Snowflakey Swirls. . . . . . . .

Good morning one and all. How's it hanging today? If you've got any sense, you'll keep whatever is hanging under wraps as its a bit nippy round the trossachs.

Just as you think its safe to ditch the winceyette liberty bodice, you get icicles hanging from exposed apendages.

My pal Davey, who is a weather aficionado, has forecast another cold front next week. I tell you, my front couldn't get anymore cold if it tried.

Well, I went to hospital to have my nuclear scan.........and there was no scan!

I was injected with some radioactive molecule and then had to have blood tests at 2 hour, 30min, 30min and 1 hour intervals but no scan. Now, I may not be the brightest light bulb in the pack but the consultant did say he was referring me for a scan and described what it would show.

So, I shall be getting in touch to find out if there is another delightful visit to the hospital on the cards for an actual scan.

I've ended up with bruised and sore arms from all the needle action but I shall resist the deep urge to make a joke about small pricks.

I note that the WART commando unit have kept away under fear of being irradiated. There is a Ready Brek type glow around Chateau Canard so I think its safe until that dissipates. 

I did worry at seeing a flash of red in the sky but thankfully it was that blood moon rather than Maureen's inherited bloomers.

Now, back to the card (for those who haven't nodded off). I'm back in my Christmas 2016 folder again (Sorry Wendy A, the last card was 2016 too so I am not in the least bit organised lol!!!.........and, the remains of the Mr B drone were deposited in the neighbours litter tray and are now on their way to the tip). Jayne, please keep your friend under control even if it takes a poke with your crutches.

Ingredients

White card

Silver mirror card

CE Frosty Swirls embossing folder

SB Snowflake Pendant 2013 dies

Silver Krylon pen

Pearlage

I know its a simple card but simple can be good, as I tell Mr D on a regular basis.

I did mean to thank Suzzie Q for advising me about the article you posted, much appreciated, and thank you for all of your kind comments about my foray into Foamiran.

I have added some new products to the website (including the new Izink Metallic Pigment ink pads) and am hoping there is a delivery of Foamiran today so that can be added too.

Thank you for your visit and kind comment Welsh Dors. Hope you can drop by again soon.

That's me for now as Mr D is off today and I will try and drag him shopping as John and I have the workshop on Sunday so its a busy weekend.

Enjoy your Friday.

TTFN

Ang x

Swirls and Snowflakes & Crafty Purchases . . . . . . .

Good morning everyone. How is everyone today? Apologies to anyone awaiting an email or blog comment from me over the past few days as our internet has been playing silly beggars. Its been like Russian Roulette as to whether there is a connection. I will make amends in the next couple of days as it seems to have settled as I type this.

I still appear to be in rhythm (anyone whose seen me dance would never have thought I'd be saying those words lol!!!) but still got puffy feet and still getting breathless so will be getting in touch with my Arrhythmia Nurse today. May need the water tablets upping, which will be interesting as I may just need to just take a magazine, sandwiches and a flask with me and stay in the bathroom for 4-5 hours lol!!!

I did manage to get over to Daisy's to see John on Friday. I took him some lunch, so he was a happy boy and could just go home afterwards and crack on with his prep for his upcoming demos. I did go a bit nuts over the sales stuff (photos at end) but couldn't resist.

Now, today's card is all white (even in a Michael Barrymore sense) with just a hint of silver. Didn't think this one needed a sentiment, even though I'm always telling John off about not putting them on his cards lol!!!

Ingredients

White card

Silver mirror card

CE Frosty Swirls embossing folder

SB Snowflake Pendant 2013 dies

Silver Krylon Pen

Pearlage

There is a certain crispness about a predominantly white card, I think. 

FoxyG and Wendy, hope you enjoyed your get together surprising your Mum.

Maureen, you always make my cheeks quiver (the ones on my face, with laughter). Yes, Patricia, she is a one but in a good way, lol!!!

Jenny, you're quite right, I have enough bladder issues without jumping up and down lol!!!

Jackie, hope you had a lovely break with your Mum.

Ok, confession time. Here's what I bought on Friday . . . . . . . . . . .

And . . . . . . . . . .

