Up Up and Away. . . . . . . .

Good morning one and all. Hope that this finds you well.

Been busy here at The Pond again. Samples for John. taking down the Christmas paraphernalia (why doesn't the bloomin tree fit back in its box properly!!!) and the subsequent housework and its tax return time..............Yay!!!

A warm welcome to Tina. Thank you for clicking follow. That brings me to 199 followers so I shall select a nice paddle prize for when we hit the 200.

Now, today is a card going back to John's birdcage shows. This was another "when is a birdcage not a birdcage" card.

Ingredients

Black, blue, pink, red, yellow and green card

JND Birdcage dies

JND Autumn Flowers stamps

JND Festive Silhouettes stamps

Sentiment was on a set of stamps that were a gift from Nursey Harrop

I always like to be different and I just thought the round cage looked like a balloon (just the way my mind works lol!!!)

The basket is made from the other cage, chopped up. I paper pieced the balloon with the different colours.

At the weekend, I had occasion to visit Flash's house. We had a Christmas card put through our door. It was the right address but wrong name (don't know where it had been).

I opened it as I didn't recognise the surname and from what was written inside, I guessed it was them (it was something to do with cats before you think something rude lol!!!).

Soooo, over the road I toddled. As it was about 11am, I assumed everyone would be up but after enduring a doorbell that played "Jingle Bells" Mrs Flash stumbled down the stairs and opened the door in a very dishevelled state. I explained why I was there and she acknowledged that the card was, indeed, for them. 

When she reached out to take it, there was nearly an incident with her barely closing dressing gown but thankfully, she managed to grab it before everything spilled out.

Never a dull moment in our street!!!

The freezer is still full of turkey, even after turkey sandwiches, turkey salad, turkey curry, turkey rissoles and turkey trifle. As for the 3 ovens, I have 2 on the cooker and also a halogen oven. Its really handy for doing small things quickly.

Well, better get back to my "to do" list.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

TTFN

Ang x

Wine anyone?. . . . . . . . .

Good morning all. How you doin? Bloomin December eh??? Doesn't seem 5 minutes since January.

Been a miserable and wet few days here except yesterday when I managed to get some washing out.

Its been a nice week with Mr D. Had a good chuckle at Johnny English at the cinema. He has half passed his MOT but waiting for blood test result for his cholesterol (that's Mr D not Johnny English).

I had to go to the hospital for my blood test as its a special type that can only be done at the hospital. However, after sitting in a queue of traffic for half an hour trying to get into the car park, I suddenly realised that I had forgotten my blood test form, doh!!! 

It then took another 15 minutes to be able to get somewhere we could turn around to get out.

Mr D didn't say a word but he did seem to be gripping the steering wheel a little tighter...........probably imagining it was my throat lol!!!

Now enough of my mental inadequacies and back to the card. Yes, I'm still getting through TV samples and this one was made for John's shows with the birdcage dies.

Ingredients

Cream and burgundy card

Black gloss card

JND Birdcage die

Crafts Too Fancy Lattice embossing folder

JND sentiment

Bling on a string

Acetate

I made the glass out of one of the birdcage dies and glitzed it up with the bling on the stem.

The bottle was just handcut out of black gloss card.

A bit of fun.

Well that's me for now. Scheduling and have an early start as I am meeting Davey and we are meeting another friend in Birmingham for lunch (yes Kate, I have a voucher lol!!!) but we are going to have look round the German Market first........and maybe a sneaky look in the Radley shop 😆 x

Have a great weekend.

TTFN

Ang x

Ps........Myra, Maureen who???

Back To When is a Birdcage not a Birdcage. . . . . .

Good morning everyone. Hope you are all ok.

I have been making the most of the good weather and getting out and about whilst I can. Also dabbling with some more samples for Mr L so its all good fun.

A very warm welcome to Caz who has joined the throng (that's Throng Maureen!!!) of merry followers. Caz is a new DT member at MAWTT so look forward to seeing your challenge makes.

Now, back to John's birdcage samples and the answer to the above question is, when its a hanging basket and planter.

