Poinsettias, The Sequel of the Sequel . . . . . .

Good morning all. Hope everyone's fettle is fine? Happy St Patrick's Day to those who celebrate.

Still running with Christmas but a more ornate one this time (and those pesky poinsettias and holly flourish again lol!!).

I love the purple card. It was from a craft show but no make/brand on the wrapper.

Ingredients

Cream and purple card

Silver mirror card

SB Labels 18

SB Layered Poinsettias

Cheery Lynn Holly Flourish

Sheena Douglass holly embossing folder

Crafters Companion sentiment

Memento Dew Drop Grape Jelly ink

Silver Krylon pen (for the veins on the poinsettia bracts and on the pearls)

Pearlage

I always thought purple and gold went well together but purple and silver looks just as good, methinks.

Well, today's the day again. Not looking forward to it (well, you'd have to be a masochist to be looking forward to it) but it needs to be tried again so try we must.

To be honest, if they told me standing on my head, butt naked, flower strategically placed, whistling the National Anthem, in the middle of Trafalgar Square, would help me, I'd do it (now that would get my own back on those bloomin pigeons lol!!!)

Bridget, they do it under sedation but last time they didn't give me enough, I felt it and screamed "Owwwwww" lol!!!

Marion, don't get falling over with your cross legged walk lol!!!

Maureen, I wouldn't dare be disapproving, lol!!! I do love the elegance of the DL but I'm tight as a fish's oojit and want my moneys worth out of Royal Mail lol!!!

Thank you for all your well wishes and prayers. I do thank you from the heart of my bottom.

Will let you know how it goes as soon as I can and apologies if I don't get round to visiting blogs for a few days.

TTFN

Ang x

Its Christmas Again . . . . . . .

Good morning everyone. Hope the Sun is shining on you all.

Hopefully, I've got a line of washing bobbing about . . . . . it's the simple pleasures in life eh?

Now, talking of simple, it doesn't get any more simple than this card, especially for batch making.

It started when I cut the Holly Flourish out for this card here and then I thought, "what would happen if I cut them end to end to use up that scrap of vintage gold card?"

Ingredients

Cream card

Vintage gold and gold mirror card

Cheery Lynn Holly Flourish die

Dovecrafts sentiment

Pearlage

Scoring on my Hougie

The vintage gold layer is stuck directly to the gold mirror card and then this was foam padded to the card, making it another postage friendly card.

 I must report a funny sighting this week courtesy of The Flash household. This time, it was Mrs Flash who caught my attention.

I had popped out to my car about 10 in the morning to get something out of the boot, bumped into another neighbour and started to chat. 

About 30 seconds later, Mrs Flash drove past, parked outside their house and then got out of the car carrying a shopping bag and went into her house.

Nothing unusual in that I hear you cry, except . . . . . . . . . she was only wearing her pyjamas!!! Not only that, but she is a little on the large side with an ample chest and was not wearing a bra.

Well, as my dear late Dad would say, it was like watching 2 puppies fight under a blanket.

I can honestly say, I don't ever recall a shopping emergency that would necessitate me to leave my house in my pyjamas, let alone unsupported.

There again, another neighbour took her kids to school last week wearing a tiger print onesie, with the hood up, which had pointed ears.

Perhaps I just live in an odd neighbourhood??? (Still want to move next door Elaine? Lol!!!)

Before I pootle off, her is a snap of the socks Kate knitted and sent to me. Aren't they fabulous?

They are so toastie warm and I've had to repair the heel on one of them as I wore them so much in the Winter. Thanks again Kate.

That's me for today. Have had a good few days, even getting out for a meal on Monday with some friends over from Spain and trying not to worry about next Friday. Blood test today so hopefully the black pudding has done its thing.

Take care all.

TTFN

Ang x

Golden Poinsettias. . . . . . . .

Good morning everyone. Hope everyone is doing ok?

I'm still struggling at times. Friday was a shocker of a day but fortunately I got a good night sleep and managed to get to the theatre on Saturday with Nesta. We had already changed the tickets from 25th Jan as I wasn't well and I didn't want us to miss out as it was part of Nesta's Christmas pressie from us.

On the upside, I have managed to lose some weight by cutting down my carbs. Mind you, I've decided that I'm not overweight, I am actually under tall. If I can just stretch 6 inches, I'd be my ideal weight .......... how hard can it be???

