a visit to Stratford-Upon-Avon and Hatton Country World followed by a cuppa at Chateau Canard and another lovely meal out.

Thursday was a breakfast meet up and then on to the station for Kate and Alistair to go home. It was a busy few days that did take it out of me but we had such a wonderful time, it was worth it.

Good food and the company of good friends. . . . . . fantastic!!!

Well, that's me for now. Hope you enjoy John's shows and remember your friendly neighbourhood Duck has stock lol!!!

TTFN

Ang x

Butterflies, Dragonflies & Exciting News . . . . . . . .

Good morning everyone. Hope all is fine and dandy with you and yours.

I have been pacing myself with the housework and Suzzie that's a good idea about the sliders. I've tried to look at it as free exercise lol!!!
Thank you for your comments on my losing weight. I've had to put a belt on my jeans but Maureen I can assure you I am anything but skinny, See that total eclipse in America the other day, It wasn't the moon, I bent over to put my trainers on hahaha!!!

I have some exciting news that I will share at the end of the post..........Well, exciting for me anyway, but don't be naughty and scroll down there without looking at the prurrrrty card first lol!!!

Now, I've still got a few samples I made for John to show so I hope you're not getting fed up with them.......speak if you are, I'm thick skinned (not in a medical sense, unless there's something else wrong with me lol!!!)

This one was actually one of John's favourites and is another that can be used for any occasion.

Ingredients
Cream, black and orange card
CE Jacobean Floral embossing folder
John Next Door Butterfly Frames stamps
Memento Dewdrop inks

As I don't have a stamping platform, I used the dib dab technique to get the graduated colours on the insects but if you have a stamping platform, you can layer up the colours easily.

It reminded me of on of those pinned insect displays in frames but without having to touch a dead insect lol!!!

Nowwwwwwwww, onto the news...........

Having been stuck at home for over a year, with not much hope of anyone wanting to give me a job with my verruca, glass eye, wooden leg and other ailments, I have been thinking for sometime about what I can do to start earning an income in a self employed capacity that I could do from home (I want no rude suggestions on that front, thank you ll!!!)

So, I have decided to take the plunge and build a website to sell craft products on line. I'm just starting small to see how it goes but hope that it do well as I intend to have very competitive pricing.

Its pretty much ready to go but I am waiting for a stock delivery and then I shall launch. I'm hoping it will be in the next couple of weeks.

I shall be mainly stocking John Next Door products to start with as I know they are popular and they are products I would use myself.

I am doing this by myself but John has kindly designed my logo for me (so if you don't like it, blame him lol!!!). Its surprising how much work is involved in creating a website and loading it with products.

So, I apologise for any tardiness in visiting anyone's blogs. 

Phew, its out............. I hope you don't all thinking I'm barking mad but I just want to be a productive working person again and have some sort of normality.

Some of you may know that I have been in charge of John's diary/bookings for the past 10 months so that has kept me reasonably busy but I wanted to do something for me.

I will keep you posted of developments and the go live date. 

Meantime, enjoy your weekend...........myself, Jackie and Wendy will as its live F1 from Belgium after a month Summer break. I've been getting withdrawal symptoms lol!!!

TTFN

Ang x

John Next Door Butterfly Frames. . . . . . . . . . . .

Good morning friends, Romans, crafters ........ lend me your beers ears.

Hope you had a lovely weekend, sunshine, hurrah!!!

I thought I'd give you all a couple of days rest and myself time to make friends with Windows !0. We have passed the first date stage but no kissing as yet.

Its a strange beast that will take some getting used too but I thought the same about Mr D at first and now, I quite like him lol!!!

Apologies Myra if I worried you being awol.

Welcome Lisa, thank you for your comment.

Now, I'm back with another of John's show samples. This one did get an airing and is such an quick and easy card, especially for batch making or if you want a nice set of note cards.

Ingredients

White and rich plum card

John Next Door Butterfly Frames stamps

Presscut Square dies

Sissix Heart die

Memento Dew Drop inks 

Pearlage

I did the dib dab technique with the points of the ink pads again, stamping the heart element 3 times and the flowers a couple of times with a lighter colour than the first stamping. Butterflies added for good measure.

The card is fractionally under 6x6......... I always make them a little under as sometimes envelopes are a bit under too and its a bu@@£r when you make a card, only for it not to fit the envelope.

Busy week ahead. Seeing Mr L at some point and a rather late Spring clean. Now I'm feeling up to it, I want to get stuck in. I won't go daft though, I shall pace myself.

And now, for something completely different. Freshly picked from the garden........you can't beat it eh? Next time........... the cucumber...........steady ladies, steady lol!!!

Hope that this week treats you kindly and dryly, see you all soon.

TTFN

Ang x

John Next Door 2nd Launch. . . . . .Slate Heart

Good morning everyone. Hope all is ok with you and yours.

Thank you for your lovely comments on my cards made with John's 1st launch John Next Door products. Today, at 7am on Hochanda, John is launching his second release of products, including stamps and masks.

Now, you know I like to be different and when I saw this slate heart in Poundland, I knew exactly what I was going to do with it. It is heat embossed in white.

For anyone who hasn't stamped or heat embossed slate before, I will give you a couple of tips.

Choose the flattest slate you can get for even stamping. 

You will still need to anti static it before stamping too.

Slate obviously behaves differently to paper. You heat from the top but it takes quite some time for the powder to do its thing, as that patch of slate needs to get quite hot for it to melt so be very careful where you hold it. As it also then takes a good while to set as the slate stays hot for a while, I find it easier to do it in stages, rather than all in one go. Let the slate cool in between.

Ingredients

Hanging slate from Poundland

John Next Door Summer Flowers stamps

John Next Door Spring Flowers stamps

John Next Door Butterfly Frames 

John Next Door Flower Circle stamp (sentiment)

Versamark

Stampendous white embossing powder

Hope you manage to catch some of John's shows today. I promised him that I would surface from my warm nest to watch the 7am show (if ever there was a time I needed caffeine lol!!!).

He did ask if I wanted to go with him to help set up again but with the prospect of a 4am start, I graciously declined.

Back again tomorrow with another show sample.

TTFN

Ang x

Ps.......Haemoglobin now back in the normal range, hurrah! Finally, a good test result lol!!!