I know, I know, I have the EEC First Edition pad mountain but I hadn't got these ones (well, I do have Family Ties but only the 12x12). I didn't mean to leave the prices on but those stickers were not budging easily and I wanted to get them photographed.

Now, the prices on the stuff is the 50% off price. These items were then half priced again so anything priced £5 was actually £2.50. You can see why I was like a kid in a candy shop now.

Everything in the 2 photos came to £26 . . . . . . now that did excite me!

Of course, Mr D surveyed my purchases with a quizzical look saying "Why have you bought all those pads when you don't use the shelf full you've got?" Crafters, forgive him, he's still learning, bless him.

A marvellous start to the new F1 season, especially not having to put up with a smug Hamilton in the post race interviews (sorry Wendy but I just can't take to the fella). 

On that note, I shall wish you all a happy week.

TTFN

Ang x

Variations on a Theme . . . . . . .

Good morning lovely bloggers. Hope all is good with you and yours.

Warning, picture heavy post.

Have had an up and down few days but managed to meet up with John for breakfast yesterday morning. Had a great catch up and a nice chow down.

Now, today we have a threefer,  a variation on the theme of the last card but in DL format and a couple of others . I don't normally do DL cards and making these, I remembered why. You use pretty much the same amount of useful card to create a smaller card, that still costs the same as an A5 card to post!!!

You live and learn. . . . . . 

Ingredients

Cream card

Vintage gold and gold mirror card

Sue Wilson Snowflake Striplet

Dovecraft sentiment

Versamark

CE Gold Detail embossing powder

Pearlage

Ingredients

Cream card

Vintage gold and gold mirror card

CE Snowflake Lattice embossing folder

SB 2013 Snowflake Pendant dies

Dovecraft sentiment

As for the stunning card above, I cannot claim the credit for as it was sent to me by the lovely Wendy (Yorks Butterfly) for her paddle prize and showing part of her prize (the Grate Works die) to great effect. Wendy doesn't have a blog so I asked if she would mind me showing it. 

Isn't it a picture? Thank you again Wendy.

Well, who knew that wearing your jim jams to go shopping was such a popular pastime. 

Elaine and Nancy, it comes to something when a store has to put up a sign telling folk to not come in their nightwear and perhaps charging them will do the trick (Nancy, hope you got to the SECC or to see John if your'e in that neck of the woods)

Mrs A, she was wearing slippers (that shamefully did not match the pyjamas lol!!!)

Donna and June, thank you for bringing the images of Walmart shoppers in to my life. After viewing them on Google, I am seeking therapy to rid my memory of such hideous images lol!!!

Thank you all for your best wishes for Friday (or Fryday as John and I named it after getting burns on my chest and back last time).

Its a mixture of emotions (like watching your ex drive off a cliff in your brand new car) as not looking forward to it,but wanting to have it done to try and get me back to normal . . . . . . well, as normal as I can get lol!!!

Hopefully I should get a post on for Friday so hope to see you then.

TTFN

Ang x

Purple Snow. . . . . .

Good morning everyone. Hope this finds you all happy and well. I'm approaching my 400th post so please see below about a little give away to mark the occasion.

Mr D and I did make it to breakfast with John last Sunday. It was lovely catching up, especially over a yummy Harvester breakfast.

He's a busy boy now over at Paper World Trade Show in Frankfurt on the Creative Expressions stand.

A warm hello to stitchingranny. Nice to hear John has been raving about my cards (I pay him handsomely to do that lol!!!) and thank you for your comment. Hope you will continue to visit.

Now, this was another postal card and, if I remember correctly, to Spain so it is another flat-ish one with an aperture.

Ingredients

White card

Dark purple card (from a craft show, make unknown)

Silver mirror card

SB Snowflake Pendant 2013

Sue Wilson Mini Snowflake Striplet

Trimcraft Me to You embossing folder

Dovecraft sentiment

Memento Dew Drop Grape Jelly ink

Teeny silver bling

A bit of detail and dimension but still post friendly.

I must apologise if I am behind on visiting some of your blogs but I will catch up. I've not been well since Monday. The thyroid appointment was ok (just a normal 3 monthly check) but the new tablets the cardiologist put me on have caused another arrhythmia on top of the A/Fib so I have had to stop them and have felt unwell as my pulse has been high again. In the process of trying to sort it all out with the docs, so please bear with me.