A warm welcome to Princessnettie and thank you to Marion for pressing the followers button. Lovely to see some old chums and new names commenting too. All appreciated and all welcome.

Now, we're back to Christmas again I'm afraid (I did warn you that I had the EEC Christmas card mountain and a poinsettia fettish) which I made for my dear friend Kate (Cuilliesocks) so I hope she won't mind me showing it.

Ingredients

Cream card

Vintage gold card

Gold mirror card

SB Layered Poinsettias

SB Labels Twenty

Cheery Lynn Holly Flourish

CE Frosty Swirls embossing folder

Versamark

Gold mica

Memento Dew drop Peanut Brittle ink

Pearls coloured gold with my trusty Krylon

Kate likes Autumn shades, which is why I decided to go golden.

Thank you for your lovely comments on my rosy ring (Maureen, don't go there!!!) and on my 400th posting. Don't forget to comment (and follow) on the previous post here to be in the draw for a celebratory Paddle Prize.

I've extended the deadline until Saturday 11th February so there's still time.

Jan, hope you are still having a wonderful time in the land of The Long White cloud as I'm sure you'll be back in the land of The All Encompassing Grey Cloud all too soon.

Hope this week treats you all kindly.

TTFN

Ang x

Holly Apertures . . . . . .

Good morning everyone. I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and are full of festive joy and turkey.

Thankfully, I rallied on Christmas Day so I managed to cope with cooking the dinner - admittedly, the 2 gammons just went straight into the slowcooker first thing (we're not greedy, we have a 6.5 litre slowcooker that I always fill lol!!!), the turkey breast joint looked after itself once in the oven and Mr D peeled the spuds. 

Mr D had already given me some money before Christmas for crafty stash but I still got a gift bag full of my favourite cheesy snacks, some chocolate (that he knows he will eat most of lol!!!) and Damon Hill's autobiography, yay!!! 

He also took me to The Range on Boxing Day where I spent some of the money and upon my fawning over yet another First Edition pad, he asked the immortal non crafter question of "why do you need another one of those, when you don't use the ones you have?"

Ah Grasshopper, one day you will learn . . . . . . .

Anyhoo, before I carry on, I would like to welcome some new followers to The Pond. Sometimes Blogger does muddle up the list, so apologies if I miss anyone, but as far as I can see, we have been joined by Pauline, Veronica, Cheryl, Candy and Sharon. Thank you so much ladies for pressing the follow button. Its very kind of you and I hope you enjoy your visits. 

Also, before I forget, Carole, CE does indeed stand for Creative Expressions but I'm too lazy to type it out lol!!!

Now, onto today's card. I had cut some Holly Flourishes out of gold mirror card for my card here and I noticed, having done it rather neatly, there was a lovely pattern to the negative and so this card was born. Ideally, the cuts would have been done facing alternate directions symmetrically but I wasn't going to waste it lol!!!

Ingredients

Ivory, burgundy and gold mirror card

Cherry Lynn Holly Flourish die

Sue Wilson Holly Octagonal Frame (hexgaons only)

Dovecraft sentiment

Card-io holly stamp

Memento Dew Drop Rhubarb Stalk ink

Versamark

Gold mica powder

Pearlage

Simple, I know but sometimes when you're under the cosh with a never decreasing list of cards to make, simple is super lol!!! This also comes under normal letter postage, hurrah!!!

I am going to make a concerted effort to make Christmas Cards throughout the year in 2017 (we'll see how long it takes for me to forget that lol!!!)

Well, that's me for today. Should hopefully be seeing Nesta before she jets off to sunny Spain for a week and also, doing a turkey, gammon and leek pie to use up the last of the left overs (after the usual turkey fricasse and turkey trifle).

And what sad news we have had this week too with the passing of Rick Parfitt, George Michael and Carrie Fisher. I have been fortunate to see The Quo in concert a couple of times, once as a brilliant warm up for Queen and love em or hate em, they would always get your foot tapping.

Hope that you all have a good day and thank you for visiting.

TTFN

Ang x

Merry Christmas One and All . . . . . . .

Good morning and Merry Christmas to all of you that have kindly taken time out of the festivities to pop by.

I'll keep it short so you can get back to the sherry and being intimate with a turkey.

