Extended Gerberas. . . . . . . . . . .

Good morning all. Hope you are all well and basking in the glorious sunshine.

Its been lovely here so I have tried to make the most of the good weather and get out and about in the fresh air.

A quick post today as I have a to do list as long as a roll of wallpaper.

Now, its back to John's Gerbera release samples as I hadn't quite finished showing those before the Bee Balm came out.

Ingredients

Cream, black and gold card

JND Gerbera Panel

SB Matting Rectangle dies

JND sentiment

Black bling

I love the combination of black and gold and usually squeeze at least one into each sample set.

This is a small card but the panel has been extended by clicking into the next flower along.

Well that's me for now folks. Its late, I'm scheduling and its been a long day lol!!!

Take care all and be good.

TTFN

Ang x

Ps........ will snap tomatoes when they have bigger trusses (Don't even go there folks lol!!!)

Cut Out and Pop Out. . . . . . . .

Good morning folks. Hope you are all well.

I managed to get to the craft show at Bruntingthorpe and met up with some chums PeeJay, Anne, Karen and Pam................of course, I heckled Mr L too.

Had a lovely catch up over a cappuccino and small sliver of coffee and walnut cake (Don't listen to anyone who tries to suggest that the slice of cake wasn't small).

I was very restrained and only spent £10 on 4 packs of coloured A4 card, a pack of A3 330gsm white card, and 4 mini border embossing folders.

I think its the first time its been held there and its a lovely big hanger but it wasn't very busy.

Now, back to today's card. Its another John sample using the Gerbera Pop Out Panel die.

A simple looking card but not quite as straightforward as it looks at first glance. You can probably see what I did on the piccy below.

Ingredients

Cream, black and vintage gold card (Lime Tree)

JND Gerbera Pop Out Panel die

JND Sentiment

Cream and gold pearls

I cut the panel out of the centre of the cream layer. I then used my craft knife to nick out the pop out petals, as per above. It probably seems a faff but honestly doesn't take long at all.

I then cut out the panel again in the gold, left the petals in this time, lined it up under the cream panel and popped the gold petals through the cream apertures as per below............

Just something different, I thought.

My tomatoes finally arrived on Friday. I called them exotic as they are all different and strange colours.......in fact, they nearly got called erotic but thankfully, I spotted my spelling mistake before the blog went live.

I didn't want WART switching their attentions to the "erotic" veg and becoming TART (Tomato Attack & Removal Team).

Nice to have you holidaying ladies back. Hope you are refreshed and ready to roll up your sleeves in your craft rooms.

Busy week again here, but in a nice way. Lunch at a garden centre with PeeJay today and lunch with Davey on Wednesday before he heads off to Greenland (told you he gets about a bit) and then a guy is hopefully coming to repair the steps on our decking so that we can get back down into the rest of the garden without needing ropes and crampons.

Hope you all have a smashing week and thank you for stopping by and all your lovely comments.

TTFN

Ang x

Butterfly Trio. . . . . . . . . .

Good morning one and all. Hope this find you all happy and healthy.

Have been pottering about and trying to do bits in the garden. My exotic tomatoes should be arriving tomorrow, finally. The growbags have been primed and ready for weeks and the one tomato plant I did buy locally is now 5ft tall so the new ones will have some catching up to do.

Now, I am are continuing with John's current samples and today's spotlight is the lovely butterflies. Thank you for your kind comments on the other samples.

Ingredients

White, navy and sky blue card

JND Large Butterfly dies

JND sentiment

That Special Touch Hibiscus border mask (used to emboss down the side)

Silver bling on a string (on my website)

A simple and CAS card for me.

Well, better shake a leg. Mr D is up early and off to Scotland this morning so, as I am scheduling, I had better get an early night too.

Enjoy the rest of the week folks. Hopefully, off to the Hanger 42 craft show on Saturday......only looking as I can't possibly need any more stuff lol!!!