As a little heads up, this is my 398th post (and they hoped said it wouldn't last lol!!!). For my 400th post, I will offer a little Paddle Prize as a thank you. To go into the draw, you just need to be a follower and leave a comment on that particular post (I think it will be next Thursday, 2nd Feb's MAWTT DT post). I will remind you on the next post and on the day.

As always, thank you for your kind and concerned comments. I'm not quite at Uhu's gates so onwards and upwards eh lol!!!

TTFN

Ang x

Minty Snowflakes . . . . . . .

Good morning everyone. Hope everyone's tickety is boo.

We've had some nippy days of late but poor Nesta has returned from her Spanish break having been subjected to hailstones and snow . . . . . . on the Costa del Sol for goodness sake! 

I hope she didn't expose her castanets or they will need a warm rub down with a greasy rag.

Davey is on his way back today. I can only hope there hasn't been snow in Bangkok or that would throw Global Warming out of the window.

Anyhoo, you may be relieved to see, not a poinsettia in sight today, just snowflakes (don't look Nesta!!!). Another aperture card that gives a bit of dimension but still flat enough for a normal postage stamp.

Ingredients

White and mint card (the mint is Lidl)

Silver mirror card

SB Snowflake Pendant 2013 dies

Dovecraft Christmas Basics Snowflake embossing folder

Dovecraft sentiment

CS Mint gilding polish

Memento Dewdrop Grey Flannel ink

Teeny bling

I need to have a lighter touch with the gilding polish as it has escaped onto the flat areas but I guess that's a practice thing.

A simple card, but a great way of keeping the post costs down.

Hospital appointment did not go as well as I hoped. More tablets to take, possibly another Cardioversion and more than likely, a more invasive operation in the not too distant future. Still, I won't go on as I'm trying to be positive (Mr D thinks that's better than my usual philosophy of think the worst, and you'll never be disappointed lol!!!) and I don't want you lovely folks going away from your visit without a smile. . . . . . . . perhaps I should have mentioned Nesta's castanets at this point rather than earlier lol!!!

Hope to be meeting Mr Lockwood for breakfast this morning, new tablets and body permitting so it will be nice to have a catch up before he goes into another busy phase.

I'm back at the hospital tomorrow for my thyroid clinic (I know, if I was a horse, I'd be in the queue at the glue factory gates hahaha!!!)

Whatever you have planned, hope you have a great day and also a great week ahead and thanks for popping by.

TTFN

Ang x

Merry Christmas Lockers . . . . . . .

Good morning blogging chums. Hope all is well with you and yours.

Had a bit of a rough couple of days but nothing new there so chin up (and I have a fine selection of those to chose from at the moment) and onwards. 

Yesterday was a good day so managed a trip to Tesco with Mr D and a bite to eat at the local pub.

Flash was also out and about yesterday morning, cutting a fine figure in his pyjamas, Croc sandals and . . . . . . . . rubber gloves!!! No, I haven't a clue either lol!!!

Now, back to the card. This Christmas creation is actually the card I made for John Lockwood. Always puts me in a cold sweat making him cards as you feel the pressure to perform (in a manner of speaking lol!!!)

Ingredients

White, aqua and platinum card

Silver mirror card

Docrafts X Cut Reindeers Pattern embossing folder

SB Snowflake Pendant 2013 die

Cosmic Shimmer Frosty Aqua PVA Pearls

Dovecraft sentiment

Grey Flannel Memento Dew Drop ink

Apart from cheese and Jelly Babies, Mr L is partial to a bit of aqua and silver and, at Christmas, a prancing reindeer or two so, I knew this embossing folder had to have its maiden voyage for this card. The card measures about 7.5" x 7.5".

It seemed to go down very well (I trust John to tell me if he thinks its naff lol!!!).

Talking of John, he has started to feature cards with a spot of colouring. I recently bought the 4 Spectrum Noir sets of markers (the brights, darks, pastels and lights box sets) for a bargain, with the intention of using them to colour my pearlage or gems and the odd spot here and there, at which John had a chuckle.

So, I thought I'd give a bit of colouring a bash. Its not really something I've been bothered about, though I do admire the skills of some of you colouristas out there.