Now, this is Nesta's card I've chosen to share with you as I'm sure she won't mind sharing it with you lovely blog chums as the sentiment is sent to you all.

Ingredients

Cream, green and burgundy card

Gold linen card

SB Layered Poinsettias

SB Classic Ovals

Cheery Lynn Holly Flourish

Mistletoe embossing folder (think it may be an embossilicious)

Indigo Blu sentiment

Memento Dew Drop Rhubarb Stalk ink

Dovecraft teeny bling

Pearlage

Its another biggy at 8"x10" and Nesta loves it. I told you I'd gone mad with the poinsettias lol!!!

Haven't had a great few days ad yesterday I felt awful, so I'm hoping that as you read this, I'm feeling better. Having entrusted Mr D with another shopping list yesterday, I don't want to be entrusting Christmas dinner to him lol!!!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope its a peaceful and joyful one too. For those of you that are unwell or coping with bereavement, I send caring thoughts and hope that the day isn't too difficult for you.

Yuletide felicitations.

TTFN

Ang & Mr D x

Here We Go With Christmas. . . . . . . .

Good morning everyone. Hope you are all well and ready for the festivities.

I have had a good week, so far, so have made the most of it by getting some cards done and the postal ones sent. Thank you for your comments on Nesta's Diwali card. I'm going to have a go at the DCWV Luminaries in the next few days as I wanted them for display at Christmas. 

I'll have to put a photo of the house across the road on the blog. Every year, there is a new set of lights added to the existing display, which must drain the National Grid and cost them a fortune in electricity. Its that bright, we don't actually need to put our light on, unless we're reading lol!!!

Now, this is the first of many Christmas makes. I made this for Davey (he's had it so its ok to show) and Mr D liked it so much, he asked me to do one exactly the same for his brother and partner.

I have to admit, I've gone a bit daft with poinsettias this year, as you will see on future posts.

Ingredients

Cream, burgundy and gold mirror card

SB Layered Poinsettia dies

Cheery Lynn Holly Flourish

SB Classic Ovals

CE Snowflake Lattice embossing folder

Dovecraft sentiment stamp

Rhubarb Stalk Memento Dewdrop ink

Gold Krylon Pen

Pearlage

The card is 7x7. I put them in an 8x8 envelope but make them 7x7 if there is a lot of depth or florals on them so they don't end up squeezed in the envelope.

I was really pleased with how it turned out and Davey was a happy boy. I think this is what then set me off on my poinsettia fettish this year.

Well, that's me for now. Its Wednesday evening as I'm typing and my hot Ribena has just arrived as my pre-bed tipple.

Hope your festive plans are all going well. Its a full time job keeping Mr D away from the biscuits and chocolates for the next 10 days lol!!!

TTFN

Ang x

Back to Christmas. . . . . . . . . . .

Good morning lads and lasses. Hope this finds you in fine fettle.

Even though I've had a few days off, its only yesterday that I actually had no where to be or having an appointment of one kind or another. Had a couple of cards to create as a friends new nephew has put in an earlier appearance than expected (by 6 weeks) so her original request of one of my box frame creations, has rapidly changed to a card to post (her sister & brother in law are currently living in Aberdeen).

Busy again today, with an appointment this morning then lunch out with some friends so I feel I'm on more of a timetable than when I'm at work lol!!!

Thank you for your lovely comments on my fuchsia necklace. I'll have to see if I can come up with a way of making daffodils to wear this time of year lol!!!

Now, today's offering is harking back to Christmas. I did warn you that I still had some Christmas projects lurking in the ether. I was reminded of this one as I made it for the same friend who has just become an Auntie. She had asked me to make some gift wallets for her to give her family tickets and money for Christmas.

Ingredients

Cream card (Lime Tree)

Green card (CE)

Red card (CE)

SB Layered Poinsettias dies

SB Curved Border 2 die

Cheery Lynn Holly Flourish die

CE Frosty Swirls embossing folder

CS Berry PVA Pearls

CE sentiment

Gold bling

Aged Mahogany DI (Inked through the poinsettia dies)

Memento Dew Drop Northern Pine

This is DL in size and is an A4 piece of card, folded in 3 and 2 edges stuck down, so when you lift the front, there is a pouch inside. This was for friends Mum and Dad as she had bought them train tickets to use to visit the mum to be at New Year.

Sorry if its odd seeing poinsettias when the golden beauties are in full throttle outside. I do love daffodils. They're floral sunshine!