Be good.

TTFN

Ang x

Circular Gerberas. . . . . . . . .

Good morning campers......Hi De Hi !!!

Hope you are all well and had a nice weekend, especially those of you lucky enough to still have your Dad's with you.

Sadly, my Dad isn't so it was a trip to the cemetery yesterday. We decided to renew the edging around the grave and refresh the top with new decorative stone. It was busy up there due to Father's Day so you can imagine the odd looks we got as we got out of the car with a spade and black bags.Thankfully as it was a bit warmer, we didn't take the balaclavas.

Kate said it was probably reminiscent of Burke and Hare but I didn't know who they were lol!!! 

Now, back to the card. This is another of the samples I made for John's last shows. Thank you for your kind comments on the samples and my "guest appearance" lol!!!

I don't do many shaped cards but this was the first card that I made with this die.

Ingredients

Cream card and various shades of pink and purple card

JND Gerbera Pop Out Circles dies

JND Sentiment die

CE Aztec Flowers embossing folder

Teeny gems

This is how I got the gradation of colour behind the pop outs.

I then cut the centre out too and glued it behind the pop ups.

Something different anyhoo.

Myra and Littlelamb, it is wonderful to make lifelong friends through crafting but sadly you have also been affected by Maureen's stalking tendencies. 

June F, that wasn't Molly yawning. She was laughing in a sinister, almost maniacal way.

Molly doesn't do catnip but Lily got quite excited by the idea.............

Finally, Wendywoo, I wasn't at the studio, just at home on the phone. I don't think they dare risk my appearance on camera in case everyone switches over to Create and Craft lol!!!

Have a great week folks.

TTFN

Ang x

Raspberry Gerberas. . . . . . . . .

Good morning chaps and chapesses. Hope all is good with you.

Been catching up with some jobs the last couple of days and finishing up some samples for John's shows for last night and today with his fab new dies.

We had lunch and a catch up on his way to Hochanda yesterday, which was lovely.

And yes, that was me on John's first show last night. The things I get asked to do lol!!! I was in the kitchen chatting on the phone whilst Mr D was watching the TV and he thought it highly amusing that it came up on the screen "Mrs Duck on the phone" lol!!!

Now, this is one of the cards that John demoed as I think he was happy that I came up with something different to do with the circle. He didn't do it quite how I had but he was close enough.

Ingredients

Cream, black and raspberry card

JND Gerbera Pop Out Circle dies

JND Large Butterflies die

Leane Creatief Border Branch embossing folder (on my website)

JND sentiment

Black bling

I wanted something extra across the middle which is why I used the embossing folder. Its a handy size for going across the centre and doesn't leave a mark where the edges are.

Hope that you enjoyed the shows last night and hope you will enjoy the shows today.

Wendy, trust me, my social life is anything but grand. Last week was like buses.......nothing for ages then a few come along at once lol!!!

June F, The Minxes are not falling for your niceties. In fact, this was Molly's response when I said that WART were still hoping to penetrate their defences with Maureen's bloomers.........

As you will see Myra and June S, not quite so docile or angelic lol!!!

Karen, Davey is a lucky chap. I was supposed to go to Borneo and Sepilock with Nesta and her ex in 1999 but I had to cancel my holiday (Nesta still went) and so its still on my list of places to see.

Well that's me for now except to say Happy Birthday to two of my lovely friends, Kate and Joy whose birthdays were on Tuesday.

Be good folks.

TTFN

Ang x

Bee Balm Frame. . . . . . . . . .

Good morning blog chums. Hope you are well.

We have had a lovely few days in this neck of the woods. Had a trip round some lovely gardens on an NGS open gardens event with Nesta again yesterday in glorious weather.

It was a bit parky early on so I had put a short sleeved jumper on but then regretted it half way around the gardens when I was sweating more than a turkey at Christmas.