Here is my first effort with markers (I think I've done a couple of cards using water colour pencils ages ago)

Its an old Kanban stamp and about the only one I have with any colouring potential lol!!

Didn't think it looked too bad as I haven't a clue about shading and all that mularky. 

And here's my home made storage for the pens. . . . . . . 

I needed smelling salts and a lick from a St Bernard when I saw the price of pen storage so I started thinking about what else I could use. In a Heath Robinson moment, I thought of plastic downpipe (as you do) and had a chat to my next door neighbour who is a plumbing and heating engineer. They have bought a new house at the bottom of our road and have been doing major renovations on it and as luck would have it, he had some spare plastic extractor fan ducting, that was better than downpipe, and he even cut it to size for me.

I've stuck them together in twos with red liner tape and stuck some white card on the backs. I did have a few extra pens knocking about that didn't fit so I'm waiting to see if Leo gets any more ducting or if not, apparently its only £5 for a metre (which is roughly what I used in the above) and he will happily cut it for me again.

Anyhoo, that's enough waffle from me. Hope you have a happy Wednesday. If the forecast is right, I shall have some washing dancing in the breeze.

TTFN

Ang x

P.s.  Thank you June for your comment about the card they showed on Hochanda. It has been on the blog here if you wanted more details on it.

Maureen, never had an accident but witnessed hundreds eh? Lol!!!

And, the crispy duck was extremely yummy.x

MAWTT January Challenge . . . . . .

Good morning everyone. Hope this finds you fine and funky.

Its time for the first challenge of 2017 on MAWTT and the theme, that has been picked by the lovely Zoe, is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Something that you see in the sky!

Now, that should give you all plenty of scope to get those creative juices running.

As I still have lots of Christmas cards to share with you all, I chose to run with a snowflake as my thing you would see in the sky (rather than my undies after Storm Brenda hit my washing line lol!!!)

Ingredients

White and navy card

Silver mirror card

SB Intertwined Spirals (Love this die!!!)

SB Snowflake Pendant 2013 

X Cut Circles

Dovecraft sentiment

Memento Dew Drop Paris Dusk ink

Teeny silver bling

Pearlage

I hope that you can all pop across to MAWTT to see what the other gals have come up with and also, I'm sure that you have some wonderful creation that you can enter into the challenge.

Here's another variation of this card, slightly smaller, a lighter blue and different layer in the centre. 

At the dentist for a filling repair today so wish me luck as now I need to have adreneline free anaesthetic,  due to the A/Fib, which doesn't work as well as the normal one.

And before I forget, thank you Marion for clicking the follow button. It's very much appreciated.

Hope you all have a great day.

TTFN

Ang x

Happy Diwali Nesta . . . . . . .

Good morning everyone. Hope you are all well.

I'm still up and down but did manage to get out to a local Thai for lunch with some friends on Friday. There are between 10 and 12 of us that meet up about 3 times each year but they had held off whilst I haven't been well so, although I had seen some of them separately, we hadn't all been together since the beginning of the year. 

It was lovely to catch up and the Pak Tod and Pla Rad Prik (Maureen, don't go there lol!!!) were extremely tasty.

Just as well, as I was at the dentist straight afterwards as a bit of one of my back teeth had snapped off on Thursday afternoon (I was only chewing on a prawn).

Now, as I've been showing samples I made for John, I'm late showing Nesta's Diwali card so I thought I'd better get it shown before I start on showing the Christmas makes.

There was a bit of re-cycling involved as the beautiful purple card was actually the front of an 8x8 invitation to a special birthday party for Nesta a couple of years ago and I did the usual crafters thing of "keeping it as it may come in handy" . . . . . . . Don't any of you try and deny it, you know you all do it lol!!!

The surprise with this, is that it lights up . . . . . . well, it is for the festival of lights lol!

Ingredients

White card

Gold mirror card

Vintage gold card

Purple card

Re-cycled invitation

Sue Wilson Ara Mini Gemini

SB 2013 Snowflake Pendant

SB Delightful Circles

Memory Box Alphabet dies

DCWV lights and deep foam

Hobbycraft corner punch

Gold Krylon pen

As you can see the foam is deep to accommodate the battery pack, which obviously had to be placed somewhere easily accessible, so I popped it under the top corner. 