That's me for now folks. I'm hoping I've caught up visiting your blogs but forgive me if I'm a bit late as its been a strange couple of weeks.

Have a super weekend folks.

TTFN

Ang x

Jolly Holly. . . . . . . .

Good morning everybody. Hope you're all ok? As I'm typing (Sunday evening) I have a banging headache (bad day at work. . . . . . more on that another day lol) so its short and sweet today I'm afraid but I didn't want to not post something for you.

And. . . . . . .apologies, I'm still getting through the Christmas cards!

Now, today's card is one I made for Mr D's brother and his other half. Mr D did suggest putting "fiancee" instead of partner as a joke but as they are not engaged, I don't think they would have seen the funny side. 

I had made another card (to be shown soon) that was a lot more effort but then Mr D decided it should say "brother and partner" on the card, which wouldn't fit on the original (Hazel, I soooo know where you were coming from last night but you don't expect the fussy customers to come from your own household lol!!!).

So, at extremely short notice, I had to come up with something else and apologies for the photo as I had to snap it at night so it could go in the post first thing the following morning.

Ingredients

White card (Lime Tree Crafts)

Dark green card (PMD)

BeBunni Snowflakes embossing folder (I only embossed the top 2/3 of the card)

Cheery Lynn Holly Flourish die

Red bling for berries

Anita's 3D Gloss (on holly leaves)

Docrafts Sentiment stamps 

Silver Krylon pen

A simple card, I know, but it was going in the post so I didn't want to go too mad. I am loving this particular holly die as it cuts like a dream.

Did have to laugh at "Hot tubgate". A white plastic "gazebo" had been erected, with fairy lights and balloons to house the glorified paddling pool. Bet their pals were disappointed (or relieved to be honest) as you would have struggled to get two adults in it. New Years Day winds shook the "gazebo" from its anchoring and its still rolling about in their back garden as we speak.

Thank goodness it didn't take flight whilst the scantily clad twits were bearing their assets as I would have brought up me celebratory Snowball and trifle!

On that note, I will now go and rest my weary head.

Will be back next time with my first DT card for Moving Along With The Times. Hope you can join me then.

TTFN

Ang x

Seasons Greetings Nesta. . . . . . . . . . .

Happy 3 days after Christmas everyone! Hope that you are all well and had a wonderful Christmas.

Well, after getting more intimate with a turkey than a vet would've been, creating the EEC washing up mountain (thank goodness for dishwashers. . . . .no, not Mr D) and snacking on all manner of rubbish, the bank balance has gone down and the waist measurement has gone up!!!

Thank you for your wonderful festive comments and I hope those of you enduring the snow and the seriously minus temperature figures, stay safe and warm indoors, cuddled up to your Grand Caliburs.

Now, today's card is Nesta's card from us. As you can see, I got quite taken with the banner greeting lol!

Nesta loves her flowers and has some spectacular specimen hollies which is why I went with this design,

Ingredients

Cream base card (8x8) 

Gold mirror card 

Soft gold card (Lime Tree)

Ruby red card (PMD)

Dark green card (PMD)

Marianne poinsettias

Cheery Lynn Holly Flourish

Sue Wilson Snowflake embossing folder

Versamark

Burgundy mica powder (sentiment)

Anitas 3D Gloss (on holly leaves)

Pearls coloured with gold Krylon

Red bling berries

You can just about pick up the glossy leaves. Never used this product before but its very good and quite cheap too.

Well, Nesta was very happy so that's good for me.

Before I waddle off (not just the duck connection, its the way I actually move after the excesses of the festivities hahaha!!!) I just wanted to put a shout out for a couple of the gals who have been MIA in case they are managing to paddle but not comment.

Jackie D, have you found a new home yet? Hope all is well with you and your Mum. Norah, I'm not sure what has happened chuck but I know you're missed over at Sue's too.

I know that there are lots of you that do come for a paddle (well, from what I can tell from my stats) and perhaps don't have time to comment but I appreciate you taking the time to look.

And for those who leave comments, I thank you from the heart of my bottom for your encouragement and making me smile.

Enjoy the last few days of 2014.

TTFN

Ang x

Ps. . . . . Karen has kindly said I can show her lovely card so I will get it photographed and on in the New Year as I have a DT card for HoC that is due next.