Ingredients

Various colours of card

JND Birdcages dies (for hanging basket and planter)

JND Chains (on hanging basket)

SB Ivy Die D Lites

SB Fancy Lattice die

Joy! Foliage die

JND sentiment

Tonic and Hobbycraft punches (for teeny fuchsias and roses)

Crafts Too stamens 

I like to get good mileage out of dies.

I will try and get caught up with my blog visits this week as I know that I have fallen behind again but I have had to increase security patrols due to potential threats from WART and TART and I have been organising another workshop with John for the end of the month.............details on the sidebar.

Hope you all have a great week and that the Sun continues to shine.

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

This is a Bird Cage. . . . . . . . .

Good morning everyone. Hope everyone is doing fine.

Apologies if I made you concerned with my last post. It was just a jippy tum caused by very painful trapped wind. I didn't expand (except my tum) on it at the time as I didn't think that you would want all the gorey details and, the main reason, I thought it would give Maureen some real comedy material to work with lol!!!

A busy few days here with eye clinic (I now have ocular hypertension but no glaucoma, thankfully, and eye drops) having to do a last minute request for a baby shower card and gift box, updating my website with new goodies and my birthday. 

Had some lovely cards (thank you folks) and fabulous presents and would you believe, not one crafty pressie lol!!!

Mr D took me took me out for the day and I got treated to lunch. I even had a card and pressie from The Girls...........so clever of them and such neat paw writing lol!!!

Now, thank you for your lovely comments about my samples for John, Here is another where I actually used the bird cage as a bird cage!!!

Ingredients

White, pink, black and vintage gold card

First Edition Bird Song paper

JND Birds and Cages dies

JND Chain die

JND Bee Balm Frame (tag die)

JND sentiment

Diamante chain bling (available on my website)

Gold Krylon pen

To give the cage dimension, I cut the die out 10 times in vintage gold card and snipped out the innards and glued all of these together with a top layer of the complete cage. I had coloured the top layer with my Gold Krylon pen to give it a gilded look.

The design was supposed to look like a wall with blown vinyl and patterned paper separated by a border and the bird cage hanging in front of it................not sure if I achieved that lol!!!

Well, that's me for now except to say, thank you Mr Lockwood for my splendid birthday cake..............

It managed to survive being up ended by Lily off the worktop, still in its box thankfully, and is delicious!!!

Have a great week folks.

TTFN

Ang x

Ps.......Karen, there is a tutorial for the fuchsias at the top of the blog.

When Is a Birdcage Not a Birdcage?..............

When its a plant stand!!!

Good morning folks. Its another John Next Door launch on Hochanda today and John has stupidly kindly asked me to do some samples. I didn't have access to all of the dies in the launch so its made me be a bit more creative in how I used the ones that I had.

One of the sets I had was the bird cages and I decided to see what else I could do with them.

Now, you know me and my florals so I thought.............a plant stand!!!

I cut out the round birdcage and chopped the top off and backed it with brown card to look like a basket liner. I then added one of the chain dies for the support and the chopped off bit of the cage as the base. 

Then, just add flowers!!!

Ingredients

Various colours of Lime Tree card

JND Birds and Cages dies

JND Chains die

JND Bee Balm Swirl Leaves

Britannia Medium Rose die (for fuchsias)

Mixed other foliage and flower dies

Daisy's Brick mask (embossed)

Distress Inks for sky

JND sentiment

White 1mm pearlised stamens (available on my website)

I wanted to incorporate one of the birds so that's why I created the wall backdrop rather than just plonk it on the flowers.

The frilly edged black layer on the card was made by cutting the layer edges with the chain die placed half way over the edge. It just gave a more interesting look, I thought, and another use for the chain die.

Hope that you enjoy the shows tonight and tomorrow and look out for more "when is a birdcage not a birdcage" lol!!!

TTFN

Ang x

Ps........sorry this was late going on but I was not a well girlie last night (tummy jip, not all the other stuff that's falling off me lol!!!