One of the houses also makes excellent homemade cakes so we go there first, reserve our cakes and then return there at the end to have the goodies. The coffee and walnut cake was delicious.

I am still waiting for my exotic tomatoes to arrive, I did chase it up with the grower but there's been a delay due, apparently, to the "Beast from the East". I'm really not sure how Delia Smith can affect tomato growth.

Now, we are back to John's samples and this time the Bee Balm Frame.

Ingredients

Cream, black and purple card

JND Bee Balm Frame die

JND Ribbon Threader die

JND sentiment

Purple satin ribbon

Black bling

As you can see, the frame can be extended by slotting the die in further along your piece of card.

Had a lovely catch up last week with Davey (the hairy Judith Chalmers) who had returned from a trip to Taiwan and Borneo. He had been to see the Orang Utans at Sepilok and thankfully, they let him back out again lol!!!

We re-bonded over my hot tacos and his crispy churros,

Also met up with another friend, Andy, who used to volunteer for me at Barnardos and we have kept in touch. We met up at a Morrison's cafe (very impressive decaff cappucino) and I ended up coming away with 2 beautiful orchids to add to my collection, otherwise known as two more things for the kittens to knock off the window ledge!!!

They are both twin stemmed an only £5 each...................bargain!!!

And as its been a while since I showed some gratuitous kitty shots, here are our little minxes...................................in quieter moments.

Hope this week is kind to you all.

TTFN

Ang x

MAWTT Challenge 73. . . . . . . .

Good morning everybody peeps. Hope you are fine and funky.

Thank you for your kind comments on my baubles (steady!!!) I only get them out at Christmas usually.

Now, today, we are back with Team A over at MAWTT and Zoe's theme of choice is.........

Girls Birthday.

Zoe wants to see cards that would be suitable for a girl of 21 or under. I think that gives you all a lot of scope so hopefully you will decide to join in.

Ingredients

6x6 white card blank

Pink card

First Edition Love Letters 6x6 paper

Presscut Rectangle dies

Number die...........free with a magazine

Fuchsia pink satin ribbon

3mm diamante chain (on my website)

Star bling

Not my usual style but this came about from one of those situations I am sure that all crafters are familiar with, the "can you make me a card please?" "Of course, when do you need it for?" "Errrrrrrr, now??????" scenario.

I literally had 15 minutes to do it.

I'm sure that Hallmark don't have these issues lol!!!

Thankfully, it was more of a gift card that had a few signatories for a large communal present which was just as well, as the only thing I had for that age group at short notice was the alphabet paper.

That's me for today but will be back in a couple of days with more of John's samples.

Please pop along to MAWTT to have a look at the other DT inspiration and why not join in the challenge!

TTFN

Ang x

When is a Birdcage not a Birdcage. . . . . . .The Sequel

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

Thank you so much for your kind birthday wishes on my last post.

Apologies for being missing again. I don't know where time goes these days. I am all behind (in more ways than one) again with my blog visits too but have been trying to catch up.

Now, back to the "When is a Birdcage Not a Birdcage" series from the samples that I made for John and today's answer is.............when its a Christmas bauble!!!

Mr D did comment that it looked like the thing that Joe 90 sat in but I think that he is showing his age there lol!!!

Ingredients

Cream and red card

Gold mirror card

JND Birdcage die

Crafters Companion Christmas Jumper embossing folder

Dovecraft sentiment die

2mm Jonquil diamante chain (on my website)

Its probably not clear on the photos but I foam padded the forward 2 baubles with 0.5mm and 1mm foam tape to give dimension.

I hope that these ideas are showing how versatile this particular die set can be.

I also wanted to clarify from my last post that John did not make my birthday cake, it was part of my pressie. It was either Mr Marks or Mr Spencer who obliged with the baking.lol!!! And very delicious it was too!

That's me for now. I hope that this coming week treats you kindly and you have lots of warm sunshine.

TTFN

Ang x