Nesta was thrilled with it and has shown it round her family, I think more for the novelty value of it lighting up lol!!!

Well, most of the Christmas food shop was done with Mr D on a day when I was feeling good so its just the fresh stuff left to get nearer the day. The most labour intensive thing always seems to be the trifle (Mr D's favourite).

Its Mr D's birthday next weekend so I'm hoping to being up to making his cake. I've got something in mind so I hope I get to do it.

Only a few Christmas cards to do now too so on the home stretch.

That's me for today. Hope that you have all had a great weekend and that you have a super week ahead.

TTFN

Ang x

Festive Trio. . . . . . .

Good morning my paddling chums. Hope you are all well or if not, a sincere get well soon.

A big thank you from Mr D for his birthday wishes. He was very chuffed that he was mentioned in dispatches. He had a lovely day despite the disappointment of not going away. He loves a full English (that's a cooked breakfast for my overseas chums) so I took him to a local carvery that does a buffet breakfast and he tucked in with gusto (I could almost hear his arteries groaning when he munched the fried bread (ewwww!!!). Its not something I cook very often so he enjoyed it.

Thank you all, too, for your lovely supportive comments about my work issues. Its taken the enthusiasm I had for the job and squashed it.

There was a mention of changing my shifts again for next week to which I offered to save them the trouble, by offering to hand in my notice. . . . . .no further mention made!

Still, I had to stifle a very wide grin, when it dawned on them that next week, the other experienced girl is on leave and there is the annual stock take on what will now be one of my none working days. So, the only bods in on my section are the supervisor (one of the ones who changed my rota) and a new girl who only started this week; to do a stocktake of 3 departments.

I was asked, through muffled tones, if I would go in for overtime for that day. . . . . .well, you can guess what my answer was. . . . . . . still stifling that grin. . . . . . .

Anyhoo, enough of that, and I'd like to welcome to Debs, one of my new team mates at MAWTT. I'm looking forward to joining the girls in a couple of weeks.

Now today, I'm sharing some quickie batch cards I made for Christmas. I was getting pushed for time and needed some less involved ones to keep me going so made a few repeats of each. Although they are foam padded, they still come under the 5mm for postage.

Ingredients

White Card (Lime Tree)

Green, ruby red and red card (PMD)

Gold mirror card (C & C)

SB Snowflake Pendant 2013

X-Cut circle die

Card-io Festive Fir Cones stamp set

Bebunni embossing folder

Hobbycraft corner punch

Sentiments CE and Dovecraft (I think)

Inks, Memento Dew drops, Versamark

Gold mica

Gold Krylon pen

Anita's 3D Gloss (on the holly leaves)

Dozy duck that I am, I forgot to take close ups. . . . .doh!!!

Before I waddle off, I wanted to mention, I received some fantastic creations recently. 

Of course, there were Wendy's fab pins and John gave me a beautiful notebook that had started plain but had been "John-ed" (yes, I still love jotting things down with pen and paper)

I'm not showing it as I'm not sure if its a project he will be doing at some stage and I haven't managed to catch up with him since he came back from his break in Spain.

I also received two stunning cards through the post. The first was from the lovely Karen (Karenlotty). Karen doesn't have a blog (but should if the card she sent is anything to go by) and I wouldn't put it on here without her permission (still waiting on a reply for that Karen lol). Karen, its fab so many, many thanks.

Then, I received another beauty, from Pamellia. Now as Pamellia has featured my gift on her blog, I can refer you to it here to see it photographed a lot better than I could to do it justice. The tactileness (yes, I made that word up) of this card is amazing. I had to stop Mr D touching it all over (steady!!!)

This gal is going places (Nantucket maybe, eh Pamellia?). . . . . well, crafty ones I think.

Well that's me, off to enjoy a homemade Snowball (I'm scheduling this on Friday evening, not hitting the alcohol at 6am, hahaha!)   so thank you if you've managed to get to the end of this without nodding off, otherwise "WAKE UP!!!!!!"

Have a great weekend and be good.

TTFN

Ang x

Ps. . . . . .just checked. . . . .yep, I'm still stifling that grin. . . . .